“Food glorious food…” Recognize that song? It is from the musical Oliver. On my drive home from work, I was thinking about what I was going to write about and this song came into my mind. Coincidence? I prefer, God-incidence. I also had this weekend’s Gospel readings on my mind.
As my mind is known to do, I kept thinking about food. In my vocabulary, there are only two kinds of food: healthy and junk food. Healthy food builds you up and junk food, while it may taste good, in the long run, wears your body down (especially, if you have too much of it). These past few months, and especially this past week, there has been a lot of junk food distributed in the form of words. Social media, news, and people interacting with one another have provided a feast of junk food.
It made me think of the Gospel story this weekend and how Jesus fed the people with “healthy food.” They were hungry and so he fed them with the words that spoke of life and change and new possibilities -- never tearing down the old but becoming creative about the new. Jesus is the “Way, the truth and the life;” His words fed a people hungry for life. The first reading invites all to come to Jesus and listen so that they may have life.
The food (Word of God) that Jesus offers us is healthy. It brings kindness, caring, and compassion with it. So, what kind of food have you been indulging in lately? Junk food or healthy food? What have been your experiences with your family, coworkers, and friends lately? Have you been serving up junk food, complaining about all that is going on and just being thoughtless? Or is yours a healthy menu? I just came from an adult baptism, and the conversation was one of joy and gratitude. People commented on the specialness of the service and how Father was able to include all in the ceremony. Healing, healthy words were spoken. If only, we could do that all of the time.
So, why not try to keep serving up healthy words even though those junk food words find their way into our lives? The more we practice kindness, thoughtfulness, and compassion the easier it becomes. May we truly believe that the bread that Jesus offered that day is the bread of life He offers us today. Stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
Till next week,
Sister Theresita
