Central to every celebration of Father’s Day is a meal where family gathers together to honor their father, to share some food and drink, and to feel the warmth and togetherness of that which binds them together. Actually most times when we come together to celebrate something important in our lives, central to those celebrations is the food. Food first and foremost is nourishment; but eating a meal around the table signifies a nourishment that goes beyond the physical. 

It is all of that and more which we celebrate today on this Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. Each time we share in this Eucharist, we are participating in the meal that is central to our faith: we celebrate the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ who came among us as the Bread of Life. On the night before He died, Jesus asked us to keep His memory alive by taking bread and wine, staples of life, and have them transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. As Jesus rose from the dead, He shared that new life with us; He continues to nourish the new life and keep it alive with the food of life, the Eucharist.
When we gather around this table, we re likewise united in the warmth and the togetherness which this meal signifies. We become the community of the church, the presence of Christ within our world.

If we look into the gospels, how often did Jesus use food and drink to teach us about Himself: from the wedding feast of Cana near the beginning of His ministry, to cooking of the fish on a charcoal fire to feed his apostles, after His resurrection when they had gone back to fishing, and many more in between. 

As we gather around our own tables, in the kitchen, or dining room, or on the outdoor deck or patio, may we be reminded that when we eat and drink together, we are celebrating the gift of life God has given, and the wonderful Bread of Life which nourishes us on a daily basis and unites us together as the people of God.