Bread
Seventy-eight years equals 2,459,808,000 seconds which are 28,470 days of life spent on this earth from the time we are born to when we die during which time we weep approximaely 77 liters of tears, blink our eyes 515 million times and laugh as an adult about ten times a day while a child smiles about 50 times a day. We are born in the company of at least 20 million other men and women of whom an incredibile number will die of hunger, disease, violence, war or deprivation within a few years of being born At least 20% of the time they will suffer from depression and less important psychic disturbances. Of these earthly companions only small percentage will live possessing and completely managing 90 percent of the earth’s resources, making it very, very difficult for the others to live serenely with dignity.
We dream about a hundred thousand dreams and thousands of chilometers of hair grows on our heads, we walk a distance that is equal to three times the diameter of the Earth. We drink almost ten thousand cups of coffee and we make our stomach digest thirty tons of food. We spend from 10 to 15 years of our lives at work, 20 sleeping, three in the bathroom, almost a year in traffic jams, another year approximately waiting for people to answer the telephone, 12 years in front of the television and about 20 days looking for the remote control. On the average we spend 36 years sitting down, and to express ourselves and spin our relational web we pronounce something like 130 million words of which only a tenth will really be listened to and only 2% really understood.
For the greater part we spend the rest of the time, that is a fifth of our existence, assailed by frequent, unexplainable moods of sadness and irritablility, little if any pleasure or interest for any activity, a loss or increase in appetite or weight. On top of that we can add insomnia or feeling tired and sleepy, guilt feelings and loss of self-esteem , difficulty in finding ways to get the pampering and physical contact we need, difficulty in thinking autonomously, in concentrating, in deciding. All of this together with social, political and economic, relational, sexual, affective tensions which assail us like ticks together with fines, taxes and mortgages.
It can be said without any shadow of doubt that life, living, staying alive in these conditions is a miracle.
In these conditions it is not at all strange that in the Western world the most sold chemical nutrients – nutrient so to speak - for human use for our body and brain are psychotropic drugs, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications. It is not the only chemical nutrient that is used as a coadjuvant but certainly the most sold and used one.
Americans alone are popping more antidepressants than ever before not to mention other chemicals and illegal drugs. Drugs are the favorite diet to face and resolve problems. We use drugs for young people who have lost existential energy and interest in school, for hyperactive children, for adults with psychological difficulties. It is the food of our society, the bread of our daily lives. At other times in the past the reasons for existential malaise were perhaps different and the bread of compensation was different. Each time and place has its own compensating bread.
In the light or rather in the obscurity of this state of things, Jesus’ proposal becomes, if nothing else, an interesting, curious opportunity. With his disarming innnocence and simplicity he proposes himself, his person as bread of life, for life. He proposes to humanity an unusual nonetheless extraordinary diet. He proposes Himself, His person as food and drink for men and women. He proposes that we learn to nourish ourselves with Jesus, or rather of him, of his Word, of his being, of his life. Jesus offers himself as food and drink, as nourishment and energy, an award winning, vital diet. Jesus proposed the Eucharist instead of drugs, His word instead of chemical substances. To the men and women who are famished and without energy, Jesus proposes that they change their thoughts, their way of thinking. In the light of knowledge of His word, He proposes an intimate union of the human heart with the love and sweetness of His person through the Eucharist. Jesus offers himself in the Eucharist as the complete bread and beverage, full nourishment. The Eucharist is a complete and powerful bread because it is the meeting place of the human and the spritual, celebration, praise, song, gratitude, forgiveness we ask of the Father, and forgiveness we offer our brothers, the Word to listen to and to absorb which increases our interior vision and knowledge, the sharing of possessions and talents, adoration, benediction, peace.
Here is Jesus’ proposal: the Eucharistic bread in order to have in oneself the divine force to face life and to experience the Divine frequencies of gratuitousness and of gratitude and the Blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all evil and to wash away every sin committed against the love and beauty of life.
Jesus does not resolve the problems of the world but he offered himself to face the spiritual circuits of man’s heart and mind where all problems of the world originate.
Jesus does not render life easy but radically different and happier. Nourishing the mind and the heart with food furnished by history is one thing, nourshing onself with Jesus’ Word and bread is another.
Jesus is not in fashion, nor will he ever be, but he is the bread, the only bread, as he himself called himself.
It is the best, most sincere and efficacious nourishment that exists, all you have to do is try it. Talking about Jesus will get you nowhere, one needs to test, to follow, to belong to, to try what he says. After trying everything and everyone, it is only fair to try Him, to listen to Him. But pay attention! You can fall into a terrible, tremendous trap. One must not follow and listen to what they tell us about Him, but what He said,
as He said it. It is not the same thing, it is absolutely not the same thing! What has been said in good and bad faith thoughout the centuries has nothing to do whatsoever with what He said and did. Not everything Jesus said is immediately intelligible. We will understand later by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the Gospel, at least where it is even now comprehensible, immediate and simple, mut be taken just as it is. All you
have to do is try it, put it into practice. Try living, experimenting the best you can the bread of Jesus’ Word.
There is nothing else to do but to try and to see if that bread which enters silently in adoration, powerful in comunion, vital in celebration really offers results of joy and liveability, energy, and intelligence more advantageous than other human breads.
All you have to do is try.