Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a
Moses said to the people:
“Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,
has directed all your journeying in the desert,
so as to test you by affliction
and find out whether or not it was your intention
to keep his commandments.”

1 Cor 10:16-17
Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Feedings Our Daily Hungers
This year our family reunion will be different; not because of the invitations nor because it is happening in a different town. It will be different because for the first time in at least forty years my uncle Father Bill will not be there to celebrate the Eucharist! For the first time in years my siblings and my cousins (and for that matter their children’s children) will not gather in group of concentric circles to be the church, the readers, the alter servers, the choir, nor the Eucharistic ministers…Fr. Bill died shortly after our family reunion last year.

Our parents and aunts/uncles taught us that part of being family was rooted in our connection at the Eucharist. Our large family gatherings, due to Fr. Bill’s love of celebrating this divine meal with us, never happened without the breaking of the bread, the sharing of the cup and praying with and for each other.

Although our lives have been much different than the Israelites wandering through the desert for forty years, each of us has had our own moments of getting off the path. This yearly celebration of the Eucharist reminded me of God’s infinite love that was greater than any of my side paths.

I know that we will continue to gather as family and celebrate our connection. Perhaps this summer we will go to a nearby church to celebrate the Eucharist. However, I think that Fr. Bill would not want us to miss the call of Christ to each of us to learn how to feed each other’s deeper hungers and thirst in our simple interactions with each other.

The Feast of Corpus Christi must happen not only at the table presided over at designated mass times, but as importantly in the simple ways that we reach out to feed each other in our great and small hungers.