Jesus is revealing to the people the essence of Mystery, a God who is alive, evolving, becoming. He uses living metaphors to imagine this essential vitality of Divinity. For example, Jesus speaks of bread, also of drink and of shared meals. The deep meaningfulness of living, of being and feeling alive nourished by a vital God is longed for by so many people. Such a God is sadly rejected by others.
We are real flesh and blood creatures in need of real bread, real drink, real meals. We are Mysterious spiritual beings in need of communion. A spirituality of communion rooted in physical reality is growing around the world. One of its many expressions can be experienced in the local food movement. Throughout most of human history almost all food was local. Food was tended to and harvested in nearby acreage. In the U.S. this was done within the trauma of slavery, disease, dustbowls, and war. After WWII, in addition to our own back yards, we would likely get our milk, meat, or eggs from a farmer whose pasture was within 50 to 100 miles from our home. As the post war years went on however, the farmer, the food grown, and its trip to our table changed dramatically. Much of that change revolved around technology for processing food. More and more, food was made ‘instant’ on the scale of mass production as had been done for the G.I. diet. Concurrent with improved technologies for mass produced processed food was improved technologies for using mass produced war chemicals on that food. Poisonous chemicals originally used in the war were transitioned into pesticides and herbicides for use on food in our fields. One purveyor of the chemical warfare on food is a company responsible for chemical warfare on people. The company is probably best known for micro-chemical work to develop the aspirin, Bayer. Bayer was originally part of I.G. Farben and during WWII, in support of Hitler’s Third Reich, it built chemical plants next to concentration camps. This summer, Bayer bought another deadly chemical company, Monsanto. This past week Monsanto was held responsible for poisoning people and food. The long overdue court ruling was against its Round-Up products. Bayer will be buying and using Monsanto’s many poisons but dropping the infamous name for its own also infamous name. Both names, Monsanto and Bayer, are the epitome of those who reject a vital witness to our human communion and therefore to a communion of life. They are purveyors of multinational poisonous products not local nutritious food.
We desire the deep meaningfulness of living, of being and feeling alive nourished by a vital earth and a vital community. The local food movement is one expression of such vitality. Other expressions include the organic food movement, sustainable agriculture and sustainable living, Additional expressions of vital living are coalescing around a movement that is referred to as Farm to Table, Farm to Fork, Farm to School, and Farm to Institution. Each strives to bring healthy living food to nourish healthy living people.
Prayer: Spirit, we live in communion with all people
Question: Who else can I invite to my table?
August 19, 2018 Gospel John 6:51-58 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time