Finding time to fill the hungry with good things!

James Cathcart December 13, 2022 0 3

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Luke 1: 46-55 (NRSVA)

46 And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Deeply significant spiritual moments don’t usually involve broccoli.

Or, at least not in my experience.

But let me tell you about one that did.

I’m standing in the kitchen and I carefully put down a chopping mat and gingerly remove a knife. I take a breath. Something extraordinary and mind bending is about to happen.

I turn to the fridge and pull out the broccoli and carefully wash it before cutting small pieces which I then inspect before placing in a steamer. The blender stands nearby, awaiting its turn.

Now, before you think I’m about to wax lyrical about having a green smoothie I’ll try and unbury the lead… I’m about to make a meal for my daughter. Her first ever meal that is at least semi-solid. She’s sitting in a high-chair, itself a recent phenomenon, eyes wide, grinning, and seemingly more prepared for this profound encounter than I am.

The broccoli, once steamed to compliance, is mixed with a little milk and blended into a bright purée (or green sludge). This cooled, verdant slurry is brought to the highchair and my daughter is glowing like a star at dusk, shining with otherworldly possibility. My wife and I look at each other, here it is: time to fill the hungry with good things.

And what happens next is a vibrant, hilarious, messy, richly spiritual sequence. One that even ends up with some broccoli getting in her mouth. We have taken our tiny darling and introduced something entirely new to her system, we watch and wait in wonder.

Over two years later and there’s been a lot of munching since. Broccoli florets are now grabbed and the tops bitten off with glee (the stalks regretfully cast aside). This ongoing sensory, scientific and spiritual exploration of feeding my daughter is a microcosm of the universal human experience of providing for one another. Often at Christmas we are preoccupied with how to fill ourselves with good things, but Mary’s words remind us that there is an elemental world-changing power in feeding others. We have to get better at this, we have to rediscover the wonder that is feeding another human being.

PRAYER:

Provider of all,

We must do better at feeding our world

Help us to rediscover the metaphysical awe.

Amen.