As a child I had a practice of making sure blank pieces of paper were completely filled with words or doodling before I threw them away. The nuns at school taught us to consider the starving children in Africa and Asia when we were tempted to waste food, but they said nothing about paper! No one back then thought about wasting paper! They also didn’t throw things like toys, household appliances or gadgets into the trash. Most things could be fixed when they broke, or could be used for parts to fix something else or create something new. Things were built to LAST, so the idea of “waste” wasn’t something we talked about much.
The one seemingly disposable thing I DID use as a kid was paper. It not only seemed wasteful to throw away blank paper, it felt WRONG, almost irreverent. I felt something sacred in the “things” of the world, in paper, and it followed that everything required my respect.
I believe I came to this sense of appreciation by absorbing a deeply sacramental attitude toward the world and all of life. It was a direct result of learning that simple, ordinary things like water, oil, candles, fire, bread and wine had the power to draw us into a deep awareness of God’s presence in the world, in the community and in me.
This sacramental sensitivity opened the door to an awareness of the sacred in this moment, this place, this person, this food to the point that God’s presence could be tasted, savored, and viscerally experienced.
This sacramental way of approaching the physical world is one of the most powerful and precious gifts of Catholic tradition in my opinion. It is a way of seeing that rubs against the grain of a culture bent on extracting and trashing natural resources as a way of life. A sacramental mindset reverences the holy in all things. It takes no “thing” for granted because the inner substance of everything is the flesh and blood of earth, God’s beautiful Creation, God’s own life in a form we can taste, touch, smell, hear and see.
All of it can be used for harmful purposes, of course, but all Creation is holy in and of itself. Native peoples have always known this. God permeates every nook and cranny of our world. Mystics see God everywhere and in everything. As sacramental people we are invited to see the world in this same way and meet the sacred in every moment by being present to all that it can teach us about God. As Jesus knew, the kingdom of heaven is here on earth if only we can see it.
In today’s first reading the Prophet Isaiah says, “The hand of the Most High rests on this mountain.” Here is the teaching. God’s hand rests here on the sacred text we call EARTH. “On this mountain, the God of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all peoples.” Out of the very stuff of earth God prepares no ordinary meal, but a feast full of wonder—a banquet meant to not only nourish, but to delight and uplift everyone on earth, all peoples and all nations.
Jesus comes along with another parable about the kingdom of heaven. It is like a feast prepared for a grand and expensive wedding. It is an extravagant affair, the kind no one in his or her right mind should want to miss. But those who are invited actually refuse to come! When the ruler persists in asking, some pay no attention and simply go on about their business as though their concerns are so much more important than what the banquet has to offer. Others actually kill the workers rather than go to the feast!
On the surface it’s hard to make sense of refusing an opportunity like this, but if you are anything like me, there are times I’ve placed a higher priority on completing a pressing task than on heeding an invitation to refresh and renew my spirit in some simple way. Responding to an invitation to stop, to be still and mindful in the moment, can be one of the hardest things we do. Saying “yes” to sitting quietly in the sun, feeling its warmth, or simply delighting in the rare visit of a woodpecker on a branch of the lilac outside my window would seem to be the easiest of all choices! But there are phone calls to return, email to read, a newsletter to write, people to contact, and countless household tasks pulling me away from God’s invitation to sit for a moment and become aware of heaven’s presence in and around me, to experience the holiness of all that is of earth.
There is an amazing banquet waiting for us if we just SHOW UP! But too often we are so caught up in our own little worlds that we neglect, or even refuse, the invitation. And our spiritual lives are so much poorer for that choice.
Going back to the parable for a moment, we need to notice God’s invitation is extended to everyone, good and bad alike. All are welcome at this banquet. All of us have inherited this earth. All of us belong here in this kingdom of heaven. And though we are all invited and welcome, and all of us are beloved guests here, we can only keep our seat if we meet one requirement: we must be dressed for the occasion, which means we must recognize and appreciate where we are!
Coming to the table and simply gobbling down the food is a sign we aren’t really paying attention. We aren’t really PRESENT for the feast at all. Our minds and hearts are elsewhere. Our inability to appreciate where we are has thrown us “outside” in the dark. We have to WAKE UP to be fully present at the banquet of life God has set before us. Otherwise there is no banquet for US, and our experience becomes one of being alone and in pain in the dark.
When we are ready to be open, receptive and mindful—in other words when we are ready to “dress appropriately” for the feast—we will find ourselves re-seated at the banquet. We may occasionally throw ourselves out, but the banquet and the invitation never go away.
A sacramental mindset recognizes God in the everyday things of the here and now. It sees the kingdom permeating the things and situations of every moment and mediates our mindful participation in God’s great banquet. This abundant Feast is the heart and soul of God’s sacred text, a text we call Earth, and in every moment it is there to feed us extravagantly if we are able to see and receive.
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