By FCJ Companion in Mission Gerrie from Rhode Island, USA
Do you know how many meals I’ve prepared in my lifetime? Probably a million! I remember when I first got married and the highlight of the week was grocery shopping for meals. Boy, has that changed!
And as I look back, I understand how important sharing a meal can be. So much enjoyment has been brought into my life over a meal with family, friends and even strangers. Oftentimes, it’s the place where the events of the day are shared, problems are solved, as well as being a venue for happy celebrations such as birthdays, graduations and Christmas.
For one of my husband’s birthdays, I decided to take the family all out to lunch, to celebrate at a nice local restaurant. There were 10 of us.
When the food arrived, I decided to say “Grace”. Since not all were churchgoers, I could see out of the corner of my eye, a few looks of disapproval, as if they were thinking, “Oh, for goodness’ sake, you’re not going to pray out loud in a public place, are you? Really now!”
About halfway through the meal, the waitress came over to our table, knelt beside me and whispered, “You see that man over there, he just picked up the tab for your meal for ten people.” Shocked, I immediately jumped up and went over to him as he was putting on his coat, trying to leave, and said to him,” Where did you come from? Did you drop out of heaven? I can’t believe your generosity to pay for a group of strangers. Please join us for a piece of cake that I brought in, to celebrate my husband’s birthday.”
He was reluctant, but I finally convinced him to at least come and meet the family for a minute. He introduced himself as Thomas, and proceeded to tell everyone that whenever they do something for someone else, they should never expect anything in return. That probably explains him trying to leave before the waitress came over to let us know of his generosity. He proceeded to tell us that, as he was sitting at his table, he felt God telling him to pick up our tab. Then he laughed and said, “And then when I heard someone saying “Grace”, I knew I had to do it”. We all thanked him and then he was gone.
At the end of the meal, I could hear my daughter-in-law remark, “Boy, it’s a good thing we said ‘Grace’, otherwise he might not have paid for our meal!” All I could think of was how blessed our family was to have this experience with a stranger.
So often we only see the dark side of people. It was such a wonderful thing to see such goodness in another human being.
As God continues to play a greater role in my life, I’ve also come to realize that the Sunday mass actually started as a re-enactment of Christ and the Apostles sharing a meal together, just as our family shared a meal together in celebration together.
In the Catholic Catechism it says the mass is a liturgical celebration, by the Apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of His life, of His death, and of His resurrection, and of His intercession in the presence of the Father.
Just as Thomas brought a surprise to our meal that day, Jesus also surprises his followers by picking up the tab.
Just as Thomas brought a surprise to our meal that day, Jesus also surprises his followers by picking up the tab. But Jesus did not pay in money for the price of the meal, but with something so much greater. He paid for our redemption with his life. When Jesus raised the bread and said, “This is my body” and when he raised the cup of wine and said, “This is my blood”, he was telling us that he was willing to sacrifice his life on the cross because he loved us so much. He wanted us to know this act would free us from ourselves living lives of sin. He also came to show us the way to live life with peace, joy and love through his teachings and example. Most importantly he came to show us how to love, which is ultimately our ticket to heaven.
Photos from Adobe Stock.
