Tuesday of the first week of Lent. The Gospel reading at
Mass today is about the prayer that the Lord taught his disciples, the “Our
Father.”
I was struck by a detail. When the prayer turns from words
about God to words about us, we make two requests – for bread and for forgiveness,
for hospitality and for healing and forgiveness. The second request has a
balance: forgive us as we forgive others. But the request doesn’t have anything
like that, just gimme. Why?
I think that the nature of hospitality, following Abraham, includes
balance, has a built-in balance. The host-guest relationship, like a marriage,
reflects the life of the Trinity: it starts with two people, but moves
inexorably toward unity. We welcome the Lord, and he feeds us: who’s the host?
Why do we ask for bread, not – say – meat and potatoes, or
kasha, or lovely rice pudding again? Why bread? Well, bread is the classic basic
food: when you’re packing to travel across the desert, bring some compact
bread. Bread is simple, but evocative: see Neruda’s “Ode to Bread.” It’s a
common food, simple nutrition, familiar to billions of people; but also, it’s
been used in religion (Eucharist) and politics (French Revolution). It touches
every level of human life. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God. Mostly, it’s the most familiar symbol we have
of unity: when we break bread together, this isn’t just about our bodies.
Give us bread, and draw us into forgiveness: hospitality and
healing are conjoined everywhere.
