Log on to www.ncrlc.com/tabletalk.html
This is the website for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. You will find there “Ethics of Eating” that is worth your while to read. I will quote a short piece from it below.
“Eating is a moral act, and sometimes a religious act. Yet, the gratitude for holy food and the salvation it brings is fully expressed only when we remember the unleavened bread was first eaten by slaves on the run and the cup of some drink is a cup of suffering.
“Just as I believe that Bread and Wine are transformed, so we are transformed… transformed into a people of compassion, people who see what others overlook, people who can begin to trace the vague outlines of the prophetic vision of the Reign of God where justice and mercy embrace and a grand table is set.
“Where bankers sit next to farmers, boarder (sic) guards converse with the undocumented and ranchers share toasts with environmentalists. Where work gloves lie next to linen napkins, hands are scrubbed, feet are washed, thirst is quenched, hunger satisfied and there’s no hint of injustice, no whisper of enslavement, no sign of barbed wire anywhere!
“Eating is a moral act. Our tables need to include those who’ve been excluded. Our talk needs to include our farmers, their families, the rural communities, our environment, our landscape, our countryside, religious and moral values. We are what we eat. By our choices we shape the world. By our conversations, our talking, we influence others. Let us remember the challenge we have to shape a world of justice and peace.” — Br. David Andrew, CSC, 2-13-01
