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28th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
4:00
St. Mark, Fallston
11:15
St. Mary, Pylesville
October 15,
2017
Eucharist: Food as Source and Summit
By (Rev.
Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Food, Glorious Food
I'm dating myself a
little bit here, but today I am remembering a play and movie called Oliver.
Do any of you
remember it? Oliver came out as a Broadway play in 1960. It is based on the
classic novel Oliver Twist that was written by Charles Dickens.
One of the very popular
songs in the show is titled Food,
Glorious Food.
It starts like this:
“Food, glorious food, we’re anxious to
try it. Three banquets a day, our
favorite diet…” and on it goes.
In the story, Oliver
Twist and other young boys are at a workhouse orphanage in London in the the
early 1800’s. The living and working
conditions for these boys are very meagre and very hard.
For them, it can be
hard even to get enough to eat and that’s why they sing of “Food, Glorious Food.” But
for them, food is also a metaphor or symbol of deeper things that they hunger
for – a home, a family, security, stability, and a chance for a promising
future.
A Banquet
Today’s Scripture
readings also focus on food.
In the first
reading, the prophet Isaiah says that “The
Lord will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.” In the Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of
God to “a wedding banquet.”
So, here in the
Scripture, as in the show Oliver, food is not just a physical necessity of
life. It is also a metaphor or symbol
and points to God satisfying deeper hungers that are within each one of us.
The Food
of Eucharist
I see the banquet and food images
in today’s readings as pointing to the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is Jesus – real
spiritual food. And, as spiritual food,
it is also a kind of metaphor and it speaks of acceptance and belonging, of being
loved and of loving, and of meaning and purpose for our lives.
The Eucharist touches these more
profound hungers. It gets to the very
heart of what we hunger for deep down within ourselves and that is why
receiving the Eucharist is so important for so many people.
Source
and Summit
Our Church describes the
Eucharist as “the source and summit of
our lives.”
I like those words – “the source and summit of our lives.” Let’s think of it this way.
On Monday morning, after being
here for Mass on the weekend, we may experience the Eucharist as the source of our lives.
(1) It may empower us to deal with a job that we
dislike or with the demanding routine of our everyday life.
(2) The Eucharist may strengthen us to deal with
stress in a marriage or with loneliness after the death of a beloved spouse.
The Eucharist can be a source of
life in ways like these if we remain aware of its power, open ourselves to it,
and claim it as our own.
And then, the Eucharist can also
be the summit of life for
us.
(1)
What I mean is that when
Friday and Saturday come around, we can look forward to the Eucharist to
refresh us with renewed vision and meaning for living the present moment of our
lives.
(2)
And we may also find it
giving us hope for the future, even to the point of being a taste of the
heavenly banquet – the banquet we hope to enjoy in heaven some day.
So again, the Eucharist can be
this summit or high point of our lives, if we remain aware of its power, open
ourselves to it, and claim it as our own.
Conclusion
So today, with Oliver Twist and
his friends, we sing of the Eucharist as “Food,
Glorious Food!”
Eucharist, the body and blood of
Jesus, nourishing the deepest hungers of our hearts. Eucharist, the source and
summit of our lives.
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