SHARING A FEAST

 

            One of the most fundamental ways that human beings offer love, respect, and compassion to one another is through the sharing of food and drink. Certainly, Jesus did that during the wedding feast at Cana. As Catholics, we believe that Jesus' love for us is most fully expressed when he feeds us with his own body and blood in the Eucharist. Jeannie, who lived in an affluent city suburb, offered her services as a nurse on a Catholic medical mission. The team traveled to a remote location in the hill country of eastern Haiti, setting up a temporary clinic next to the local church. For two weeks the volunteers worked long hours with limited supplies in a makeshift clinic serving hundreds of people with medical problems. As the day came for the clinic to close, the local people invited the medical team to a feast. Knowing the great poverty of the Haitian people, Jeannie wondered what would be served. As the food was placed before her, she was amazed at the variety and quantity--sweet potatoes, fried goat with hot sauce, fried plantains, bread, cornmeal porridge, beans and rice, and a special pineapple drink. "How," Jeannie asked the local pastor, "could the people manage to give us this good meal?" "Jeannie," he said, "they believe that God sent you all to us to bring healing, and this feast is their way of thanking God with the best they could find. They each gave a little so that we could all share a lot." Everyone, including the servers and the cooks, ate until it was all gone. Jeannie thought that no food had ever tasted so good to her. She went home with a profound respect for the generosity of people who "have nothing" but shared so much.

 

 

 

 

            A good meal depends not on what is on the table but who is on the chairs. Try to eat at least one meal a day with family, friends, or fellow workers. Banish cell phones and TV during the meal.

 

 

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