Weekly HOMILY for August 2, 2009: Food That Satisfies Like No Other!

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Our Lady of Grace
August 2, 2009

Food That Satisfies Like No Other!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Needs as Motivators

Several years ago I came across a book by a psychologist named Douglas McGregor.

McGregor’s book is about motivation in the workplace. He holds that our human needs serve as motivators.

McGregor says that our needs as human beings are the reason we move toward a higher goal. He divides these into lower needs and higher needs and then draws an interesting contrast between them.

Lower needs are things like salary, food, shelter, and security. Higher needs are things like self-esteem, self-fulfillment, and relationships.

The lower needs differ from the higher needs in that there’s a point where the lower needs get relatively satisfied and then they no longer satisfy us. Then satisfaction only comes from the higher needs.

For example, money and a nice home and good food – these things only satisfy to a point. But unfortunately, instead of moving to the higher needs of relationships and self-esteem and self-fulfillment, we sometimes get stuck in the lower needs.

We may think that more of them, like more money or a bigger home, is better. But in reality it isn’t because they will never really satisfy us. They can’t; they don’t have the ability to do so.


Jesus: Higher Needs

Being stuck in these lower needs is where Jesus finds the people who are seeking him out in today’s Gospel.

Jesus says: “You are looking for me not because you see signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled” – this is a reference to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 that we heard last week. And then Jesus quickly adds: “Do not work for food that perishes” – that is, food that satisfies a lower need.

Instead, “Work for food that endures for eternal life” – that is, food that satisfies a higher need.

Jesus then identifies three sources for this enduring or imperishable food.


Imperishable Food

First, Jesus stresses that real satisfaction comes from relationships and not from things. He says: “I am the bread of life.”

Underneath this statement is the truth that what is more important in life is persons and not things. We need to put our energy into relationships because they will satisfy us in ways that material things can never satisfy.

And then, Jesus gets very specific about the relationship that is most important for satisfying our higher needs. He says: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger.”

In other words, human relationships are important and we need to give priority to them. But there is an even fuller satisfaction that comes from a relationship with Jesus.

A relationship with Jesus through personal prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments will bring us an inner and lasting satisfaction. And beyond this, Jesus’ presence in our other relationships, like marriage and friendship, will also make them all the more satisfying.

The third source of imperishable bread that Jesus identifies is really the glue that holds all of them together. The people ask, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”

And Jesus answers, “Believe in the one he sent.” So, faith, belief is the glue.

With faith, we live with a certainty:
➢ That there is a Creator who is beyond this earth
➢ That there is a Savior who came to this earth to make us one with that Creator
➢ That there is a Spirit who is always with us that sustains that union

Is it any wonder that this faith brings us a peace, a comfort, a satisfaction that carries us through our journey on earth right into eternity?


Conclusion

So, Jesus is challenging us to see the sign of the visible bread – the miracle of the loaves and even the bread of the Eucharist –as a sign of the invisible food that he truly gives us.

He calls us to seek:
➢ Other persons
➢ Himself
➢ Faith

As the food that will satisfy our highest human needs.

To do so will have us actively seeking “food that endures for eternal life and not food that perishes.”

Try it; the satisfaction is incredible!