Fido and me

Fido and me
Fido and me

Monday, July 19, 2010

Bread

At Sunday morning Mass this morning, a hymn that has always tempted me to laugh was sung by the congregation during the communion service.  It is a fine spiritual and is meant to be reverential.  The chorus, which is also the title of the song, is as follows:

Let us break bread together on our knees,
Let us break bread together on our knees,
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me.

But from the moment I heard it for the first time, the wrong picture came to mind, and I can't get rid of it.  For I don't see a kneeling group of people, sharing consecrated bread; I see a large gathering of people, sitting on straight-back chairs, every one of them breaking a loaf of bread on their knees, crumbs flying.  I try to focus on the proper picture, but the other scene presented itself again this morning.

Loaf of farmer's bread purchased at the Golden October celebration
 in Saarburg Germany in 2004

The bread above would certainly take powerful knees to break it.  But I think it's the kind of bread that the song's lyricist had in mind for the sacred repast.

And anyone who wants to know a lot about bread as well as reverential song, don't miss the book, "52 Loaves; One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust," by William Alexander.  It's great, even for non-bread bakers such as I.

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