Eating From the Bread of Life vs. The Bread of Gluttony
Posted by Paul on February 11, 2010
“Look, I can’t help it. I’m only eating this pasta alfredo because I’m not eating steak or chicken, so it’s ok.” “So what if this pasta with vodka sauce is “cheating”, the only reason I’m even looking at pasta with vodka sauce is because I’m not eating a gyro or wings.”
Oh, I didn’t know that you’re the one who’s doing God the favor. God should be content with the fact that you’re “cheating” because you’re already doing Him the huge favor of not eating chicken, so He better not complain… right?
We are an eating people, a gluttonous people. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, “For we were not born, we do not live, in order to eat and drink; but we eat in order to live.” We forget that sometimes, and our stomachs rule us. When we “cheat” during Lent the only person we are “cheating” is ourselves, because we found a middle ground between what the Church wants us to do and what will keep our stomachs happy, and that middle ground is enough to sutain us until the end of the fasting period, and then we can convene our happy gluttony again. What kind of benefit is this at the end of Lent? Does God become glad at the fact that now we will eat beans instead of meat, or is it something else that makes Him glad? How does this prepare us for the Holy Passion week our Saviour endured for us, and for the glory of His Resurrection? Is there a point to our fasting if we stuff ourselves with pasta and whatever non fasting food comes our way? This makes us just as gluttonous as before the Lent, just using different means. So contrary to popular belief, this type of “fasting” does not make me a follower of Christ who has trained my body and my soul to hunger for Him, but it makes me a “Christian” who can now check off on my religion list that I fasted the Great Lent and feel good about myself that I can diet very well for 2/3 of the year. (The latter type of Christian is exactly what Marx means when he says religion is an ‘opium’ for people, this was the only side he saw, he never saw the former type of Christian- if you have no idea what I’m talking about don’t worry about it!)
We can use this idea of gluttony which we are familiar with as a stepping stone for understanding the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven, the Bread of Life which gives Life to the world, in John 6:32. Our Saviour Jesus Christ says in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” What does this mean? Put yourself at the dinner table, at the fast food restaurant, and at the gyro stand when you are obeying your stomach. You are physically feeding your stomach, because it is screaming at you to do so. The aftermath of feeding your stomach is to enjoy fullness, and a state of being content. If you fed your stomach beyond its capacity, you become so relaxed that you may desire to sleep. This is the same thing Christ desires to give us! He is telling us that He is the Bread of Life, the Food for our spirits. He will give our spirits fullness and allow us to be content. When we eat, our stomachs hunger again, but when Christ is present in our spirits we shall never hunger! No longer shall we pursue vain things to fill the gaping desire of our spirits, but we have That which fills us permanently! Father Matta el Miskeen says “Whenever physical hunger turned cruel against me, I found my gratification in prayer. Whenever the biting cold of winter was unkind to me, I found my warmth in prayer. Whenever people were harsh to me (and their harshness was severe indeed) I found my comfort in prayer. In short, prayer became my food and my drink, my outfit and my armor, whether by night or by day.” This father has found the True Bread of Life, and Christ feeds him continually. Praying out of yearning and earnest desire, reading the Bible eagerly to learn the Word of God more deeply, singing hymns and songs in our hearts to God, enjoying His presence and never forgetting Him for a fleeting moment, doing His will and loving others as much as ourselves, preaching His Holy gospel, rejoicing in His name and most importantly partaking of His Holy Body which He gave up for us all on the Cross; this is our food which feeds us continually. This is our spiritual food, and without it the spirit will choke. We must nourish our spirits daily with the Bread of Life and as He promised us in John 15, He will abide in us if we abide in Him.
Our bodies and spirits are connected and they come together to comprise our whole being. Let us avoid gluttony because it fills the outer body beyond necessity and makes it lazy, and full of transient food which strips the inner spirit of its hunger to seek its spiritual food. Let us not “cheat” just so we can make it past another Lenten season and fulfill our carnal desires, but let us take this gift of fasting the Church has granted to us as an opportunity to feel physical hunger, learn self control, fast from the passions and desires of the body and stomach, and channel this hunger into a desire to nourish the Spirit, and renew ourselves. Let us put aside our carnal hunger, in an effort to satisfy our spiritual hunger. Let us bring back to life and nourish our spirits which we have kept famished for so long.
