There’s one common behavior I’ve noticed in three of my children. They put everything into their mouths! They check any object with their mouths to see if it’s edible or swallowable. This behavior of whether things are edible or eating themselves is one of the most fundamental human behaviors for survival. This basic human nature of eating is also embedded in our Eucharistic practice.
When the Eucharist is celebrated, consecrated, and broken at St. Agnes’, we’re invited to partake in it with the saying, “Behold what you are. Become what you receive. The gift of God for the people of God.” We behold the consecrated bread and wine, which are symbolized (or transubstantiated) as our own, and become the body and blood of Christ by consuming them. The 19th-century German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach once said, “Man is what he eats” or “We are what we eat.” How ironic is it to see that the claim of Feuerbach who himself was an atheist is so similar to our Eucharist practice! While Feuerbach said, “A man who enjoys only a vegetable diet is only a vegetating being…” or a vegetarian, we confess we are Eucharistic beings. Eating determines a specific identity that we would like to associate with. (All Feuerbach quotes are from the article “Was Feuerbach right: are we what we eat?” by Giovanni Cizza and Kristina I. Rother.) In this discussion of how eating defines who we are, I want us to push further than Feuerbach who limits this act of becoming only through eating food in a physical sense. It’s not just food through which we become what we are. As much as our body needs food to survive, sustain, and become who we are, our mind needs food too. What kind of food does the mind want and need? We feed ourselves on feelings and thoughts. I don’t mean to be abstract on this idea of the mind feeding on feelings, thoughts, perceptions, etc. because our actions say what the mind is doing. Do you remember when television used to be called “the idiot box” in a derogatory way? It doesn’t respond to us, and we simply watch whatever it shows. Our mind is occupied with and fed by whatever the box shows us. In our time, here come social media. Say, Instagram or TikTok. Video clips that are usually 24-31 seconds feed the mind with various resources from completely silly to educational and informative. One drastic difference between the box and social media is that we can actively create a program we desire. Not only the mind feeds on information through social media but also creates oneself as an influencer. The mind also feeds on various feelings. Rage is one spicy type of mental food that our society devours. Just look at our politics. People on either side take extreme measures and feed their minds on rage-driven thoughts and opinions that they sincerely believe are true. Back to the example of social media platforms just because they present different types of mental food: Yelp for gluttony that the mind fancies the idea of what to eat physically; Tinder for lust through which the mind seeks bodily pleasures; Instagram or TikTok that feeds the mind on inflated self-images. The list can go on. The point is both the body and the mind look for ingredients to feed on. This is not something we can avoid since it’s a part of our human nature. Once we stop eating in both physical and mental senses, we starve to death. So, the question to ask is not so much about how to stop eating which leads to anorexia but about what to feed on. The gospel lesson this morning provides us with what food we are to consume. Not junk food but healthy organic food cooked by the risen Christ. We see the two disciples of Jesus on their way to Emmaus. They encounter the risen Christ who prepares them with both mental and physical food. Let’s hear what they have to say about how their minds were fed: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” We don’t exactly know exactly what kind of mental ingredients they were filled with but can imagine their minds were deeply moved and touched, that their hearts were consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. The Breath of the risen Christ kindles the presence of the resurrection in their hearts, feeding their minds perpetually. Then, we see the risen Christ fixing physical food for them: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” The Eucharist opens the eyes of the two disciples to recognize the resurrection of Christ in their minds. So, our Book of Common Prayer’s welcoming words to Holy Communion goes, “Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.” Friends in Christ, our Sunday Eucharist is where we eat physically and mentally the food the risen Christ cooks for us. It is the holy banquet that creates and renews who we are and who we are to become. It is where we eat the food of the resurrection to be it. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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