On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth;
for the LORD has spoken.
On that day it will be said:
"Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"
Isaiah 25: 6-9
In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God's image and likeness (cf. Genesis 1:27), and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free (cf. John 8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth.… Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself.
...In the Gospel we hear how Jesus, after feeding the crowds by multiplying the loaves and fishes, says to those who had followed him to the synagogue of Capernaum: "My Father gives you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world" (John 6:32-33), and even identifies himself, his own flesh and blood, with that bread: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6:51). Jesus thus shows that he is the bread of life which the eternal Father gives to mankind.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis
(On the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission
During my years of service to the Church I have had the privilege to meet and work with holy men and women who are nourished by the “food of truth,” and who devote their lives to witnessing the Truth to society, in national governments or the international sphere such as the United Nations. The mission they have accepted is not easy: it involves a share in the Cross of Christ. But they are people of profound faith, hope, and joy! Please remember in your prayers the courageous apostolic nuncios at the United Nations in New York and Geneva
I have also encountered clergy, vowed religious, and laity, each one “in good standing,” who publicly dissents from aspects of Church teaching typically related to human life, sexuality, marriage, and the family. For whatever goodwill or compassion may be intended, these persons dismiss God’s moral law and encourage others to do likewise, leaving them longing for the Truth. This wounds the Body of Christ.
Created in God’s image, nourished by the Holy Eucharist, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we have the potential to be faithful witnesses of the Truth.
Do we recognize the richness the Lord has bestowed on us? Where do we go to satisfy our hunger and thirst for the Truth? How do we share the truth with others?
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| His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI United Nations, New York - April 2008  World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations (WUCWO) United Nations, New York - April 2008 |
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