Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Exodus 12:37-42 and Matthew 12:14-21]Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened, they baked it into unleavened loaves. They had rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunity to prepare food for the journey
Sometimes something one does because of a one-time set of circumstances becomes associated with those circumstances in such a way that it becomes essential to the remembrance. Using unleavened bread in the Eucharist is associated with the exodus and with the Last Supper for us Catholics of the Latin (Western rite), but our brothers and sisters of the Eastern rites use leavened bread. Perhaps it is because the only reason unleavened bread was used the first time was because everyone was in a hurry! It does take time for dough to rise! I don't mean to trivialize the matter. But I think the admonition of the Second Vatican documents to the effect that the bread used at the eucharist should really resemble bread has gone out the window! I love to bake and I find little resemblance between the wafer product we use for liturgy and real bread. I'm not the first to notice this nor will I be the last. I just hope the Church could find some way to permit a bit of flavor some day. AMEN
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