Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The French novelist, Victor Hugo, writing about the French Revolution, describes a noble woman and her two little girls fleeing for their lives.  But they are caught by a soldier during the Reign of Terror.  Bringing them to his captain, the soldier’s officer sees they are starving. He offers the mother a small loaf of bread.  At once she breaks it in two, giving half a loaf to each of her daughters. They quickly eat it while she watches with contentment shining in her eyes. Surprised, the soldier asks his captain, “Why didn’t she take some for herself?  Is it because she is not hungry?” The captain replies, “No, it is because she is a mother.”

Jesus shows us that kind of love by giving us the bread of his own Body, and the wine of his own Blood. Our most intimate union with Jesus is not a mystical experience in contemplative prayer given to a few, but a sacramental union in the Eucharist offered to all of us. Without this food and drink we could spiritually die out here, starving for the only thing that can really sustain body and soul for eternal life.

One time the English Cardinal of Westminster and former Benedictine monk, Basil Hume, went to Ethiopia. In a remote area where many were starving, he went over to a small boy who was just skin and bones, wearing nothing at all. With one hand the child took hold of Cardinal Hume’s hand; with the other he pointed to his mouth to indicate his need for food. Then he took the Cardinal’s hand and rubbed it against his cheek. The boy was starving for food and for love. These are the two fundamental needs we all have.  There is no life without food, and no life worth living without love.  Like a mother, Christ gives us both food and love in this Eucharist so that we can live forever.