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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Sarah Teather, UK Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service

Good morning.

In a few hours’ time, hardy volunteers at our Centre in East London will begin chopping bags and bags of onions. It’s a day to steer clear of our kitchen if you cry easily! The chopping is advance prep for the big day tomorrow, World Refugee Day, when we will put on a feast of food for around 150 destitute asylum seekers at our Day Centre.

The gospels are full of stories about Jesus’ shared meals, some simple, others elaborate. Meals for hungry crowds, feasts at weddings, intimate meals with friends like Mary and Martha, meals with outcasts, meals on a beach. And of course, the most sacred meal, the Eucharist, given by the Lord as a privileged way for us to be close to him and one another.

Shared meals are a huge part of our community at the Jesuit Refugee Service, as in so many refugee communities. Open hospitality, for staff, volunteers, refugees or visitors is a feature of our daily practice. Eating together at the same table is a great leveler and it creates space for relationships and friendships to grow. Special meals like the one we will share tomorrow though are also about the sheer joy of good food. Much of the menu creativity is led by refugee volunteers, many of whom struggle ordinarily to afford food to eat and get little chance to give hospitality to others, something highly prized across many cultures.

Sharing food seemed to be Jesus’ way of spending time with and drawing close to those he loved. Sharing meals for us too, is a way in which the human and the everyday is blessed when we make time to delight in it.

Lord, bless the food we eat today and let us taste the joy of sharing it with the hungry and the lonely. Help us cherish the earth which provides it.

Amen.