Solemnity of the body and blood of the Lord. Today’s readings: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58
If you have ever visited any big city abroad and if you consider yourself a food aficionado, the slow-food chain Eataly must sound familiar. From Tokyo to New York, from São Paulo to Rome, the Italian gastro entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti is on a mission to spread his passion for Italian cuisine across the world.
Farinetti is not just another savvy imprenditario. He knows that food does more than replenish glucose levels. Meals communicate something important about the one who prepared it. Food brings people together in fellowship and communion.
Farinetti, like all of us, knows that when we are away from home for a long period of time, we crave not to satisfy our exotic flavours with gourmet food but for that unassuming plate that reminds us of the intimacy of home. There we feel safe, welcomed, nourished.
It is usually at dinner that we relate how the day has been, with its rewards and challenges. There we are reconciled with one another, we express gratitude for the energy and resources that have gone into preparing the meal that will sustain us for the tribulations of yet another day.
I eat with bread in the sense that I try to behave well, and not abuse my power. What my grandmother meant was, don’t be selfish, be brave, be respectful, be committed in all that you do, don’t be afraid of sacrifices, and be moderate in all you do- Oscar Farinetti
Mangia con il pane, by Oscar FarinettiIn 2015, Farinetti published a book of memoirs, recounting how sharing meals played a central role in his family since his childhood.
In one of his short reminisces which also gives the book its title, Mangia con il pane (Eat with bread), Farinetti tells of how his beloved grandmother, Teresa, always used to tell him in her native dialect, “Mangia cun el pan!”. Farinetti admits that as an energetic child that he was, he was keener on getting a larger portion of whatever was being served in the plate, and to run off to the garden and play, than on sharing bread with his family at table. For them, as for many families back then, this humble staple was a means of saving up on other more costly foodstuffs.
Farinetti says that decades later his grandmother’s words still echo in his mind. He writes: “Even today I ‘eat with bread’... even when I am not eating, for example, when I am at work, when I meet others, when I need to make decisions. I eat with bread in the sense that I try to behave well, and not abuse my power. What my grandmother meant was, don’t be selfish, be brave, be respectful, be committed in all that you do, don’t be afraid of sacrifices, and be moderate in all you do.”
In today’s gospel too, Jesus says that we cannot live unless we eat bread; heavenly bread. He identifies himself as “the living bread that came down from heaven”, and adds “whoever eats this bread will live forever”.
As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord today, we ought to make a serious stocktaking of the significance of the Eucharist in our life, especially in these post-COVID times. The number of people who do not even feel the need to participate in the Eucharist is worrying. Sadly, for others, the Eucharist is at least the locus of sentimentalist devotion, at most a prize for the deserving.
It is high time that we rediscover the vital role of the Eucharist in our life.
For this to be reached the Eucharist must be approached in humility and faith, with the communitarian dimension in mind. The Eucharist offers us, pilgrims on this Earth, a foretaste of the banquet we will enjoy in our heavenly home, in communion with God and with our brothers and sisters. Participating in the Eucharist makes us sharers of the life that God wants to communicate to us, overcoming greed with generosity, pride with humility, and violence with meekness.
For when we eat bread, it is assimilated into our fragile body. But when we share Eucharistic bread we are assimilated to the Body of Christ, the Bread of Life.