Saintly Sips
with Deacon Ken

When we are out and about town, and get out of our cars only to have our olfactory nerves bombarded by a plethora of heavenly smells coming from any number of nearby restaurants, don't our stomachs begin to grumble and we realized, "Wow, all of a sudden, I am starving!"

 

It is the same thing with movie popcorn. Although we can generally "take or leave" popcorn on any other day, when we get to the movie theater and smell the freshly popped popcorn, getting that large bucket of popcorn with extra butter is a must!

 

In a meme that I had seen some time ago, a young boy is asked, "What is God's name?" He answers: "God's name is Howard. Don't we say, 'Our Father who art in Heave, Howard by Thy name?'" This not only shows his purity and innocence, but his intimacy with God; intimate enough to name His name!

 

The other day, I ran across another Catholic meme that also had a much deeper meaning for us. It was one that had the old "Family Circle" cartoon where the little girl, was making a very funny, yet true comment to her mother coming out of Mass. "That sure made me hungry when we sang, 'Lasagna in the Highest!'" she said.

 

Does hearing God's word make our spiritual stomachs grumble with hunger for more? And when we receive Our Lord in the Eucharist, do we crave more of Him? In Psalm 34:8, we read: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." It is a call to experience God's goodness, not just intellectually, but through a personal relationship and trust. The phrase, "taste and see" in the original Hebrew translation means more than just to eat, but to perceive and understand God's goodness.

 

When we come to Mass, don't we come to be fed? Fed on the Word of God, and fed through His Body and Blood in the Eucharist? The question that we need to ask ourselves though, is that when we ARE at Mass and hear His Word and receive Him in the Eucharist, do we HUNGER FOR MORE?

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God Bless you all,

Deacon Ken