Feast

I believe, when I was first introduced to my then boyfriend’s family at the tender age of 16, was the beginning of me looking at food from a whole different perspective.  Sitting around my future in-laws’ dinner table acquainted me with so many different kinds of meals and started to awaken my tastebuds.  In defense of my mom, I was difficult, to say the least, in my food preferences.  Who insists on having them bake chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips?  But suddenly, l started to enjoy these feast of flavors when we came together for even the simplest of meals.  Not wanting to be left out of the feast, I found myself sampling fruits, vegetables and recipes foreign (to me) that I would have turned my nose up in the past.

So began my adventure, that still continues to this day, when it comes to enjoying a feast at home or dining out.  I confess – I’m a foodie!

But that brings me to this time of year – Lent.  It’s a time of giving up those things we are prone to let seep in during the year.  The many habits that distract us, turning us away from where our focus should remain.  Out Lent is a time of inner reflection in order to renew our relationship on our journey with Jesus.  It’s not always about getting what we want in this world!  Yes, even the whole bag of potato chips.

Being called to make even the smallest of sacrifices turns our physical minds from clinging to our earthly destructive practices and awaken our souls to what is the true feast.  Did you ever notice that by removing the “e” from feast then becomes a fast?  Removing our own desires, bad habits and focusing on the true feast of what will become the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ at Easter, is molding us into His disciples.  It is in the fast, the sacrifice, that we are able to eventually add the “e” that allows us to join and enjoy the feast of our Lord.

I pray that you will begin, along with me, in your own fast, whether it’s in your food choices, destructive words or addictive practices during these 40 days of Lent.  The reward is what awaits us in the true feast!  Amen

“It is written:  ‘One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”  Matthew 4:4