For the first thousand years of Christianity, bishops, priests, and all the faithful would talk about the Christian Community as the “real” body and blood of Christ.

The movie “Alive” which came out in 1993, featuring John Malcovich and Ethan Hawke, is about the Uruguayan Rugby Team whose plane crashed on the side of the Andes and a lot of their team mates died, together with the pilots and the flight attendants.

We have been reading from the Gospel of John for the past few weeks and the theme, ‘Jesus is the Bread of Life,’ is constantly recurring in these readings.

Maybe once in a while we have met some people who seemed to have everything in life; a good house, a flash car, a high-paying job, manage to travel around the world at a moment’s notice but somehow there’s something that is missing.

In just a couple of days, I will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the Sacrament of Priesthood.

Christmas is almost upon us and summer in Australia is in full furnace-like swing. It’s a far cry from the snow-bound Christmases of my home country Germany, but the sounds and the smells of an Aussie Christmas have an allure all of their own.

Of course, it’s not all cricket and prawns on the barbie. Australia’s Christmas traditions have been enriched over the years by the people from many different cultures who have made their home here and who do Christmas in their own special ways.

In almost all cultures, we show our hospitality by offering people food. For many of us, we see food as a way to connect, we see food as a way forge relationships.