Are You Being Fed?

HIS:

As I begin each week with a question, I would like to use some poetic license and borrow from the British sitcom that ran from 1972 to 1985, “Are You Being Served?”  Or more precisely Are you being Fed?  This week Roamin’ Catholics attended the 5:00 pm Saturday evening Mass at Holy Cross Church in Garrett Park, MD with a special guest who will be with us for the next several weeks, Mary’s Dad – Ivan “Duck” Biletnikoff.  Ivan (although, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone call him that), Mr. B, Uncle Ducky or just plain Duck, will be up visiting with us for a bit over a month as part of his annual migration north to avoid the oppressive Florida heat and humidity.  It must be really bad down in FLA if the Washington, DC area is viewed as a refuge from heat and humidity!  So glad we have the opportunity to spend some quality time with him.  Duck is a trooper.  Raised Russian Orthodox, he attends Mass every week with his live in personal assistant and son, Ivan.  I think over the years he has attended more Catholic Masses than Russian Orthodox services.  I think this makes him an honorary (if not outright) Catholic.  We are glad to have the company.

Holy Cross was founded in 1961.  That’s all I got.  The church’s web page doesn’t have a whole lot in the way of history.  The building is of a 60’s vintage.  Not quite the modern style that we see from many of the churches we’ve been to lately that were built in the 70s and 80s but also, not quite the style of churches from the first half of the 20^th century.  The most dramatic feature is the stained glass windows that line the two sides of the church.  They are grouped together with each grouping telling a story such as the Resurrection of Christ.  The Nave is quite dramatic in its scale for a relatively small church with its soaring ceiling and wooden roof trusses.  Overall, I would say the church was simple and utilitarian without a lot of bling (minus the windows.)

This week’s readings especially struck me as ones written for mass (no pun intended) appeal or at least the translators went for that.  While the readings typically run on a cycle (we were told yesterday that the gospel readings right now are on a three year rotation) I can’t say that I remember hearing such common language as grumble or grumblings.  This is what the Israelites did while wandering in the desert after their deliverance from Egypt.  They were grumbling that they were dying of hunger and would have been better off if they stayed in Egypt.  This leads me to this week’s question, are you being fed?  The Israelites complaint about hunger, on its surface would lead one to the simplest explanation, feeding the body.  I believe this is more about feeding the soul.  As we were told last week, there is a correlation between the first reading and the gospel reading.  The gospel reading elaborates on the hunger theme.  Do not work for food that perishes.  What can we do to accomplish the works of God?  This is where this week’s celebrant took us in his homily.  I must admit that it felt a little bit like being scolded.  However, one thing I have learned on my journey this year is to listen more closely to the message and tune out the noise.  I do truly believe we need to be prepared as we live our lives.  If we truly believe that we receive the Body of Christ during mass (this is not some magic trick as the homilist put it), then this most certainly includes being prepared to receive the Holy Eucharist.  Preparation includes cleansing one’s self from sin which means going to confession often and living your best life.  I am human (I know this is a bit of a disappointment and shock to some of you out there)and something I once heard resonated with me, going to church makes you a Christian about as much as standing in a garage makes you a car.  I think there are far too many people out there who claim to be “good” people or pious, who instead are parking their cars on the street in a bad neighborhood (call me if you need explanation J.)  Upon reflection, I think the reason I go to church is to feed my soul.  I don’t have all the answers, in fact I have more questions than answers and the message I hear each week helps me sort things out a bit.  We watched the movie Downsizing with Matt Damon Friday night.  I would give the movie at most three stars, but the message I took away from it was that there is more to life than surviving.  You need to give back to your community; this is how you feed yourself.  This journey Mary and I are on is most certainly very satisfying.  Not just the Roamin’ journey, but the one I’ve been on for the past 25+ years with the love of my life.

Dinner this week was at Matchbox in Rockville.  A bit of a violation of my rule, no chains.  Matchbox is another one of those fast casual restaurants that has a formula to it.  Neither the food nor the restaurant is ever going to win any Michelin stars or any Zagat rating for that matter, but we needed something a bit less adventurous for our guest.  I put this one in the category that Del Friscos is in.  We won’t be rushing back anytime soon.   Live life like you mean it.

