Shrove Tuesday, and the Holy Face of Jesus

“The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?" They answered him, "Twelve." "When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?" They answered him, "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" -Mark 8:14-21

A friend convinced me to start making bread this year and gave me the necessary tools I needed. Whenever I make the dough and add the ingredients, the yeast reminds me of tiny seeds, which leads me to ponder the spiritual battle.

Good yeast is alive and causes the dough to rise, while bad yeast is dead, leaving the dough dense, flat, and lifeless.  So it is with the spiritual battle, too. Placed around us is both the leaven of God and of the enemy. We must choose which one we work into our bread dough.

Our choice determines the type of bread we pass on to our neighbors. Do we give to the world bread that has been raised with the Good yeast of God and is full of life? Or is our bread hard, flat, dense, and lifeless, a product of the dead leaven of the enemy? We must choose our leavening wisely if we are to feed the masses.

Saint Catherine del Ricci, pray for us.

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Jesus, I trust in you!