For years, the Lord fed the people of Israel with manna as they wandered through the desert. That was an image and a symbol of the pilgrim Church and of every person on their way to their definitive homeland, Heaven; that food of the desert is a figure of the true food, the Holy Eucharist. “This is the sacrament of human pilgrimage (…). Precisely for this reason, the annual feast of the Eucharist that the Church celebrates today contains in its liturgy so many references to the pilgrimage of the people of the Covenant in the desert”5. Moses would frequently remind the Israelites of these wondrous deeds of God with His People: *Lest you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery…*6.
Today is a day of thanksgiving and joy because the Lord has willed to stay with us to feed us, to strengthen us, so that we may never feel alone. The Holy Eucharist is the viaticum, the food for life's long journey toward true Life. Jesus accompanies and strengthens us here on earth, which is like a shadow compared to the reality that awaits us; and earthly food is a pale image of the food we receive in Communion. The Holy Eucharist opens our hearts to an entirely new reality7.
Although we celebrate this feast once a year, in reality, the Church proclaims this most joyful truth every day: He gives Himself to us daily as food and remains in our Tabernacles to be the strength and hope of a new life, endless and without end. It is a mystery that is always alive and present.
Lord, thank You for staying. What would have become of us without You? Where would we go to restore our strength, to ask for relief? How easy You make the path for us from the Tabernacle!
HCD