ne night I was talking with a friend about those who return to the practice of the Catholic Faith.  We were trying to determine what it was that brought them back.  Almost invariably they speak of their First Communion Day.  They speak of it as a time of great innocence, a day when they felt very important and very close to God.  They lament the fact that this has changed.  They talk about how complicated life has become since that time.  

long with a desire to return to a simpler time comes a hunger for the Eucharist.  If receiving the Eucharist was ever important to them, it seems that it calls to them until they return to receive it once more.  Sometimes that call is very subtle.  Other times it is quite strong, especially for those who have entered second marriages and who may not receive the Eucharist until the situation is rectified.

sn't it wonderful to think that just as we become hungry for food, we can be hungry for Jesus as well.  In a former parish where I was pastor there was a great stone cylinder behind the altar.  It looked like a silo ... and one day I remember saying that if it were a silo and if it were completely full of grain it could not satisfy the hunger of the people who had gathered for Mass.  Only Jesus, whose crucifix was affixed to the silo, could do that.

he emptiness and lack of meaning we experience can simply be a hunger for Jesus.  After a while we find that buying things, becoming more beautiful or handsome, losing weight, building muscles mass, drinking, eating, doing drugs, gambling ... none of those things can fill the emptiness within us.  Jesus is the only one who can do that.  And until we have the interior source of strength to draw from, it's difficult for us to be in fulfilling relationships with other people.

or many of us it was easy to feel Jesus' love for us on our First Communion Day.  Our lives are often a process that helps us discover that fact in many different ways.  What was a simple and uncomplicated fact when we were seven years old becomes complex and wonderful knowledge when we're older.  Or perhaps it's just the same simple truth we knew then ... that we can discover all over again!