“I am the bread of life. Whoever eats of
this bread will live forever.” (Jn.6:51)
Or in the words of a famous cartoon character: “I'm strong to the finish when I eats me spinach, I'm Popeye the sailor
man.”
Today
I’m going to tell you about the Popeye Experience. Popeye is a simple, yet uneducated,
squinty-eyed sailor man with a pipe and a speech impediment who sails the seven
seas. He has adopted an infant he calls Swee’Pea, and has a chubby friend named
Wimpy (I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a
hamburger today.) Popeye is in love with a tall, skinny lady named Olive
Oyl.
Unfortunately,
his nemesis, the muscled bully named Bluto/Brutus, is also attracted to Olive
Oyl and keeps trying to kidnap her. When Popeye comes to her rescue, Brutus
beats him up until he becomes weak and almost helpless. He then reaches his
tipping point wherein he says:
"That's all I can stands - I can't
stands no more!"
And
then, he gets his can of spinach which he literally gulps down. And immediately
this gives him superhuman strength and problem-solving abilities to defeat his
archenemy Brutus.
There
are 3 stages in the Popeye experience:
1)
There's a period of “being stuck"
and “feeling beaten”- unable to muster up the determination to change one's
circumstances.
2)
Then there’s the decision to get help. To “eat
the spinach” the food that revives us and gives our strength back.
3)
The will to “stand up” and “live life” that we still have to the
full.
We
see this in today’s first reading where we meet the prophet Elijah, fleeing in
the desert from that terrible Queen Jezebel.
Jezebel had sworn to kill Elijah in retaliation for Elijah’s victory
over the Queen’s false prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Elijah fled to the desert. He would try to cross it. He knew that the soldiers wouldn’t think of
following him there. No one could
survive crossing the desert. After so many days, Elijah had had enough. He felt beaten. He was out of food and
water. More than that, he just didn’t
have the stamina to continue to do God’s work.
He laid down under that broom tree, and he said to God, “Look, I just
can’t do this anymore. I’m no better
than anyone who has come before me. I
just can’t continue your mission to Israel.”
And he fell asleep, hoping to die.
But
the angel of the Lord woke Elijah and gave him food and water. Elijah took it and fell asleep again. The angel of the Lord came a second time and woke
Elijah and told him to eat and drink again.
And, the reading tells us that with that nourishment the Lord provided, Elijah walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God - Horeb. With
the food that strengthens and gives life, God had given Elijah the power to
complete the mission.
(1 K.19:4-8)
(1 K.19:4-8)
Like
Popeye and Elijah, we too at times, get tired and beaten and discouraged. And
many times we feel like giving up on life. We do reach our tipping point also,
after all we are only human. That’s when we are reminded of what Paul said to
the Ephesians: “Do not grieve, you have
been marked with the Spirit of God; live in love because Christ gave himself up
for you as an offering… as a sacrifice.” (Eph.4:30,5:2)
In
the gospel, people who were listening to Jesus were about to give up because
they could not comprehend what he was saying. And yet Jesus insisted: “I am the bread of life. This is the bread
which comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”(Jn.6:50) Jesus invites us to eat; to partake of
him in the Eucharist for that is the only way we shall regain our strength to
go on living – “whoever eats of this
bread will live forever.”(Jn.6:51) It’s like the Popeye experience where he
concludes: “I'm strong to the finish when
I eats me spinach.”
One
thing to remember though is the Popeye experience is not a once and for all
cycle. It’s not like he eats his spinach and he is strong forever. Nope. Every
time he is beaten, that means in every episode of the series, you find him
always saved by his spinach. Partaking of the bread of life in Holy Communion
is not a one-time deal. Food nourishes us not once in a life time but in its
daily support. That is why we always pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Somewhere in New Orleans. After watching
sales falling off for three straight months at Popeye’s Fried Chicken, the boss
Mr Popeye calls up the Pope and asks for a favor. The Pope says, "What can I do?" Mr
Popeye says, "I need you to change the daily prayer from, 'Give us this
day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken'. If you do it,
I'll donate 10 Million Dollars to the Vatican."
The Pope replies, "I am sorry. That
is the Lord's prayer and I can not change the words." So Mr Popeye hangs
up.
After another month of dismal sales, the
boss Mr Popeye panics, and calls again. "Listen your Excellency. I really
need your help. I'll donate $100 million dollars if you change the words of the
daily prayer from 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our
daily chicken.'"
And the Pope responds, "It is very
tempting, Mr Popeye. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It
would help us to support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the
Lord's prayer, and I can't change the words."
So the Mr Popeye gives up again. After
two more months of terrible sales. He gets desperate. "This is my final
offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, 'Give
us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken' I will
donate $1 billion to the Vatican." The Pope replies, "Let me get back
to you."
So the next day, the Pope calls together
all of his bishops and he says, "I have some good news and I have some bad
news. The good news is that Popeye’s Chicken will donate $1 billion to the
Vatican." The bishops rejoice at the news. Then one asks about the bad
news.
The Pope replies, "The bad news is
that we will have to lose our accounts with Wonder Bread, Country Harvest,
Villagio Italiano, and Aling Mary’s pandesal."
Well
luckily they did not lose the account for we still pray: Give us this day our
daily bread.” We still go through that Popeye experience everyday. But instead of the spinach we are nourished
with the “Bread of life” and definitely not by Popeye’s chicken.
References:
Albrecht, K. (2011). BrainSnacks. “The Popeye Point.”
Pellegrino, J. (2015). Fr Joe’s Homilies. “Food for the Journey.”
Raffa, J. (2011). Matrignosis: A Blog about Inner Wisdom. “The Tao Of
Popeye.”
Tiballs, G. (2000). The Mammoth Book of Humor. “Give us this day our
daily…”, p. 17.