We Remember the Bible story in the Old Testament where God fed the people out there in the desert? After the Israelites escaped from their Egyptian slavery, they were out wandering in the desert, where there were no grocery stores, supermarkets, or shopping malls.

It’s hard for us to imagine life without a Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Quality Market, Tops or Giant Eagle, isn’t it?  We do take so much for granted, don’t we?

So without the usual foods they were used to, naturally the Israelites got a little cranky and upset with Moses.  And so Moses prayed, and God performed the miracle of the manna in the desert.

 It was a bread-like material, ample enough to feed the hungry people.

And that’s why Jesus chose bread and wine at the Last Supper to be consecrated into His own Body and Blood.  It’s because they were the common forms of food and drink, of nutrition and hydration, for the people of His time.

And just because they were so common, and so necessary to keep life alive every day, Jesus wanted to transfer that necessity to Himself even more so.

For us today, bread comes in many different forms.

We have the standard loaf of sliced bread.  We have buns and rolls of all kinds. We have pizza crust and pie crust. Oh my, the list goes on and on.

But it’s all basically bread-stuffs which along with all the other components of a healthy diet, sustain our bodies each day.

So if the Last Supper occurred today, Jesus would likely still choose bread and wine because they are still so common forms of food and drink for people around the world.

Now, let’s look at where our appetites are.

Our society tries to tell us that we should hunger for things like wealth, power, the biggest and the best of everything.

Today, on Corpus Christi, the Church reminds us that the deepest hunger the human heart should have is union with God and with one another.

That’s the most satisfying and fulfilling and long-lasting appetite that the Creator built into us.

And it is satisfied here in the Blessed Sacrament. 

As St. Paul said in today’s second reading: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Ideally, and in some Churches they do this, a single large host or loaf of unleavened bread is indeed consecrated and then broken into pieces at Communion time.

It’s just for large assemblies of people like we have, it’s more practical to use the smaller hosts.

But it’s that communion with God and with one another that we so cherish and find satisfying that we honor today: The Real Presence of Christ Jesus on the altar, in the tabernacle, and in our hands for us to consume and be nourished by.

Of all the necessities and pleasures of life, surely the Eucharist should rank at the top. It is so intimate, so satisfying, and so re-assuring during troubled times.

 As I often say at the First Communion Mass to the like kids: “I hope this will be the happiest day of your  life, so far.”

 I remember an older kid saying that to me when I made my First Holy Communion, and it always stuck with me for some reason, thank God.

 I hope something of that same excitement is still sticking with you.

       Thank you.