~ Being a preacher can be tricky! You can spend the better part of the week preparing a Sunday homily (that you think is pretty good!), only to have something happen overnight. A natural disaster, a death, a nation bombing another nation escalating conflict in the Middle East…  How do you work something like that in? And if you don’t, certainly someone will say, “Why didn’t you preach about this or that?” Fortunately, our Holy Father, Pope Leo, is on it!  This morning, as his Sunday audience, Pope Leo said this:

“Alarming news continues to emerge from the Middle East, especially from Iran. Against this tragic backdrop, which includes Israel and Palestine, people’s daily suffering, especially in Gaza and the other territories, where the need for adequate humanitarian aid is becoming increasingly urgent, risks being forgotten.

Today more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict. Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no “distant” conflicts when human dignity is at stake.

War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures.

May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!”

So today we join Pope Leo and all people of good will in praying for peace between Israel and Iran, peace in the Middle East, and peace throughout the world.

Back to my prepared words… We Americans are obsessed with food! (Sorry, there was no good segue!) Our grocery stores are packed with more food and drink than any other country in the world. Let’s take Oreos for example. Regular Oreos are great, but of course there’s Double Stuff Oreos, and if that’s not enough, there’s Mega Stuff Oreos. The chocolate cookies are good, but there’s also vanilla Oreos. You can get special colors for Halloween and Christmas and Spring and Summer. And all the flavors!  How about Lemon Oreos, or Strawberry Oreos, or Peanut Butter Cup Oreos or S’mores Oreos or Cinnamon Bun Oreos? And when you’ve finally had enough Oreos, and you need to go on a diet, you can always have some Oreo Thins. Now you know why I go to the gym, it’s so that I can eat my Oreos.  

So, yes, we love our food. We love summer BBQs and parish potlucks and fish fries. How many of us love to try new restaurants and new cuisines? We watch the Food Network and we shows like “Top Chef” and “Yes, Chef” and “Cutthroat Kitchen”. Magazines about food and cookbooks are best sellers. And I don’t know anyone who doesn’t indulge a craving for Mexican or Italian or sweets now and then.  

Now as much as we like our food, there’s a difference between a craving and real hunger. Most of us are not really hungry, but we do crave certain foods.  If you are craving a steak, nothing else but a steak will satisfy that craving. But if you’re truly hungry, you’ll eat anything. Sadly, there are too many people in our country and around the world that are truly hungry. We are not among them.    

But while we may not be truly hungry for food, we do hunger and thirst for so many things, don’t we? We hunger for answers to life’s most difficult and challenging questions. We wonder about the meaning of life, and why bad things happen to good people. We wonder why war is so easy and peace is so difficult. We thirst for love, for acceptance, for friendship, for intimacy. We hunger and thirst for justice, for peace, for fulfillment. And as much as all of us hunger and thirst, myself included, we’re never really satisfied. Is there anything that will really satisfy our deepest hungers? Can anything really quench our greatest thirsts? I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear that I think the answer is YES!

To answer these questions, let’s turn to the Scriptures today. Today’s readings reveal to us that people have always been hungry and thirsty.        And the Scriptures reveal to us that people of faith have always found sustenance by simply giving to others.  

In the first reading, Melchizedek gives Abram a simple blessing with bread and wine, and Abram returns by giving Melchizedek one tenth of everything he owns.

In his letter, Paul gives to the Corinthians his simple and most precious remembrance of the Lord: how, on the night before he died, Jesus took bread and wine and said, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this my memory.”

And in the Gospel, the disciples give Jesus a small amount of food, five loaves and two fish, and Jesus gives it to the vast crowd. And miraculously, the crowd is completely satisfied.  

Friends, the lesson of the Scripture is clear: when we give of ourselves, we find that all our needs are fulfilled. When we are generous, our own needs are met. It’s one of the core messages of Stewardship, which we need to hear and be reminded of often: when we give something away, our time, talent, and yes, our money, then we receive back in abundance.      

So, what truly satisfies our deepest hungers isn’t taking more and more stuff in… it’s giving more and more away. That’s one of the paradoxes of the gospel. You’ve heard them before.  

If you want to be rich, go and sell all you have and give to the poor.

Everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted.

The greatest among you must be the servant of all.

And here it is again… if you want to be satisfied, give yourself away.

Those paradoxes are difficult to comprehend; they don’t really make sense at face value. They only make sense in the context of faith and in the person of Jesus.  

We look to Jesus as our model and guide. He gave himself completely, in his life and death, and that giving continues everyday when he offers his body and blood to his people at the Mass, the source and summit of our Christian life.  

Today on the Feast of Christ’s Body and Blood, we take in and consume this Precious Body and Precious Blood to that we can be strengthened to give ourselves away. In doing so, we then become Christ’s Body and Blood, and the miracle of Christ’s life and death continues. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Of course. We all are.

Come and be nourished at this Eucharist, but be nourished here so that you can give yourself to others as you go on your way, especially to those who are most in need. Then, Jesus promises, you will be completely satisfied.