THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

This made-cow BSE business is really getting out of hand.  And with the latest revelations about what the French may feed their livestock (in this matter, it seems, the French have um … erred, if you get my meaning) it hardly seems safe to eat anything.  We will just have to press on and hope for the best.

This is as nothing compared with Japan, where it is the height of macho behaviour to eat dangerous food.  The food in question is the blowfish or fugu, a wondrous delicacy except that parts of it are horribly poisonous – poisonous enough to kill 30 people.  The parts in question are the ovaries of the female (and unfortunately some fugu are hermaphrodite, just to add to the problems) and – in some varieties – the liver.  There are more than 20 varieties of fugu, so embarking on eating the liver is a real game of Japanese roulette.  Not surprisingly these fish have to be prepared by a specially qualified fugu cook, but many old hands say part of the gastronomic experience is to know one is running a risk.  1958 was a vintage year for dinner-time expiries, for example; 176 took the fatal bite.  Japanese who wish to prove their virility insist on being served dubious varieties even when warned by the cook that it is unwise; a famous actor, described as ‘National Living Treasure’, insisted on doing this, and at the first mouthful rendered the second word of his title inapplicable.  Let us remember this as we tuck in to the relative safety of our fish fingers or burgers.

Is consuming the Eucharistic Jesus deadly?  Well, St. Paul might have us think so.  He tells the Corinthians: “Anyone who eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.  That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep” [1 Cor 11:29/30].  It is this text more than any other which resulted in the practice of infrequent communion: if we weren’t good enough, communion would harm us, or worse.  But Paul is not trying to compare the body and blood of Christ with some wrongly identified fugu liver.  He is saying that we should believe and affirm that it is Christ – and that suffices, for Christ does the rest. 

Thus we encourage frequent communion, as long as we affirm Christ’s presence with the ‘Amen’ to the words ‘The body of Christ .. the blood of Christ’.  For it is Christ who, taking Paul’s words, became “weak and sick, and fell asleep”, only to rise again in strength, in order to make us strong … and immortal.