Do you ever have that feeling that you’re hungry and somehow no matter what you eat, you aren’t satisfied?  When this happens to me it is usually a signal that I have to evaluate my diet.  Sometimes when I am busy, I reach for easy foods that are packaged and highly processed.  The result is  always the same; a short period of satiation followed by sleepiness and then intense hunger.  The cycle repeats so often during the day, it seems as if I am constantly eating and hungry at the same time.  When I understand what is happening, my first step is to go to foods that I know will nourish me.  Fruits, vegetables, lean means and unrefined carbohydrates become my new normal and after a few meals, I begin to feel better.  By focusing on foods that nourish my body, I am able to break the constant hunger and fatigue cycle.

The same thing happens when we make an effort to return to mass.  Instead of attempting to nourish ourselves with the food that the world has to offer, we can put ourselves in God’s presence and be nourished by both His word and His body in the Eucharist.  Sometimes, we forget just how really hungry we are and we don’t realize that our soul needs nourishment too.  By returning to mass, we acknowledge our spiritual hunger and allow ourselves to be nourished with food that helps us to move through our trying days with more grace and love.  Jesus reminds of this too when he said, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” (Jn 6:27) 

from St. Patrick’s in Highland Mills