WOV 711, “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”
Devotion
In an article she wrote for the New York Times Magazine, Deborah Snoonian described how her grieving father turned to food to fill the emptiness he felt inside following his son’s death. “Right after the funeral,” she said, “he took me to the Armenian grocer, where he bought $200 worth of hummus, dried fruit, cheeses, bread – much more than he could eat before it spoiled. As he piled the food on the counter, his eyes scanned the shelves, searching for something, anything, to sate his hunger.”
Food can satisfy physical hunger, but our hearts also hunger for the sustenance that will feed our needs for love, acceptance, forgiveness and peace. As Christ comes to us in the bread and wine of Holy Communion, our deepest needs are fed. Our hungry hearts are satisfied, and “with joyful lips we sing … our praise and gratitude.”
Prayer
Sustaining God, as we come to your table of grace, you give to us the bread of life – your very self – so we might never be hungry. Amen.