Saying Grace
Pausing before a meal is a chance to give thanks, and to honor the moment as a threshold place in the midst of daily activity.
It is to take time and to celebrate a world so replete with goodness and beauty, nourishing body and soul.
From fields and forests, to mountain steps and seas, our world is overflowing with color, shape, texture, taste, and aroma. Our Father in Heaven made the earth a banquet to behold!
Saying Grace is an opportunity to reflect on the miracle of this super abundance, and to give thanks to all those who helped bring this bounty to our table: from the farms, the orchards, and the sea.
And also to give thanks to those who, long ago, discovered the magic of combination: flour, water, salt, and yeast to make bread; and countless mixtures of things that bring sustenance and joy.
From vineyards and groves and fields of grain, we have been given “wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains.” (1)
The people sat in the grass. Taking the five loaves, and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. (2)
“At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turned one hundred and eighty gallons of water into the wine of divine life, an intoxication of grace. When we are infused with the divine life, life never runs out.” (3)
“You prepare a table before me . . . You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (4)
The earth is a place of rhythm, cycle, and pattern: the sun and the moon, daylight and night; a young sunflower turning its face to follow the sun’s transit across the sky; the sea tides rising and falling with the moon. “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (5)
References:
(1) Psalm 104:16
(2) Matthew 14:19
(3) Bishop Robert Barron, The Luminous Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2EjBt2PFpc
(4) Psalm 23:5
(5) Psalm 23:6
Image:
Paul Cezanne, La Corbeille de Pommes, circa 1893; Public Domain; additional collage by Juliette Pierce Kent.