Just for a Slice of Toast

Yesterday, I assisted a neighbor by giving him a ride to the clinic for his appointment to give blood sample. After waiting for 15 minutes at the reception, the appointment was canceled because he ate a slice of toast before coming to the clinic.

He came out disappointed and ranting, and then he rhetorically asked: "Why would they refuse my blood sample because I ate a slice of toast?" And I responded, "The reason is because you ate it." He looked at me, with a slight expression of confusion, and questioned further, "Of what significance is a slice of toast?" Then I retorted, "If it is of no significance, why did you eat it?" He laughed and said, "They asked me to fast before coming next time." I responded, "You should have informed them that you don't fast because you don't go to church." We both laughed and drove back.

I kept thinking of the experience in relation to the religious fasting we practice. Two things came to my mind. The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, "Sin is in the blood," which is why atonement requires the shedding of blood. Thus, could it not be plausible to say that fasting can help in the spiritual warfare of purging sin from our blood? I also asked myself, "So a slice of bread is enough to make a significant change in someone's life?" Imagine how we drove some kilometers to an appointment and drove back without achieving anything because of a slice of toast.

Yes, a slice of bread is not too little, when we eat it and when we share. It can change a whole day's experience for someone. It is also instructive to note that it was at the breaking of bread that the identity of Jesus was revealed to the two disciples who were journeying from Jerusalem to Emmaus.