God portions our lives out into moments, days, weeks, and years. Along with that, God also gives us the means, the way, and the truth to figure out, decide and act upon on a whole hierarchy of desires which He has placed within us. They make up the fuel moving us to pursue what is lacking -- to search for it, go after it, and find it. Food. Love. Intimacy. New experiences, knowledge, and understanding. Safety and security. Companionship and community.
Our bodies and souls, full of desires for these things, testify that we long for fullness of life. Along the way, we have moments when we taste it, not to the full, but the taste is real and it satisfies-for the moment. But we always seem to hunger for more.
Sometimes we seek and go after momentary satisfactions willy-nilly, in no particular order - like a puppy going from his master, to his food, to scampering about, then back again to the others. Sometimes we go after them according to what we think is more fulfilling, and we plan accordingly. Sometimes we pursue them according to what is
more fulfilling, and for these reasons we discern and pray - sometimes in solitude, sometimes with others - and then decide and try to live accordingly.
Underneath all our desires, mingling with them and undergirding them, is the desire for God. Life is sorting out and ordering all our other desires to the one that is deepest and most passionate, the one that gives ultimate meaning and relevance to all the rest. We sometimes know it and are sometimes unaware of it, but what we want ultimately is a loving relationship with God-and
through that, a loving relationship with everything and everyone else.
God is the only one who can slake our deepest thirst, feed our deepest hunger, satisfy our desires to the full. We want God's company, God's protection, God's love. We want intimacy with the one who gives us our very life, with all its desires.
Often we grab for substitutes. Fast food. Faster living, faster cars. More convenience, more comfort, unrestricted sexual fulfillment (without responsibility), and the so-called "right" of complete freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want to.
Jesus, in today's Gospel, offers us the ultimate food and drink: giving us bread that is His body and drink that is His blood, poured out for us. We need to calm down, become more simple, and receive quietly this body and blood of Christ into our own fleshly selves. Doing so puts us squarely in God's company, secures us under God's protection, and engages us in God's intimate love. It unites us with the one who is giving us our life, with all its desires.
- by Kevin Kersten S.J.
