Reach into the very back of a desk drawer … Who knows what will be there?
Being an active member of Our Sunday Visitor’s staff for years meant that I traveled to the Holy Land on many occasions.
Often, the trip involved flying to Israel aboard El Al, the country’s international airline.
Flights would usually leave an American airport in the early evening. After departure, in those days, a full, hot meal was served. El Al follows the Jewish dietary, or kosher, regulations, and on each passenger’s tray — since many passengers were not Jews — was a pamphlet explaining kosher law.
Jesus and the Apostles surely followed kosher rules, but as gentiles began to convert to Christianity — and as St. Peter experienced a private revelation from God — Christians abandoned Old Testament dietary restrictions (see Acts 10:9-33).
Well, I found that pamphlet in a drawer, and in reading it, Catholic teachings came to mind — not exclusively about food, but statements regarding the environment by Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, who in 2015 wrote an encyclical on the subject, Laudato Si.
The sacredness of human life
According to the kosher laws, any plant — product of the earth and of natural generation — is good. Potatoes, corn, peaches, beans, wheat and so on are good because God’s creation is wonderful and good. The Catholic Church, through papal teachings, especially Laudato Si, proclaims the goodness of nature, of the earth and of the atmosphere as well as the surpassing greatness of God.
Pork, the flesh of a pig, is not kosher.
Americans, and many others around the world, who are not Jewish (or Muslim), consume much pork in the form of bacon, sausages, pork chops and so on. These meats come now invariably from animals long domesticated, deliberately bred for the purpose of providing meat, kept in their own enclosures and regularly fed by their owners. But in the natural state, pigs are predators. Needing food, pigs will pursue other animals, kill them and eat their dead bodies.
No predator — shark, owl, wildcat, fox or pig — can be kosher. Returning to the teaching about the goodness of creation, animals are God’s creatures. Remember the story of Noah’s ark? God intended for animals to survive the Great Flood.
Animal life is good, entitled to life. Animals, in God’s plan, sustain the ecological balance, but what about consuming sirloin steak or a chicken wing? Both are kosher. Are cows and chickens not entitled to any respect?
Animals ultimately are at the disposal of humans, since humans are God’s most perfect creatures, but humans are custodians of nature, not its plunderers. The fruits of nature are God’s gifts to humans, as Pope Francis has insisted.
Nourishment is required to sustain a human being’s life. Each human life is precious. Consuming meat is alright, but kosher laws forbid slaughtering animals in a way that brings pain to them.
Fish are kosher, but lobster, shrimp, crab and catfish are not. These animals are scavengers, eating the decomposed flesh of other animals, excrement and other rotting debris that settle on riverbeds or on the floor of the sea.
Health is another reason behind the kosher laws — to avoid food that might be contaminated. Humans must protect our health. Our bodies are sacred.
Resisting a powerful culture
Meat and dairy — milk, cream, cheese or butter — cannot appear together.
Again and again in Hebrew history, hostile invaders, always pagans, overtook the Holy Land. A favorite dish for one set of invaders was the meat of a kid (young goat) boiled in its mother’s milk. The Israelites were tempted to accept the beliefs and habits of powerful invaders.
In three places, the Bible forbids mixing meat and dairy at a meal. Accepting this dish meant flirting with paganism. Jews had to be faithful to God, even when it proved difficult. Best to have nothing to do with pagans.
Catholics are not bound by these dietary restrictions. But American Catholics do live in a culture that ignores — or outright rejects — Christ. The culture is powerful, inviting us to partake of its views about life and in its definition of “rewards.” Catholics cannot follow the crowd.
