Breaking bread around the family table

Reflection for the memory of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and of Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr

Find today’s readings here.

When I was little, we almost always ate together at the family table. My mother or my aunt, or often both, would prepare a delicious meal, especially on Sundays, when there was always a special dessert. (Confession: I have a sweet tooth, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that in these thoughts yet!)

Sunday was my favorite day, because we made a point of waiting until everyone had gotten home from their commitments (work, sports, social events, or church) before we could finally sit down and enjoy a meal and quality time together. In my even more impatient teenage years, I didn’t fully appreciate the loving insistence of this time-honored tradition. My cousin and I often got nervous, wondering why we had to waste our Sunday waiting for everyone to arrive just so we could finally eat and get on with our day (which mostly consisted of playing game shows or retiring to our rooms). It wasn’t until later, as a Jesuit, when Sunday became the busiest day of the week and we no longer had time to sit down and cook gourmet meals and laugh, that I began to understand the value of the time we shared each week. It was important to us to simply be together as a family – intentionally – and enjoy each other’s company, perhaps more than the sumptuous food.

St. Paul’s instruction to the community of Corinth therefore resonates literally and deeply within me:

Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

Normally, when I prepare these Bible reflections for readers, I delve into Bible commentaries and historical context to gain a deeper understanding of the passage. However, today, my prayer brought me back to the memory lane, encouraging me to cherish the sublime simplicity of experiences that I had once too easily dismissed, or even longed for some weeks.

I wonder what might happen if we allowed ourselves to pass the time and wait patiently until everyone was ready to join us at the table and was ready to eat, drink and have fun together?

I look forward to those Sunday afternoons again, even though we regularly eat and laugh together as a community, it’s just not the same day of the week. Those long lunches, passing delicious food and sampling a medley of flavors and aromas, from fragrant roasts to fresh salads to the mouthwatering desserts that followed, were unique. Conversation flowed freely and lunch quickly turned into dinner as we savored the joy of being there for each other. There was nothing left to accomplish that day, even though we kids thought we had “things to do,” “people to see,” and “places to go.”

St. Paul, recalling the Lord’s words at the Last Supper, offers us this profound reminder: “Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” It is good to remember the hope contained in Paul’s proclamation: that God will return, fill our hearts anew, and give us new life. This is what happened at our family table in Johannesburg; no matter the week or the disagreements we may have had, we were ready to seek new life with one another at the beginning of a new week. Can we break bread now and do the same?