October 9, 2009
The Bishop's Forum
The Year for Priests: From whence a priest?
by Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger
Sixth of a series: The family table
A family farm brings its own set of required disciplines. These are imposed by outside pressures, e.g. cows needing milking or hungry hogs vocalizing their needs, roosters announcing the day and eggs needing gathering, hay making for winter feeding, harvesting and threshing the grain and baling and storing straw for bedding for the milk cows, canning of fruit from the garden, while wild strawberries and blackberries awaited young pickers in spite of chiggers and hot sun.
Those disciplines allowed for few variations many years ago. Time has changed some of them; they nonetheless require compliance by farmers lest there be failure of the farm. Sustenance of the family depending on its success demands it.
But presenting only the reality of hard work on the farm omits the unspeakable joy that was celebrated around the family table. We were not only able to share the fruits of our labors with healthy and delicious food; we also shared the joys and trials of the day. It was a daily communion for us sharing the common meal won by our own efforts and hands.
All too often missing in representing this reality is the joy that is celebrated around the family table. Until one experiences it is difficult to express the power of that simple act of sharing at the common table. Unless one has had the experience, it is hard to comprehend it.
In our family there were two meals shared by all: breakfast and supper. Ordinarily the main meal, dinner, was at noon. Sometimes during the summer the noon meal was shared in the fields and supper became the main meal. Those meals both celebrated the family. We did not know the theological language to express it. We did not need such language. We just lived it!
There were also those special meals of communion with neighbors and family. Threshing dinners were the most remarkable for the adolescent boys and young men. Being engaged with and respected by the adult members of a Christian rural community, we grew in personal self esteem and respect for our elders because of their trust in us, knowing that they depended on us. The men were grateful, and the women rewarded us with scrumptious meals.
Jesus chose the dinner table to give us his Body and Blood as acceptable food. At the Last Supper, he gathered his family around him. They shared a meal, a communion. So it is that the communion of a family around the table is the exact pattern that Jesus gave us to help us appreciate Holy Communion. The difference is that Jesus is the Sacred Food that we share with our brothers and sisters of the community from the common table of the altar every time Holy Eucharist is celebrated. The Sacred Food of the Eucharist was won by the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross.
Understanding the importance of the family meal provides us deeper insights into appreciating Holy Communion at the Eucharistic meal. Without it, Holy Mass becomes just a ritual. That would be tragic!