Baxter has no problem with his appetite. If he thinks it’s food, he wants it. He runs at the sound of the feeder opening, the treat bag crinkling or the tuna can snapping. Even transferring his kibble from the fifteen pound bag I purchase to smaller containers for storage brings him around, hoping that it’s meal time, or at least, that he can grab a few morsels from the floor when they fall there during the transfer. Baxter loves his food, and he has no hesitancy about getting it at every opportunity. His appetite never seems satisfied, so he’s always looking for more.
Each Sunday we are invited to the table of the Lord at the Eucharist. We are offered the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation freely and carefully. This is food for the soul allowing us to continue to believe in a cynical world, to hope amidst our disappointments, and to love when others think only of themselves. Through the Eucharist, we recall what God has done to save us for no other reason but that He loves us. We see this in the long history of our faith recounted in the Scriptures, and displayed most clearly and pointedly for us in the Gospels each week. Then, in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we experience God at work once again, here and now, as Christ’s Spirit, through the person of the priest presider, transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and transforms us, who receive this sacred meal, into Christ’s Body for the world. So what’s wrong? Why aren’t we hungry for the Eucharist? Why is it more of an obligation than a heart-felt desire to partake of this meal
Maybe we are just “fed up.” We gorge so many of our appetites that we can’t distinguish what we really hunger for. Our greed consumes our desire for more. Our gluttony satisfies us into complacency. Our lust absorbs our need for pleasure. Our pride keeps us apart from others. Our sloth massages our apathy about what is possible. Our envy and jealousy harden our hearts to other’s needs. Our anger fills our opinions with distortions of the truth. We kill our desire for real soul food by filling ourselves with the fast, junk food of the sinful heart.
We need to change our appetite. We need a conversion of mind, heart and spirit. How do we do this? Not with a fad diet of the latest spiritual teaching, but with a reevaluation of what truly satisfies us. What will last beyond our present situation in life? What will we take with us to the grave? These questions, taken seriously and honestly, can open our hearts to seek the deeper realities which our soul craves. Then we will begin to savor the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation offered at each Eucharist.
Baxter has a single focus when it comes to his appetite — what satisfies his stomach. We have many desires we seek to satisfy, and so we are often distracted from one to another and torn between them. The Eucharist is meant to train our taste to desire the best and the longest lasting nourishment — the God who took flesh in the Body and Blood of Christ.
