You Are What You Eat

I’m a firm believer that “the devil is in the details.” In the past, I used words where I didn’t fully understand the meaning. A lot of us do. We use clichés or Chinese proverbs or old wise tales to explain our feelings or a situation. And we all sort of know what we mean at least enough for most of us to move on; me too, but only some of the time. Most of the time I’m not satisfied; I’m restless. I want clarification. I want to sort things out. I want to get to the meat of the matter. It’s in the process of probing and asking and understanding that true meaning is revealed. I’m a believer in this process of clarification. I like being succinct. I don’t like carrying around alphabetical garbage. To be as succinct as possible is what I try to achieve.

I believe God is succinct all the time. I have some examples. God said “Let there be light.” And there was light. God spoke, something happened. In fact in this instance, something happened out of nothing. At each Mass, the priest repeats Jesus’ words at the Last Supper: “Take this all of you and eat it. This is my body. Take this all of you and drink it. This is my blood.” Note, God didn’t say “This is LIKE my body” or “This is LIKE my blood.” When we pray the Our Father, and we say “Our Father,” what are we really saying? God, who is like my father? God means precisely what he says. Yes, at times, we have to ask “what do you mean by that?” But that is only because of our limitations and not because of any error in which God is saying what he is saying. Either we believe that the Bible is the Word of God without error, or we don’t. It’s a matter of faith. Either we believe that we receive the Body and Blood of Christ under the appearance of bread or wine or we don’t. There’s no such thing as partial truth.

So now under our consideration is the story of the Multiplication of the Loaves. There were Jesus, the Apostles and five thousand men. Where there any women there? Where there any children there? Were only men allowed to hear what Jesus had to say? Maybe the Apostles said this is adult time – no kids allowed. I don’t think so. So what makes this miracle even miraculous is the fact that there was more than 5000 “men” there. So, what kind of numbers are we talking here? Let’s take an average – a woman for every man, and a child for each woman and man. That’s three per “man.” Now we are up to, about, 15 thousand maybe? Not too much of a stretch.

Now the Apostles have this bright idea that Jesus should tell the 15 thousand people to go home. After all the healing, crying, and saving - store’s closed, come back tomorrow. The Apostles did want any responsibility for taking care of these people. They thought there were too many of them. But Jesus tells them “you give them something to eat.” He’s telling them what they are capable of accomplishing. Doesn’t that happen to us all of the time? Our parents, a teacher, a friend, a coworker, all kinds of people tell us what we are capable of doing. And when we try, aren’t we tremendously surprised what we can accomplish.

So, the Apostles tell Jesus, we only have 5 loaves of bread and three fish. That would seem quite impossible amount of food to feed 15 thousand people. Jesus took “the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples…” What does that sound like? Sounds just like those words said at the Last Supper. And also those words said at Mass. Why is that? When you really think of it, isn’t there a multiplication of the loaves every Sunday at Mass, all over the world? 1.5 billion Catholics are fed every Sunday in the same manner as the apostles were at the Last Supper; in the same manner as the 15 thousand were fed on that hillside; and again, in the same manner as the Israelites were in the desert with manna. Bread from heaven.

I like to think of the logistics of this miracle of the loaves and fishes on the hillside. Every time someone stuck their hand in a basket to retrieve a piece of bread or fish, there was something to take. Let’s say you were passing around the basket. If you are passing around the basket, you first might look inside if it is full. What do you know, it is! Then you walk around and people are crowding around you reaching in taking what they need. You’re not always looking at the basket because you are looking at the people; you’re talking, saying you’re welcome, and watching where you’re walking. Then you glance down to see that the basket is still full. And so it goes around the hillside. And then you attend to something else. When the baskets are collected at the end of the meal, there’s 12 baskets filled with leftovers. A miracle that is not that impossible to image.

The Jews believe that they are what they eat. They have hundreds of dietary guidelines about their food. These guidelines cover what to eat, when to eat it, and how to cook it. The guidelines are rich in Old Testament history and Jewish culture. Now let’s think about this as we talk about the Last Supper. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, you know in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, of those dietary guidelines, well they’re nice and all, but, “take this and eat it for this is My body.” You are what you eat. So the Apostles who are Jews themselves, very familiar with this concept, are sitting there listening to Jesus say “take this all of you and it eat. This is my body which will be given up to you.” Can you image the sound of 12 chins dropping to the floor at the same time? They must have been spooked out of their minds. We’re talking hair raising on the back of your neck and goose bumps.

Every year on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish High Priest would offer up a sacrifice to reconcile the Jewish community with God. The number of lamb to sacrifice would depend on the number of sins committed by the Jewish people over that particular year, say hundreds. Now Jesus comes around and says, you know all those lambs you’ve been sacrificing, well, that’s been nice and all, but I’ve got something to tell you. I am the Lamb. I’m the perfect sacrifice. I’m the last Lamb you’ll ever have to sacrifice. While those animals are certainly sinless, they haven’t got a soul. There not self-aware. They don’t know the difference between good and bad. Any other sacrifice after Mine is meaningless – so long as you believe that I’m the Bread of Heaven, the manna sent by God, the Bread of Life.

I think all of this connection is kind of neat. It’s orderly. It lines up. It makes sense. Even to my engineering mind. Many years ago after we bought our house in Nashua, I was building a new deck. My father-in-law was helping me. He was watching me place down floor boards and use a nail to separate the boards. I was being way too precise about it. He said to me, now there you go trying to be an engineer. Just nail the board, will you? So sometimes, there’s no devil in the details. It’s simple, clean, and straightforward. Other times, it’s messy and complicated. You don’t know if the details are simple or messy until you dive in and try. So what’s the way to figure this out?

I say, become an engineer. Look for those details. Ask the probing the questions. Do the research. Research isn’t just for high-school term papers. It also can be used for faith. Love the God with all our heart, our mind, and our soul. In other words do the research. You’re knowledge of anything doesn’t grow without doing research. While parts of the Bible are straightforward, other parts aren’t. Get yourself a bible commentary. Dig into the words. Look for the meaning. For me, not only does it strengthen my faith, but it leaves me with hope, confidence, and higher self-esteem in ALL parts of my life where I offer it up to God. You know that high you get from being on retreat? For some of you first timers, just wait until the end. We’re not destined just to feel that rush once a year. We can take advantage of the sacraments and get the rush as often as possible. We can be active in a faith community. We can volunteer our time. We can receive Holy Communion as often as possible.

But let’s remember one thing. Once a week, we owe God. Once a week, it ain’t about us. Once a week, it’s about God. It’s about honoring Him, about respecting Him. Once a week, we come and ask for forgiveness and we get fed. We get feed through the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

One of my favorite prayers at Mass is the form of the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass that goes something like “I confess to All-mighty God and to you my brothers and sisters.” Wait a minute now. Confessing to God isn’t enough? I have to confess to my brothers and sisters? “That I have sinned through MY OWN FAULT.” That’s taking responsibility. “In my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do.” Yes, it’s a sin to think it. You know that saying there’s nothing wrong with looking at the menu. Oh yes there is! What a bummer huh? And we sin not just what we do, but what we fail to do. “And I ask Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord Our God.” Mary, the Mother of God praying for me. Interesting words aren’t they? Lots of meaning here.

So be an engineer of God. Do the research. Listen to the words. At Mass, listen for the difference between “the Kingdom of Heaven is like” and “With all the choirs of angels in Heaven we proclaim your glory!” Was that last sentence at metaphor? Are we speaking figuratively here? Do we really believe that all the choirs of Angels in Heave are singing along side with us? God speaks, stuff happens. God says what he means and he means what he says.