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Author Topic:   Bread
Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 5711
From: 11/6/78 11:38am Boston, MA
Registered: Aug 2004

posted August 13, 2004 04:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
BREAD

“And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
- Luke 4,3-4

"My friends, how desperately do we need to be loved and to love. When Christ said that man does not live by bread alone, he spoke of a hunger. This hunger was not the hunger of the body. It was not the hunger for bread. He spoke of a hunger that begins deep down in the very depths of our being. He spoke of a need as vital as breath. He spoke of our hunger for love.
Love is something you and i must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self-esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world. We turn inward and begin to feed upon our own personalities, and little by little we destroy ourselves.
With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others."
- Chief Dan George

"Love is the answer. And you know that for sure."
- John Lennon


A man who was hungry went to ask bread of another. The other, opening his door, looking the man up and down, and seeming to accuse him, replied with a question, saying, "Hast thou not eaten?"

"No," said the beggar, as though confessing, "I have not had a decent meal for as long as I can recall."

"If you had eaten, you would not be so hungry."

The beggar hung his head in shame. "I could not find food to my taste," said he.

"What on earth do you mean? Haven't you heard: 'Beggars can't be choosers'?"

"I am deeply hungered," the beggar insisted.

"Why, there is bread in your bag," remarked the man, noticing a loaf which protruded from the beggar's satchel.

"This bread is stale."

The man frowned, took from the beggar a large hunk of the bread, and tasted it.

"This is good bread," said the man, "It is not stale."

"I tell you it is stale."

"Have I not tasted it myself," the man laughed, "It is better bread than I have. If you will not eat it, give it to me."

"It is yours. Now, please, may I have some of your bread?"

"Come, do not play games with me. There are loaves in your bag still. Surely, you can eat them."

"I cannot," said the beggar.

"Then give them to me."

"They are yours," said the beggar, handing over his sack, "Now, may I please share in some of your bread?"

"What? Do you want even a piece of this bread which you have just given me? My, you are a loon, aren't you."

"Now you have much bread, and I am so hungry. Please give me a piece."

"Fool. Had you not given me all your bread, you would have had much for yourself. Now you complain that you have none. If I give back to you some of this bread, no doubt, you will tell me it is stale again."

"I will not," the beggar gently insisted.

"Fine," barked the man, giving back the bread and throwing up his arms, "take it, take all of it! And leave me to my stale loaves. Scram!"

"Wait," protested the beggar with his foot in the door, "I cannot take these."

"Stale already, are they? Give them back then."
And he took back the loaves.

"So, you like to play games do you," he said, "Fine then, I will keep the bread."

"Yes," answered the beggar, giving them up most willingly, "it is best that you should have them, if you are hungry. But, if, by chance, there is even a crumb to spare, I would be grateful for it."

"Okay, wise guy, that's enough! I've had enough of these games! Take your empty sack and get lost!"

And with that, he slammed the door in the beggar's face, and, with his arms full of bread, went inside and sat down. There, he selected the choicest piece in the bunch and took for himself a gaping bite. Eyes shooting open, he bitterly spit it out. This bread was stale.

"That beggar," thought the man, in astonishment, "was no beggar. That was Christ himself!"

For an instant, his heart was uplifted, but, then, he began to weep bitterly. A great shame had descended upon and taken hold of his heart.

"By now," he reflected, "my lord will be far from me. I am lost and alone. Oh, how wretched I am! And how deserving of my punishment."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. The man rose, delighted, rushed to the door, and threw it open with a welcoming smile. There, over the threshold, stood an old blind man in a worn robe.

"I am hungry and have come to share in your bread," he said.

But the man looked past him to the horizon. The beggar was no where to be seen. "He is gone," thought the man, "How foolish and proud I was to think he would return."

"Sorry, old man," he said, "all I have are these stale loaves. They are hard as brick, but you are welcome to them all."

The old man tasted the bread and smiled like a child.

"This bread is not stale! Here, try some."

The man was skeptical but, not wishing to offend an old blind man out of pride, he agreed to try a bit of the bread.

His teeth sank easily in. The soft bread filled his mouth and his entire being with a deep sense of wholesomeness and life, felt good in his throat and warm in his guts. It was not stale at all.

He too smiled like a child, and embraced the old man. "Father," he said, "I am your son."


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purplezen
Knowflake

Posts: 888
From: outer space
Registered: Aug 2003

posted August 13, 2004 01:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for purplezen     Edit/Delete Message
bread rules

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Charlotte
Knowflake

Posts: 971
From: Music City, USA
Registered: Apr 2004

posted August 13, 2004 06:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Charlotte     Edit/Delete Message
Love Is Sharing...Thanks! for the Love!

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 5711
From: 11/6/78 11:38am Boston, MA
Registered: Aug 2004

posted December 09, 2007 07:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
lol

*crying*

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26taurus
Knowflake

Posts: 12288
From: *
Registered: Jun 2004

posted December 09, 2007 07:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 26taurus     Edit/Delete Message
:tissue:

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