Except deprived of meat because of health impediments, everyone
loves to eat meat. It is interesting to see how people can’t serve food during occasions
without including meat in their plates.
Some prefer to eat more meat and little food. In every corner of the
town of Douala, there is a roasted meat spot where people will stop and buy
meat of large quantity just to quench their hunger for meet. The eating of meat
is usually accompanied by a bottle of drink sometimes wine. Some are even
addicted to meat eating that they can’t do for a day without it.
If asked, every meat eater has a reason for it; which can only be
that which keeps attracting him to it. I am not better placed to talk about the
health benefits of meat eating but I strongly believe that it is special in
Cameroon dishes especially from where I come from. A wife who serves food to
her husband without meat can be given serious punishment for that especially if
food money was given to her. This is because of the importance attached to meat
which was off course given to us by the Almighty from the creation of the
world.
In Corpus Christi celebrated by the church world over, we see the
new meat and wine that Christ choose to give us that can satisfy not only our
physical hunger for meat by our spiritual hunger as well. St Paul in his letter
to the Hebrews chose to qualify the body and blood of Jesus to a higher rank
than that of animals we eat. This therefore calls for greater attention to the
body and blood of Christ from us as Christians. Our desire for that which can
lead to eternal life should not only surpass our desire for earthly meat but
also diminish that desire which can only push us to nothingness.
We spend huge amount of money to buy meat and wine that does not
guarantee eternal life and neglect that which leads us to eternal salvation;
the body and blood of Christ. We do not need to buy Holy Communion but don’t go
for it often. We can even remember the last time we ate meat but can’t remember
the last time we went for Holy Communion.
What a privilege to share in the body and blood of Christ? An
unmerited privilege that we sometimes do not value due to our human weaknesses.
Jesus chose to offer us his body and blood in the Holy Communion we receive
during mass from the hands of the priest, the ordinary minister of the paschal
mystery.
Jesus’ offering himself as food for our soul is the expression of
unmeasured love that he alone can share with us. He promised that whoever eats
his body and drink his blood will live forever with him in his father’s
kingdom. How true can this be? Is he really present in the bread and wine we
receive during mass? Read next soon.
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