HERS:
Do you find that when you do something over and over again it becomes routine? Furthermore, when something becomes routine we sometimes take if for granted? Lou and I have been married for over 25 years... and being the math girl that I am, I crunched those numbers on my trusty calculator to find that correlates to 9,425 wakeups with the same person. Does that sometimes become routine? Do I sometimes take Lou for granted? I'm not going to lie... yes and yes. (sorry hun) I took some liberties, but this is one of the concepts that was discussed in the homily of the 5:00 Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Garret Park, MD. This was this week's selected site to feed our souls with bread of the lasting type (this will make sense as you continue to read)...

From the outside, Holy Cross Church looked rather small and compact, however, when we walked in, I was surprised to see a long albeit narrow church with a soaring ceiling supported by large wood trusses. The church was rather plain, with its most notable feature in my estimation to be the large and vibrant stained glass windows on both sides of the church. The most notable feature of the Church with the big "C" (the people) was the age of the celebrating community. This has to be one of the first masses we have attended with a large older population. And speaking of, we had a guest attending with us... my dad, who is staying with us and hopefully will roam with us over the next four weekends.

So back to the Mass. The readings and the gospel focused on the concepts of bread and The Bread of Life. There was a correlation between the first reading (from the Old Testament) and the gospel (from the New Testament). In the first reading, Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert and they were grumbly and unhappy and hungry. They complained to Moses that they were going to starve to death. Moses related their unhappiness to the Lord who (long story short) gave them bread to quell their hunger. Do we ever get grumbly and unhappy and hungry? What do we do about it? Do we complain? Do we try to make things better?

Jump over the Responsorial Psalm and the Second Reading to the Gospel, we find the people are asking Jesus what they can do to accomplish the works of God. Jesus tells them they must eat of the bread that will not leave them hungry. He said,

"I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

What does this mean? When we eat bread, or anything for that matter, it fills us and squelches our hunger temporarily, but after a period of time, we have to eat again. I think the reference to "The Bread of Life" speaks of Jesus. If we keep God and Jesus as the focus in our lives through prayer, etc. then we will not be hungry.

So here's what I took from the homily. I think the points the priest made were very good, however, I found his delivery to be a bit lacking. One of the points he made was that as Catholics we receive Jesus, the Bread of Life, through the Eucharist. He cautioned that we cannot let this become routine where we take it for granted. Just like anything else, when we do something over and over again, we can run the risk of it become routine and thus we may take it for granted. His suggestion was that we prepare - by going to confession, by thinking about what we are doing rather than just "going through the motions", by praying, etc. Routine happens. I think recognizing it is the first step of breaking the cycle of routine.

I don't want to leave non-Catholics out of this by any means. Anyone who has a belief in God knows that it is more than just saying "I believe in God". We have to put this into action through prayer, in the way we treat others, and in the way we prepare to live our lives. Another point made was, "The sacraments aren't magic". As Catholics, if we confess our sins in confession, but aren't sorry and keep committing the same sin, we are expecting magic. If we receive Communion, but do nothing else, we are expecting magic. If we plan a beautiful wedding and make that the focus but do nothing to keep the marriage alive, we are expecting magic. And so on with the other Sacraments.

Back to the 9,425 wake ups I have had with Lou... they haven't happened because we got married. They happen because of love, work, listening, tears, arguments, boredom, prayer, commitment, more work, laughter, fights, hearing, smiles, communication, more commitment, more laughter, Roamin', understanding, grit, and once in a while because of sheer luck. Anyone who is/was married knows it ain't easy.

To feed our bodies with "bread" of the non-lasting type, our pack of three headed to Matchbox in Rockville, MD. This is a non-descript restaurant where the host/hostesses lack common sense. Side note people: When seating a party with an 81 year old, you do not drag them through the winding mile long journey to the recesses of the restaurant. My question as to whether we could sit in a booth at the 1/2 mile point was a subtle hint... one that you did not pick up. Well, at least they didn't make us climb the multiple dozens of stairs to the second floor. Anyway, I digress...

The boys had burgers and I had a mini artichoke and pesto pizza. Overall the food was good and the company was amusing. All in all, some good Roamin'!

As always, we end with our Soulfie…