"Sir give us this bread always!" Today's Gospel

Jesus loved meals. Contrary to his cousin John the Baptist who was a wild man living in the inhospitable desert and subsisting on locusts and honey,

We often find Jesus enjoying banquets.and in the current Scriptures he himself feeds the multitudes.

Scripture scholars teach that he had a "table ministry." So the "Last Supper" was one of many previous suppers.

At our bptisms, we were clothed with a white garment and told to "wear it someday into the banquet hall of heaven!"

So our ultimate destiny is a banquet.

Table fellowship identifies us.

I recently published an article in Today's Catholic praising the TV Drama Blue Bloods.

Why?

Because it portrays a family scene at the table which is needed today more than ever.

In Blue Bloods, the family Sunday dinner is sacrosanct. In fact every episode ends with the family at the table praying over their food, enjoying each others company, and entering into vibrant conversation. No Smart Phones interfering, nor any other devices.

And three generations are present.

It is precisely this kind of meal that Jesus himself loved.

The hallmark of such a meal is PRESENCE. The participants are fully present to each other.

And is this not what we call our Eucharist?

"Divine Presence?"

And so we pray:

O Holy Banquet

in which Christ is received,

The soul is filled with grace,

amd there is given to us

a pledge of future glory!

St. Thomas Aquinas