Pastor’s Corner

Who’s coming for dinner?

The 1987 Danish film Babette’s Feast tells the story of two sisters in a remote 19th-century Danish village who never marry and live a simple and strict life dominated by their authoritarian father, the pleasure-denying pastor of the village’s austere church.

Both sisters had opportunities to leave the village, one with a military officer, and the other with an opera singer. But their pastor-father objected and they instead spent their lives caring for him and the elderly and sick members of the village.

Many years later – their father is now long deceased – they take in madame Babette Hersant, a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War – who agrees to work as their servant and cook.

After winning the lottery, Babette wants to repay the sisters for their kindness and offers to cook a sumptuous French meal for them and their cold, barren congregation. The lavish feast – “un vrai diner français” – proves to be an eye-opening, life-changing experience.  

The villagers undergo a powerful metanoia, and the final dance around the well is a sign of change, hope and love.

Meals can have that kind of power. Think of a meal where you sat down with strangers and departed with new friends.

Perhaps that is why a meal – the Eucharist – is at the center of our worship and why meals figure so prominently in the gospels.  We all know of the Last Supper and the Wedding Feast at Cana.

But less often remembered is the story of the two dispirited disciples who, after the Crucifixion, head to Emmaus, not far from Jerusalem

and along the way encounter a stranger, who engages the two in conversation “around” the recent tragic events in Jerusalem.

At first, they do not recognize that it is the risen Christ who walks beside them, but they are attracted by him and invite him to pass the night at their home.  When the three of them sit down for the evening mail, Jesus breaks bread with them.  And the two disciples are transformed.

A good meal has that revelatory power – we can come to know and be known for who we truly are.  Share a meal today with someone you want to know better.  Watch what happens when you break bread together!

Daniel Grippo and Lloyd Baugh S.J.