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Sharing Our Gifts

In sharing our bread, we more authentically receive that same gift from God who is bread from heaven.

This Fr. Gerry Creedon homily was delivered at St. Charles on May 4, 2003

This week I received this letter Pere Jocelyn, Pastor of our sister parish in Haiti:

"I have to express my joy that I feel on receipt of your letter. As for me everything goes well with the grace and favor of God. I seize this occasion to thank you and equally the faithful members of St. Charles who have made a gift of $7,000 for the purchase of a new mill for maize and millet for the benefit of the population of Cavaillon. This gesture goes straight to the heart. It is why we especially recognize you and thank you. We are just about to celebrate the succulent fruits of Easter and now we can announce this message. The resurrection of our mill for maize for the people of Cavaillon will certainly be an announcement of great joy."

He goes on to tell me he wants me there in January 2004 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Haitian independence.

My Father's Mill

Your support to Cavaillon's farmers touches me in a special way because I grew up beside a mill. The visitor to a little village called Inchigeela in West Cork, Ireland, will find Creedon's Hotel run by my brother. My parents used to own it. However, my father was a miller first. He made flour for people and pig ration to feed animals, under the brand "Creedon's Viking Pig Meal".

When the engine of the mill wasn't working and the mill wheel came to a halt, depression descended on the whole family. If that big wheel stopped it was as though our hearts stopped with it. My father would get out there and lie beneath it with spanners and screwdrivers. All the glasses in our kitchen would shake when the mill engine was reawakened. We didn't mind. It was food for people and food for animals, and bread on our table.

Sharing Our Bread

My mother brought home to us the meaning of food. I was with the first communion children this morning and asked them how they knew their parents cared for them. They said, "They give hugs, share their time and… food". My mother shared her love for us by taking the flour from the mill and making brown bread. We could smell that brown bread in the kitchen and we knew that she was happy. When we were eating that bread, she was especially happy. The sharing of food is one of the most basic things that happens in life.

The least we can do for the people of Haiti is to help them have food to eat. It is a scandal that so many people in that country are starving. It is a blessing that through our sister parish relationship we support a nutrition program and are now enabling them to mill their own food.

When Jesus died, ascended and said goodbye, He left a simple sign of his ongoing presence among us, bread, bread that would be broken and shared. They recognized him in the breaking of the bread. Their eyes were opened. This is the one who is the bread of life. Wherever Christians gather and share that special, simple, basic sign of God's presence, we become more aware of His risen presence among us. But we cannot celebrate that gift if we ourselves are not food for others and bread for the world.

In many ways St. Charles is bread for others. With the people of Cavaillon, I thank you for having a generous heart. In sharing our bread, we more authentically receive that same gift from God who is bread from heaven.

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  or  2003 Homilies 

Related link: Ways you can help Haiti