Our food: an ecological and spiritual issue

“May no one be excluded from the common table and may your Spirit teach us to look at bread not as an object of consumption, but as a sign of communion and care. » These words end the beautiful prayer that Leo XIV proposed to Catholics for the May meditation. A reflection on the place of food in our lives, which is an essential invitation to share and be attentive to the world around us.

By participating the other evening in a meeting of young professionals who were organizing a stammtisch – an Alsatian habit of convivial dining transposed to the capital – I was impressed by the vitality of the discussions and their capacity to fraternally challenge each other on the social, political and ecological contradictions of a world where they are seeking their place.

But above all, it was bags of industrial food and their packaging that were shared without anyone finding anything wrong with it. Where was the “sign of communion and care”? However, it would not have taken much for everyone to decide to “take care” of the dishes that they themselves were going to prepare and bring.

And thus “take care” of the bodies and hearts of those who were present and those, far away, who cultivated these foods through their work. Communing with the fruits of the earth is not an option: it is a spiritual call where Christ joins us.