Give us each day our daily bread
Again, as
with last week, a lot of saints have written about this “Give us each day our
daily bread” in connection to the Eucharist…but again I would like to also
reflect on the literal meaning of this phrase “give us each day our daily
bread.”
I have been
reflecting a lot on food and its role in my life recently. I have been thinking about how much food we have
beyond “our daily bread” in America,
and I have also
been wrestling with the quality of our food, its mass production, wasteful
packaging, etc.
In Laudato
Si, Pope Francis wrote about food, and the importance of shifting to more
sustainable small scale food production.
Currently most
of our food in the US is produced on a massive scale in very concentrated
places with lots of chemicals and preservatives and shipped around the country.
Also, our extra
food produced is shipped to other countries, destroying their local farming
systems and making them dependent on foreign shipments of food.
We have tons
of food at our disposal, but not many people know how to farm, how
to raise and slaughter cows, chickens and goats and grow vegetables. However, I do see a lot of positive signs in
our communities of Clay County and Putnam County.
First of
all, I think that is what is great about the 4h clubs in each county. Young people learn how to raise animals, cows,
chickens goats, grow crops, etc.
There are
also lots of parishioners who farm, grow gardens, and can their food for the
winter.
There are
also lots of parishioners who raise cattle, goats and chickens. Consider buying your meat and eggs from them.
There are
also farmer’s markets throughout my parish boundaries which are a great way to
buy local food
As we think
about practical ways that we can ensure everyone has their daily bread, let us
think local. Catholic Social Teaching
actually has a word for thinking local called subsidiarity. It means doing things like food production at
the most local level possible.
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