Not Bread Alone

Gospel: John 6: 51-58

Human beings need food in order to survive physically; this was the reality and experience of the Israelites in their journey through the desert to the Promised Land.  God provided them with food and drink along the way: the daily manna, quail, and water from the rock.  These provided for the basic necessities of all along the journey.  

But human beings do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.  What does this mean? Human beings are social beings; we need fellowship and sociability in order to thrive and flourish as human beings.  The communion table of the Lord provides us all with the food we need for our physical and spiritual needs, but it also provides us with communion with the Lord, with one another, and with the communion of saints.  

In this banquet the bread of life becomes the body of Christ not merely in the elements of bread and wine but in a deeper sense in us becoming the body of Christ in our unity with one another around the table of the Lord.  So today's feast of Corpus Christi is not merely about the elements of the Eucharist, but also about the Church herself, the body of Christ come together around the banquet table of the Lord.