THE SUBJECT

 WAS BREAD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “The Subject Was Bread.”

And I want to touch on two basic points: the value of long walks and what we can learn from being broken.

WALK THE WALK - TALK THE TALK

My first point would be the value of walking. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we  discover a lot of stuff from a distance.

Sometimes we have to get away from home to figure out what is  happening back home.

Sometimes we have to get away from it all, to understand it all.

These two men in the gospel found this out. It wasn’t till they walked the walk and talked the talk that they discovered that Christ had risen from the dead.

I’ve heard that phrase, “Walk the walk and talk the talk,” a few times in the past couple of years, but it has not been till lately that I really heard it.

So let me use it a bit more this morning.

So if we have a problem, don’t just stand there, do something. Don’t just sit there or sleep there in upper rooms, get out of bed. Get off our butt and go for a good walk. Hence the value of puzzles - fishing - climbing - traveling - all un-upper room stuff. That’s just standing there. So don’t just stand there, do something. We’ll have a chance of putting it all together by getting away from it all.

Sometimes we have to get away from it all, walking so far that what is near makes sense.

And when we walk the walk, we’ll find ourselves talking the talk. And as we walk, if we monitor ourselves,  we’ll find ourselves talking to ourselves.

Every night, when it is dark, it’s smart to look back on our day and in prayer, hear Christ ask, “How was your day?”

Some people can’t deal with silence. Can you? Some people can’t drive in a car by themselves without turning on the radio. Can you? They need music. Can you be quiet? They need talk. Can you be silent? They can’t spend a free day by themselves. Can you? They need to turn on the TV. Can you be reflective? And when they try prayer, they wonder why they have so many distractions. Help.

So there is a value in taking long walks. They can be like plane or bus trips home when someone dies. A person does a lot of thinking in moments like that. Help.

And if you start being able to be alone and do a lot of walking and talking to yourself, get a journal. You’ll find yourself having a lot to jot down.

WEST END: WALKING ON THE WATER

When I was stationed at West End, I noticed that a lot of people used to walk by the ocean - or around Tankanasee Lake. So walking prayer helps talking prayer and listening prayer.

So my first suggestion is: Walk the walk, talk the talk. Walk, talk, talk, walk. Walking prayer. Talking prayer. Listening prayer. Try it, you’ll like it till it all makes sense.

When I look back on  my life, I see also see the value of taking trips with just one other person. Three’s a crowd.

Prayer can be a long trip with God.

EMMAUS STORY

At the heart of the Emmaus story is this point that it wasn’t till these 2 men walked the walk away from Jerusalem that they talked the talk that brought them back to Jerusalem.

How many times has it happened that it wasn’t till the next day we see how stupid we were. It wasn’t till later that we noticed that our assumptions and our expectations are all wrong.

Some commentators say that Jericho is west, so these 2 were heading backwards into the dark - away from the dawn. Then when they recognized Christ in the Jewish Bible stories as they talked, and recognized him in the breaking of the bread, and in the story of their lives, and on reflecting on it all, it all made sense. And obviously, they had to run home to announce that they too experienced Christ - the Risen One.

So Emmaus can be now - on any road - on any trip - at any Mass - at any meal - in any conversation.

THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES

I don’t remember the movie enough to get the facts straight. But once there was a movie named, “The Subject Was Roses” [1968]. Patricia Neal plays the part of Nettie Cleary. She’s married to John Cleary, played by Jack Albertson. The marriage was dull and boring. Once when it hit the skids, Nettie  took money from a coin collection. She then packed and took a bus from Port Authority in N.Y. to Spring Lake, N. J. or somewhere down there on the New Jersey Shore and spent a few days walking along the beach and talking to herself about her marriage. What hit me was the need to get away from it all to get back to it all.

I might have it all wrong, but the key memory that brought her back was that her husband gave her roses once. Later on she was to find out that the son Timothy - played by Martin Sheen -  suggested it to the father. “Here give them to her. It means a lot to a woman to receive roses.” The husband gave her the roses, but it wasn’t his idea. They were given without heart, without understanding.

THE SUBJECT WAS BREAD THAT WAS BROKEN

My second point is the learnings that we can come up with - when we are broken.

Sometimes somebody has to die or leave, before we find out how much that person means to us and how much this person does for us.

The disciples experienced Christ in the breaking of the bread. Jesus didn’t give us roses. He gave us bread and he gives us wine - back to basics.

But the key word today is “breaking”. Sometimes it’s only when we are broken, when the bottom has caved in, when we have given up and walked away, when we are crushed, that we understand the meaning of it all.

We have to break open the package to get to the contents. We  have to take off the wrapping, to find out what’s inside the package. We have to break the bread, we have to chew the bread, so as to get it into your systems.

So Jesus gives us “our daily bread”. And we experience our daily “breaks”.

The subject was bread - bread that was broken.

Broken brings some people back to Mass - and they recognize him in

the breaking of the bread.  We recognize Jesus in the breaking of the flesh. We recognize Jesus in the breaking of a life. We recognize Jesus in the breaking moments of our lives.

“Were not our hearts breaking inside us as talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

CONCLUSION

So I’m preaching two basic themes this morning:

1) Learn how to be by oneself. Taking long walks by ourself is one of the best things we can do for ourself. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we’ll discover a lot of stuff that is happening back home. Sometimes we have to get away from it all, to understand it all.

2) Being broken - like bread - reveals a lot of things. Sometimes somebody has to die or leave, before we’ll find out how much that person meant to us and how much that person did for us.