Today the Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi, the body and blood of Christ. I am always struck at the sequence of Sunday celebrations in spring: Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi. It's as if, in a nutshell, I am being reminded of the core elements of my Catholic faith: the paschal mystery, the presence of the Spirit, the mystery of three persons in one God, and the Bread of Life which is intended to nourish me for Kingdom living and Kingdom building.
Being a disciple means imitating Jesus. Jesus fed the hungry, using what was at hand to nourish hungry people. In today's gospel (Lk 9:11-17), the apostles urge Jesus to send the crowds away to find food. Jesus says, "Give them some food yourselves." Aside from the fact that they had little, the apostles were used to going to Jesus to solve the problems that arose. I like to think that Jesus was helping His apostles realize that they had something to offer the crowd, both in terms of physical food and spiritual nourishment. In this monastic community we might call that "hospitality", the ability to respond to others' needs, to invite them to rest and relax, to sit and 'chew on' the Word, to taste the goodness of God. This week, I am going to pray that God will help me see the ways I am being called each day to feed my sister, my neighbor, the stranger. I invite you to do the same!
