Center and sustenance.

1 Kings 8:1-11, 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69

JESUS' INSISTENCE THAT he alone be our source of strength and sustenance was simply too much for some: "Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him" (John 6:66). Jesus makes it clear that his disciples have a choice, asking "Do you also wish to go away?" It is a question that we, too, must answer. Jesus does not condemn those who wish to leave, or damn them to hell. He knows what he asks, and he knows the commitment it requires. But those of us who can confess with Peter that "You have the words of eternal life" know that God will help them to build great things.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose birthday is Aug. 26, is only one example. Like Father Damien, her trust in God was absolute, and like him, she showed us new ways to bring Christ's body to the most outcast and abandoned of India and the world. Her devotion required not only radical faith, but radical sustenance. To this day, she wrote in In the Heart of the World, life in the communities she founded revolves around prayer before Communion: "After the sisters have finished their day--carrying out their service of love in the company of Jesus, and through Jesus--we have an hour of prayer and of Eucharistic adoration" Her example is one among thousands of those who, nourished by God as their center and their sustenance, become bread and life for the world.