I smiled at this question, for it was only a matter of time before her name would come up. I had been talking with this parishioner about musical artists popular on both sides of the Atlantic: Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Usher, and Jay-Z. We even went old school, getting nostalgic over the Fugees, Blackstreet, and Boyz II Men. Then he asked the question. Oh, that Lady Gaga. But it was his follow-up statement that took me by surprise.
He became serious and looked down, shaking his head. “What a waste of good meat. You know how many kids saw that here and how long some of them have gone without meat?” He was 110% genuine. I was taken aback. A fashion stunt by a musical artist, meant to shock and create dialogue, had a vastly different effect on the people of this country. No matter how hard we may believe that we live in a bubble or try to hide under a “right to privacy,” what we do affects others.
I witnessed a crowd of people in the market suddenly break out into a sprint last week. They all began running down a side street, many of their faces contorted in anger. It reminded me of high school when all the students would sprint across campus to witness a fight; I wasn’t too far off. I asked Fr. Francis what was going on. “They’re chasing a thief.” Stealing from one person is akin to stealing from the whole community here, and the community gets angry. Fr. Francis said that it is not uncommon for thieves to run straight to the police station because “they’ll live longer if they get to the police.” He wasn’t joking.
Our bread is not just our bread, and our cuts of meat…umm, err, are not…just our own cuts of meat. We pray for God to supply our daily bread—not just my daily bread. That is, we pray for bread for the world, and for those with abundance to share their earthly wealth. St. John Chrysostom said that, “every bite of bread in one way or another is a bite of the bread that belongs to everyone, of the bread of the world.”
-Bob
written 07/03/11
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