Plain Paper Bags

In the recent past, the news media carried a story of a modern-day good Samaritan who packed his car each day with dozens of homemade sandwiches and traveled to the inner city to distribute them to homeless and needy people. Eventually, those who benefited from his generosity became familiar with the Samaritan’s customary route and began to congregate on certain street corners at a specific time each day to wait for their daily gift of food. The waiting crowds were reminiscent of the long lines of hungry people during the Great Depression of the 1930's. One such line trailed around the walled cloister of a monastery, where plain sandwiches in brown paper bags were distributed each afternoon at 5p.m. After receiving their sandwich, some ate it all immediately. Others ate only a portion of it and saved the rest for later. Still others took the sandwich home to someone in their family. Sadly, some people complained at the plainness of the sandwich and actually tossed it away! In relating this story, Mark Link suggested that the people’s varied reactions to their sandwiches could be compared to the manner in which people respond to God’s gifts. When Jesus offered himself as the gift of living bread come down from heaven, he received a wide variety of different reactions. Some of the many Jesus fed with barley loaves and fish wanted the miraculous dole to continue rather than look beyond the sign to the message it disclosed. They preferred the immediate and continuous gratification of their physical needs. These sought Jesus out, demanding even more sensational displays of power. In pondering the readings set before us by the Church this weekend, it may prove helpful to consider again the reactions of the people to their plain sandwiches in brown paper bags. Does the plainness and ordinariness of bread and wine mask the true import of God’s gift? Would I be more impressed with manna and quail? Does the fact that these sacramental gifts are so frequently available make them seem less precious? Have I begun to take for granted the generosity that provides these gifts so readily and gratuitously? Has my sharing in the bread of life become a matter of habit or a perfunctory routine? Am I merely going through the motions or am I a participating believer in one of the most significant opportunities afforded me by God? Am I given to clamoring for more ostentatious signs of God’s loving care, or am I content to discover and welcome even the most simple but most significant gifts God sends to me in plain paper bags? Think about it!!