Tim Hortons and the Even Deeper Cravings

If you believe the commercials, Canadians really love their Tim Hortons coffee. Affectionately referred to as “Timmies” (or as I’ve heard a Canadian Cardinal quip, “St. Timothy’s”), many Canucks incorporate a run to the coffee chain into their daily routine.

A visiting priest at our parish this weekend related a scene he witnessed, where one day people were lined up outside a Tim Hortons store, waiting 15 minutes or more to get their coffee fix. He painted a familiar scene, so many people waiting so long for something so small, yet evidently, so necessary. As he told the story, many in the congregation chuckled and nodded knowingly. 

Then he arrived at what he wanted us to consider: every day, something infinitely more remarkable is available to us at Mass in the Holy Eucharist. When we line up to receive Communion, we receive something that is so beyond physical food or drink that we can scarcely find words to correspond to the reality. We receive is a Person; we receive God. 

Imagine: if people only knew what was available to them at Mass, the line up would be down the street- every, single, day.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (John 6:33)

It can be useful to compare our attitude toward "spiritual" things to our attitude toward "natural" things, as this visiting priest did. As a coffee devotee (read: addict) myself, I can really grab on to this analogy.  

Question: How does your craving for the daily coffee compare to your hunger for the Bread of Life?

Challenge: when you're waiting in line on your coffee runs this week, briefly think about how Jesus makes Himself so radically available to you in the Blessed Sacrament. Could you receive His supreme gift-of-self today? 

Build the habit of making a regular Spiritual Communion.