When Jesus says “I am the bread of life,” (Jn. 6: 48) he taps deeply into a basic human need. The obvious metaphor unmistakably raises the question of whether we need God as much as we need food. Am I as hungry for God as I am hungry for food?

We naturally desire food. Many thinkers, among them St. Thomas Aquinas, also think that we desire God just as naturally. For what it is worth, that is my experience. Both desires are implanted in us by virtue of creation. Since God gives us these needs, God also provides for them. God provides food for the body, sometimes miraculously, as God did for Elijah in the wilderness or at the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness, but normally, God feeds us as God feeds the birds of the air. (Mt. 6: 26) The natural longing for God is God’s provision for fulfilling the deeper need it creates. To some extent, this longing is itself God’s provision of God’s presence, but it is also a foretaste of what is to come.

In the case of food, a lack of appetite is a sign that something is wrong and we seek medical help. If that doesn’t solve the problem, we try psychiatry or pastoral counseling for matters of the heart. Sometimes, people lose their appetites because table fellowship breaks down, in which case there is need to repair the social fabric. But what if we don’t desire God, or think we don’t? Is that a sign of bad spiritual health? If it is true that we all have a natural longing for God, and it stands for reason that it is so if we are created by God, than the answer is Yes. However, it isn’t our business to worry about whether other people are properly hungering and thirsting for God. We should attend rather to our own appetites

With physical health, there are several factors that are considered as indications as to whether a person is healthy or not. The same is true for spiritual health. The fourth chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is a good checklist. Not stealing and earning an honest living is a start. Not letting evil talk come out of our mouths is a stronger indication, while speaking evil of others suggests lack of health. “Bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice” all need to be put away. (Eph. 4: 31) Such is junk food that is most unhealthy. On the other hand, being tender-hearted and forgiving in imitation of Christ is healthy food indicating spiritual health. People who show this kind of health are longing for God whether they know it or not. As Jesus said that doing the will of the one who sent him was his food and drink, (Jn. 4: 34) the good dispositions and actions listed in Ephesians should be our food and drink. Unfortunately, God’s provision does not keep us from spurning what God provides. Like petulant children who won’t eat their vegetables, we complain about the manna in the desert, especially if the spiritual journey feels like a desert. When such petulance on our part leads to hateful speech and insensitive treatment of others, it can dampen other peoples’ appetite for God and the things of God. So we have a responsibility to feed others with food that is healthy and nourishing. We must keep before us these questions: Do we long to taste the love and good works that Jesus embodied? Do we taste and see that the Lord is good? (Ps. 34: 8) These are questions to ask ourselves when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the bread and wine.