4th Sunday of Lent 26.3.17 Our daily bread
The fact that we have bodies makes life hard for us.
Our bodies give us a lot of pain and anxiety, and they leave
us very vulnerable. They have to be fed and clothed, and generally maintained.
There must be a good reason for it all, because this is how
God has created us, and we cannot improve on His plans.
One consolation is that we look forward eventually to having
glorified bodies, never hungry or sick, able to move at the speed of light, and
many other attractions
But what to do about now, with all our pains, and worries?
One thing God must have had in mind, was to make sure we
would be aware of our dependence on Him.
The prayer He taught us contains a plea for our daily bread.
It is part of learning to love Him, for which purpose we were created.
The daily recurring needs of the body remind us of our
dependence, and force us to turn to Him for help; something we might not do if
we did not feel the need.
It is not just food, but every need, physical and spiritual,
which is encompassed in that prayer for daily bread.
We can ask for all that we need, all at once, understanding
that some needs are more important than others.
God wants us to ask. He wants us to remember to thank Him;
and to try to get the asking in perspective, so that we concede to Him the
right to refuse or modify our requests.
God might withhold certain things for good reasons. We can
trust that He is aiming at the greatest happiness possible for us.
We see that He is leading us beyond the merely physical to a
spiritual understanding, while not forgetting the physical.
And then there is the Eucharist itself, the ultimate food,
not meant for physical hunger but for the whole person, the whole process of
salvation, with all the richness that goes with that.
We are asked to seek this special food. Many reject it
because they do not see that it does them any good.
They are thinking probably too much at the merely physical
level. The Eucharist feeds a deeper hunger, and transforms a person in subtle
ways.
The impatient will not give it time to work. They want
instant gratification, and the Eucharist is aimed at a much longer time and
scope.
God is taking us into an unexplored world, the world of total
trust in Him, and total cooperation with His will.
To hunger for Him, to search Him out, is the highest level
of spiritual growth.
Everyone needs Him; not everyone knows it.
Those who stop at the needs of the body are not seeing the
whole story.
A whole life can be built around the body. There is not just
eating, but vanity of appearance, seeking sexual pleasure, excessive quest for
fitness – all of which can make the body into a false god.
Any who do this will lead a distorted life, a life of sin
and darkness - either obviously so, such as a drug addict; or less obviously, a
‘respectable’ person piling up riches but neglecting the soul.
What we should do, is attend to the body, within reason, but
realize that some sacrifices are necessary for the good of the soul, and preparation
for eternal life.
Voluntary penance can be very helpful, as it helps us to see
the higher needs we have.
God has foreseen all our difficulties, and patiently helps
us find our way into the light.
We learn as we go, all the time.
May the Lord give us our daily bread, in all its forms,
making us truly at one with Him, body and soul.
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