Wonder Bread

Feeding the world with Jesus

Genesis 41:55-57

           When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them. When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt. In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.

            What is your greatest need?  What is the one thing that you could not live without, without which you would die?  Is it food or shelter, or water to drink or air to breathe?  I remember in eighth grade our teacher asked us if we had to give up our television or music which one would we NOT sacrifice?  Which could you not live without?  Of course, you can live without both of them!  But I said “music.”  I couldn’t imagine life without Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd.  I mean, why bother living??  But that was the first time I realized how much I loved music; how much I needed music.

            But I would like to suggest to you that our greatest need is for God.  Without God, you could not draw your next breath and sing your favorite Beatles song.  St. Thomas Aquinas taught that not only did God create all things in the beginning, but he also keeps everything in existence by a “continuous act of creation.”  Imagine that ancient Greek god Atlas who carried the world on his shoulders.  If God ever removed his creative, loving hands that hold us in existence, we would fall into oblivion.  Our greatest need, you see, if for Atlas (the true God) not to shrug.

            In Genesis 41 the whole world faces a basic human need, the need for food.  The whole world is gripped by famine, and goes to Egypt for food.  And how does Joseph satisfy their hunger: with grain, a basic human necessity, and staple.  But Joseph was a symbol of Jesus, who would also feed the whole world with grain, the grains that make up the Bread of the Eucharist.  Every Sunday, Jesus, the new Joseph, feeds one billion Catholics with the grain of the Eucharist, satisfying their deepest hunger, our hunger for God.  This “Wonder Bread” not only sustains each of us, but it also holds the entire universe in being by a “continuous act of creation.”  That’s pretty good Bread.

            What is your greatest need?  Most of us don’t even know what we need most, like I didn’t realize how much I needed Led Zepplin in eighth grade.  Most of us don’t know that our deepest desire, our most ancient ache, is for God, who lovingly holds us in his hands, even when we don’t think about him, or love him, or even when we deny him.  Consider this: even the words that the atheist uses to reject God are only possible because God gives him the breath to utter them.  Every time you go to Mass and put that little bit of grain in your mouth, remember how Jesus feeds you like the New Joseph of Egypt.  You couldn’t even say “Amen.” If God didn’t give you the strength.  Our greatest need is for Atlas never to shrug.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!