The root of human wretchedness is loneliness, the absence of love--the fact that our personal existence is not embraced by a love that makes our existence "necessary." Our misery arises when we live without a love strong enough to justify our existence no matter how much pain and limitation go along with it. What our heart is crying out for is a true companion in whose love we experience how truly necessary and invaluable our existence is.
The very word companion derives from the two Latin words cum, meaning "with," and panis, which means "bread." A companion is literally "bread-with-us"--in other words, everything we need. This literally is the Eucharist! The Eucharist proclaims that God is not a distant fact toward which human beings strive with great effort. "Rather he is Someone who has joined man on his path, who has become his companion" (L. Guissani).
--Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.
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