Cara's Caffeinated Brain and Light




When I was in Italy, I took a sustainable foods class that often left me thinking along tangents. In this class, we talked about all aspects of the food system: growth and production, distribution, preparation, consumption, waste. Between this course and my cooking classes, I really began to think about what I eat and what that means for my body. After all, "we are what we eat."


One morning after class, I went to News Cafe to work on some Italian homework that was due in a couple hours. But, as what often happens when I get a sugary espresso drink, my mind wandered down a rabbit hole instead. The light was coming through the windows and hitting my moccacino in such a way that it sparked by caffeinated brain to think about light, food, and faith. Since my mind doesn't actually process things well internally on caffeine and sugar, I wrote it all down in my notebook.  Enjoy.














Reflections on Light

We need energy from sunlight to live, but can only get it through consuming that which can directly receive it. We eat plants to gain this energy. Or animals who eat these plants.

 For this reason, it makes sense that we receive the Light of the World by consuming Him. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. We receive light and then are called to shine for others. Never can we be as brilliant as the sun. So, the Son concentrated Himself first as man, then as bread and wine, so that we might receive Him in a way that He may work in us and through us. First, God taught us how to receive Him in word and power. Then, as man, how to receive Him through relationship. As Eucharist (and Holy Spirit), how to let Him become one with us, inside of us. For when we eat, our body takes the molecules of our food to power our body, build cells, maintain them, help them function. Christ in the Eucharist likewise lends power to our bodies and minds to give us more spiritual strength as we go about our days. He rebuilds and helps maintain our hearts, mending the brokenness within us and helping purify us. He helps us function well in our relationships and helps us become the best version of ourselves - the one the Father intended us to be when He created each one of us.

 God impacts all realms, all dimensions, of His creation. He gives us reminders in our history, in the Bible, in nature, in the people around us, in our interior lives. He is everywhere. His Light is everywhere. Helping us see. Giving us energy. Warming us. Beckoning us outside, to greet the day. The call both around us and inside of us.

 But by ourselves, this light inside us can do so little. One candle does not provide as much illumination or warmth as ten, twenty, one hundred, or more. By ourselves, if our flame weakens, all around we can feel the darkness pressing in. Among many, the strength of others can not only maintain the previous state, but reignite the one that struggles. 

 And we cannot forget how fragile our light is compared to that of God. A candle compared to the sun. Although we can bring our candle to places the sun struggles to reach due to erected obstacles, we can only provide so much. We are called to lead those in darkness out into the brilliance of the sun. We give a taste, but must remember to rejoice that there is a light far greater than what we can provide. The light we receive and reflect back. The Light of God. Even the candle relies on a cotton wick to provide light. Cotton, whose energy came from the sun.

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