28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A
October 11, 2020
Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville 8:00 AM
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 11:00 AM
Food, Glorious Food
Maybe I am dating myself a little bit here, but today I am remembering a play called Oliver.
I’m sure some of you remember this and probably saw it. Oliver originally came out as a play in 1960 and then there was also a movie version of it.
It is based on the classic novel Oliver Twist that was written by Charles Dickens – one of the books I had to read in high school. One of the really 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 early 1800’s. The living and working conditions for these boys are awful – very, very meagre.
For them, it can be hard 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, and some hope for the future.
Food in Scripture
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.”
Now it is important to understand that here in the Scripture, as in the show Oliver, food is also a metaphor. It points to God satisfying deeper hungers that are within each one of us.
The Food of Eucharist
And all of these food images point to the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is Jesus – real spiritual food. And, as spiritual food, it is also a kind of metaphor and it responds to our deeper hungers of living fully, of acceptance and belonging, of being loved and loving.
The Eucharist gets to the very heart of what we hunger for deep down within ourselves. That is why receiving the Eucharist is so important for so many of us.
Eucharist as 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. It may empower us to deal with a job that we dislike or with a deadening routine.
The Eucharist may strengthen us to deal with stress in your family or with loneliness after the death of your husband or wife. The Eucharist, I know, has been a source of life for many of us during this pandemic.
You and I are able to be physically here at Mass today and there are many more people who are watching livestreamed Masses and would love to receive Communion sacramentally. So yes, the Eucharist is a source of life if we remain aware of its power and open ourselves to it.
And then, the Eucharist can also be the summit of life for us. What I mean is that the Eucharist can be a highpoint of the week and can give us hope for tomorrow, the kind of hope that keeps us going.
And this sacramental food can also give us hope for the long-term future and be for us a taste of the heavenly banquet. So, the Eucharist is this summit of life if we remain aware of its power and open ourselves to it.
Conclusion
As Oliver Twist and his friends say, this is Food, Glorious Food.
The Eucharist is Jesus, real spiritual food and in that way, it is also a metaphor and it nourishes those deeper hungers that we all have within us. It can be the source and summit of our lives.
