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At Mass, Christ gives his Sacred Body and Blood as our spiritual food and drink

Christ draws up towards Heaven - as though wrapped in a fine cloth - those who have eaten the Divine Food at this feast.

Thanksgiving for food, in Christ's name, is a divine thanksgiving, made in holy company

Thanksgiving for food, in Christ's name, is a divine thanksgiving, made in holy company

Time for a Halt: As the pilgrim family uses its provisions, so the Church enjoys light, leadership, food, and means of maintenance and mission.

The family which has a roof over its head and a table to eat at is well prepared for everyday life and education. Sound doctrine is like the roof and the table of our Christian life. Those who rely only on feelings and want to picnic all the time have no shelter for themselves or for others, when gales blow, and animals trample the food into the ground.

Someone who searches avidly for new devotions is like a fish which searches for food, day after day, on the Barrier Reef. We need spiritual 'food', but also to make time for our everyday duties, and for care of our neighbour.

Those who want to help others in their faith, but then offer them untruth mixed with truth, by contradicting the teaching of the Church, are like people inadvertently offering a mixture of good food and poisonous berries to the children in their care.

On our journey to Heaven, Catholics trust in the navigator and the pilot (God) and are grateful for regular food (the sacraments). They try not to complain or demand weather reports or arrival times, but try to be helpful and kind to people around them.

Christ looks on with joy when we celebrate life or good news by sharing food and drink with friends, at a party, in genuine mutual delight, with a desire to give joy and to comfort tired hearts. Heaven is a little like that.

The happy group of friends at the party gave joy to God through their grace before the meal, their faithfulness to marriage and to friendship, their love of God's gifts of laughter, food, drink and music, as men and women together celebrated a birthday and therefore life itself, which is a gift - from God.

We can say that Jesus the God-man came to earth to found the Church. In and through the Church we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; we receive the Divine life and power Christ brought to earth at His Incarnation, and the Divine Food (the Holy Eucharist).

To slam a plate of food down, in front of another person, is to feed that person with little grace or charity. And to make the sign of the Cross in a careless or hurried manner - or any act of Catholic devotion - is to show little respect and love for God.

The food God makes available to us should be seen as fuel for our journey on earth. We should have neither too much nor too little; and if it is of the wrong sort we shall damage our bodies as surely as a car is harmed when the wrong liquid is poured into the petrol-pipe.

By showing concern about people who need food and drink, we demonstrate the love in our hearts - as Jesus did when He healed a little girl, the asked for her to be fed, and as we do when we work for our own family day after day, for many years.

The soul of someone who lives in unrepented, serious sin - particularly if involved in pornography - is like a filthy room, full of dust, grime, rotten food, spilt drinks, excrement, cobwebs, and broken glass. There are rats scampering around in the mess. People who repent and change have some hope of saving their souls.

The soul of someone who lives in unrepented, serious sin - particularly if involved in pornography - is like a filthy room, full of dust, grime, rotten food, spilt drinks, excrement, cobwebs, and broken glass. There are rats scampering around in the mess. People who repent and change have some hope of saving their souls.

It is no small matter, that through a break in Apostolic Succession at the Reformation, many Christian leaders have invalid orders. Not being priests, they cannot consecrate bread and wine. They and their followers receive only bread and wine at their Communion Service. It may not be their fault, but they do not receive the transforming food, Christ Himself.

A child needs to learn that the body and soul make one unique person. The body is made alive by the soul. The soul can never die; but when it leaves the body, the body dies. Until that time, a person should feed his body with food and drink, and feed his soul with spiritual food and drink, which is Jesus Himself, 'Hidden' in the Sacred Host or chalice.

We can explain to a child that just as a car has parts, which makes it what it is, and has a purpose - to convey people along a road - and needs special fuel such as petrol, so a human being us composed of a body with a living soul or 'spirit' to make it alive. The spirit and body together are a person, whose purpose is to love God and become like Him, and whose 'fuel' is food for the body. and Holy Communion - Jesus Himself - for the soul.