No Picnic in the Park
Who doesn't like a b-b-q or a picnic
once in a while? That is one of the reasons why today’s Gospel appeals to so
many folks. Another reason is that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is
mentioned on all four gospels, twice each in St Mark and St Matthew. There is
every probability that Jesus hosted mass gatherings more than once.
There is a frequent pattern that
recurs in these stories. First, the need, then the loaves and fish are taken,
blessed, broken, distributed and the fragments are gathered up so that nothing
goes to waste.
People around the Mediterranean know
themselves as mangia molto cultures
of food. However, back in Jesus' day, a patriarchal culture had determined with
whom one could eat. One ate with one's family and one's most intimate friends.
The rare time that one might with strangers was when one was. Traveling and
staying at an inn. No McDonalds or Taco Bells back then!
This makes the miracles even more difficult for people back then
to process what Jesus is doing. By breaking down the barriers between whom one
could eat, Jesus was shaking up the religious protocols of the time. People are
hungry, so we feed them. Then, too, Jesus upset the Roman protocols of no mass
gatherings, in which people are seated orderly. Why the organization out in the
wilderness? Is this Jesus up to something? And what is the talk of making Him a
king? Pilate will take care of that on Good Friday.
They are many aspects of this popular
and familiar Gospel with which we can relate. However, these days with Pope
Francis' encyclical, we might focus a little more closely on the collection of
the fragments. No wasting food here!
Pope Francis, coming from Argentina,
is well aware of the good life that so many people live. In Argentina, for example,
every possible cut of meat is used for food. Very little gets wasted. However,
the out of sight, out of mind framework concerning the ones with less abundant
food, many peoples otherwise have a less clarified view. Despite the fact that
many have learned the familiar adage, "waste
not, want not", we don't make the waste of food the priority that
we should.
Catholic respect for food consumption
goes back to the Christian Scriptures. We hear about the common table shared in
the Acts of the Apostles and St Paul's letters. We hear, in imitation of Jesus,
the Jesus Movement wasted no food. St John Chrysostom, in the fourth century, "Whenever food is thrown away, it is
a crime against the poor."
Even, enemies of the Jesus Movement commented, in the same fourth
century, "These Christians not
only feed their own poor. They feed our poor as well."
Pope Francis makes the striking and
scandalous observation in the encyclical that one third of processed food is
discarded in more affluent cultures. He might have been the one who coined the
expressions, throwaway culture, the normalization of excess, and also, the
culture of indifference. As a willful
child says today, "I want what I want and I want it now."
Yes, waste of food is a Catholic
issue because it is a human is sure. We proclaim that all people have the right
to life. Logical and honest people add on that if we all have a right to life,
then we have a right to both potable water and nourishing food.
To throw away food in a world where
so many are dying of hunger each day, 25,000 comes to mind, the inter-connectedness
of reality points out the scandal of wasting food. One Irish priest in the area
makes it a point never to leave either potatoes or rice on a plate after a meal
because of a remind that in the eighteen forties, his ancestors were dying in
the Great Hunger of the potato famine, for what we throw away. The saving of
rice is an expression of solidarity with people today want for the rice which
so many casually throw away.
As a spokesperson for the silent
poor, Pope Francis continues a prophetic call to see all reality as
interrelated and connected. Some segments of society wonder why he challenges
the affluent, complacent nations of the world. Others think differently. “To blame population growth solely for
hunger is to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority
believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be
universalized, since the planet could not even contain the wasted products of
such consumption." He also speaks of days not so long ago when he
quotes American bishops, "As the
USA bishops have said, greater attention must be paid to the needs of the poor,
the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate of tern dominated by more powerful
interests."
In an ongoing effort at
"Catholic quantum economics, the Pope states, "Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways
of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as
avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating
the garbage, cooking what only could be reasonably consumed, showing care for
other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees,
turning off unnecessary lights or any number of other practices."
Popes talk now about using public
transport, about not wasting food and water, about planting trees and about
turning off the lights. We have come a long way from Jesus' collection of the
fragments in the loaves after his spontaneous picnics out in the wilderness. Or
have we? 072615AD jfq
