Eucharistic Eyes

Understanding how our body is not a tube

07/30/2024

Mt 13:36-43 Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

Nothing contributes more to human happiness and flourishing than a good meal. And incidentally, nothing causes more human misery and despair than a bad meal. We know this to be true on the physical, biological level because eating more vegetables, fruits, and fish makes us healthier.

I mentioned to my mom recently as I was devouring a handful of French fries, “Oh, don’t worry, mom, I’ll go for a run and burn it off.” My mom, a smart registered nurse, remarked: “Son, your body is not a tube, where food just goes in and out.” That is, what you eat affects you, sometimes in profound and even in permanent ways. It is not a tube.

But proper eating can also affect us on the spiritual and sacramental level. Bishop Robert Barron observed that all our spiritual problems began with a bad meal – Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. But the good news I that all our problems are ultimately also resolved when we gather to eat the best meal, namely, the Mass, where we sit down at table not only with our brothers and sisters, but with the Son of God, our Host.

In other words, it is table fellowship, especially experienced in the Eucharist, that promotes the highest form of human flourishing possible called holiness. At the very heart of the entire human enterprise, therefore, is learning to eat right. Why? Well, because our body is not a tube.

I would suggest to you that we try to read the entire Bible with “eucharistic eyes.” What do I mean? Well, just like we can intuit how eating is so essential to our basic contentment and peace, so God has engineered human beings so that he can save us through a sacred meal. Consider these eucharistic examples. It is not by accident that Jesus was born in Bethlehem – literally meaning “house of bread.”

He was placed in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Through eucharistic eyes, we are see Jesus as food for the world. Whenever Jesus speaks of wheat and wine, like in today’s gospel from Matthew 13, we should not see accidental or arbitrary imagery, as if Jesus is just using whatever first pops into his mind. Rather, all his parables, indeed, all his teaching and activity, is aimed at a specific target, in a word, the Eucharist.

So, in Lk 22:15, when Jesus opens his heart and says: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” he is indicating in effect that this sacred meal I what I have been teaching you about all along. In other words, just like all our problems began with a bad meal, so this Eucharistic banquet, the truly good meal, will be the solution to all our problems, indeed, it will be our salvation. After all, your body is not a tube.

In this context I want to make a brief comment about the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics, and the possible parody of the Last Supper. If you haven’t heard about it, there was a rather distasteful runway scene where an actor portrayed the Greek god Dionysus (also known as Bacchus), hosting a feast and everyone, including transgender people, gathering to eat, drink, and be merry.

If that is all that occurred, it could perhaps be excused and ignored as another example of foolish French frivolity. But apparently, there was a moment in which the actors paused and seemed to sit in positions at a table strikingly reminiscent of Leonardo DaVinci’s famous depiction of the Last Supper.

That pause caused several Catholic theologians and bishops to speak out against an apparent attack on the Eucharist, the heart of the Christian faith. They are certainly within their right to do so. But I feel that reaction may prove to be counter-productive, like giving too much attention to a rebellious toddler who only wants more attention.

My only point is that even this attack on the Eucharist, if it was intentional, ends up underscoring and emphasizing the fact that a feast is the key to human happiness and to human wretchedness. That is, a disordered meal, in the style of the debauchery of Dionysus/Bacchus, devoid of God, will lead to misery; while only the sacred meal of the Eucharistic banquet, hosted by the Son of God, will lead to true peace and joy.

In a sense, even the Opening Ceremonies could see life through “eucharistic eyes”(whereas we are normally blind to such enormous eucharistic themes) – that everything depends on what kind of meal you are sitting down to eat – and in that sense they got answer right (meals matter), but for all the wrong reasons. Why? Well, because as my mom would tell me, “Your body is not a tube.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!