From yesterday's gospel: "So they said to him, 'What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' So Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' So they said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.'"
De La Salle (Med. 49.3): "A soul who eats, then, this flesh of Jesus Christ and is nourished by this meat no longer lives a natural life, no longer seeks to satisfy its senses, no longer acts by its own spirit but by the Spirit of its God, who has become its nourishment."
Receiving Jesus changes everything. In time, as we realize what we do, we understand that our deep hungers and thirst are satisfied by placing Christ at the center of our lives. We are no longer driven by our own desires. And "[o]nce the assembly disperses, Christ's disciples return to their everyday surroundings with the commitment to make their whole life a gift, a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God." (John Paul II, Dies Domini, 45). We are changed for others, and the gift we give is that of teaching. Imagine the deep hungers and desires of our students. How else do we provide for them other than by giving them the same Christ who nourishes and changes us? "[Y]ou are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do . . ." (De La Salle, Med. 195.2). Whether we let Christ become part of us through Eucharist, Word, or the witness of others, may we know what truly nourishes, and share it with our students.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!