I laughed when I read today’s first reading. This excerpt from Elijah has been the subject of several memes (if your algorithm looks like mine). Elijah wanted to give up, wanted to quit, and frankly wanted to die. So God just treated him as the living breathing thing he is: gave him a little food, a little water, a little nap and he was good to go.
We’ve all been in the place where we hit a wall. Sometimes that wall is one where I have neglected to feed and water myself sufficiently for the day. Sometimes that wall is made of the deep despair that comes from immense suffering and death. Sometimes that wall looks like everything in between. Whatever the cause, we find ourselves in a place where we can’t or don’t want to keep going.
So what will sustain us when we feel we can’t keep going? Manna, hearth cakes and jug of water can keep me going for another day or longer. Hunger pains run deeper than the desire for food. What we feed ourselves matters. We can’t grow if what we consume isn’t capable of satisfying our true needs. There is so much in the world available for us to consume. Whether it’s an entire aisle of different breakfast cereals or an endless social media feed to doom scroll, we are consuming all the time. It doesn’t all feed us and doesn’t offer more than the briefest satisfaction before we are craving another bite. Much of what we consume is meant to keep us hungry.
God wants us to be cared for, in body and soul, as we see in Elijah’s story. God also sent the manna that Jesus speaks of to sustain the Israelites in their time of need. It is an ongoing discernment for me to sift through what hurts me. An extra glass of wine at night because I had a hard day? I don’t actually need that. A new popular show that’s particularly violent? I’m good, I have enough of that in my news feed. I am still learning to listen to what my body and soul seem to actually need. I learned long ago that as someone who loves to cook, making dinner for my children or for loved ones is not merely an exercise in maintaining our physical well-being. It’s an act of love and a desire to gather community to share what sustains our bodies and our souls. Sometimes it looks like a table set with nice dishes and sometimes it’s freezer chicken nuggets. What satisfies my soul doesn’t have to look the same every time and at every stage in my life.
Jesus offers us living bread as an invitation to nourish us deeply, for eternity. He knows our bodies need care, but He knows we need that too. The gospel today invites us to remember that what we feed our souls matters, too. When we consume the living bread, when we consume the gift of the Eucharist, may we know the gift of sustenance God wants for us.
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