One Bread, One Body

For the last few weeks I have been wanting to write about bread. We’ve been reading a lot about it in church and Father Darrell’s sermons have recently been about bread. I love bread so this is right up my alley. This week though bread takes on a completely different definition.

We are on the eve of Picnic eve. This week is always very busy but we’re getting to the point that we’re pretty much ready for the Picnic. And I got to thinking, there were two fish and 5 loaves that Jesus took and fed the crowds. We have a little bit more food at the Picnic but there is always the fear of running out. Sometimes we do but most of the time we have plenty. You see, if you come to the Picnic and go eat dinner, it is all that you can eat. It is all the BBQ Pork and Mutton and fried chicken you can eat. It is all the tomatoes and green beans and corn and slaw and potato salad and black eyed peas that you can eat. It is all the pies and cakes and other deserts that you can eat.

That’s just in the dining hall.

You can buy BBQ by the pound right off of the pits. You can get a BBQ pork or mutton sandwich. You can even get BBQ nachos. You can get a hamburger or hotdog too. Of course there is plenty of Sundrop to quench your thirst. You can get an ice cream cone or some ice cream with a brownie. You can get fresh kettle corn.

That’s around the picnic grounds.

If you go to the country store you can buy fresh baked goodies like brownies and cookies. There are also jars of jellies and jams and maybe some pickles. These are all donated by parishioners.

The thing about all of this food is that it is prepared, made and sold by the Parishioners and friends of St. Jerome Catholic Church in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. They do this as volunteers. No one gets paid. They do it because of the tradition of the Picnic. They do it because of their faith. Now you won’t find anyone preaching at you over the weekend. There will be prayers, for sure. But our community prefers to share our faith by our deeds, not our words.

So, let’s talk about bread. There will be bread in the dining hall. I always found it so interesting where a loaf of bread was cut in half and was on the table. With all of the food at the dinner who had room for bread? There will be bread in the form of hamburger buns for the BBQ or hamburgers. There will be bread for the hotdogs. There might be some fresh baked bread in the country store.

But the bread we care about the most will be at Mass Friday morning. The Body of Christ is what we do all of this for. And not just the Eucharist. We, the people putting on this picnic, are the Body of Christ. We are the Church. We are the community of St. Jerome. We are one bread. We are one body.