Nourish

The vegetable garden was one to envy. The bounty was plentiful. The dinner plates were full. Everything on that dinner plate came from that veggie patch. Sometimes we desire the harvest but forget what it takes to get it. We want and need sustenance but often forget to nurture and care for the garden. Plants require food, water and sunshine to grow. Without them, they are lifeless.  

Our faith needs nourishment too. Without feeding our faith, we too can become lifeless, mindlessly moving through our days without stopping to pause for spiritual nourishment. 

Prayer, song, scripture, quiet reflection and coming together as a community of faith are some of the ways we can receive this nourishment. Central to our spiritual nourishment is the Eucharist. It encompasses all of these things in one place at one time. It is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. It nurtures us, feeds us and allows us to grow. Ron Rohleiser OMI explains there are a number of ways the Eucharist nurtures us: ‘by giving us God’s physical embrace (“the real presence”), [it gives] us a oneness with each other that we cannot give to ourselves, it provides us with a life-sustaining ritual, a regular meeting around the Word and person of Christ that can become the daily bread of our lives and our communities.’

He goes on to say, ‘The Eucharist is meant to be God’s regular nourishment for us, daily manna to keep us alive within the desert of our lives.’ And some days our lives can feel like the desert, especially when our to-do lists are long and others are asking for more than what we feel we can give. Sometimes it takes everything to just show up in life, let alone at the table of the Lord. This is precisely the time that we need to come for nourishment. When we come and encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, his words echo in our hearts: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)