A good read – Bake and Be Blessed

We have been trying to change what and how we eat, and, as part of that, I have been baking bread from scratch each week.   I have a terrific whole wheat recipe that I make frequently, but was ready for something new.

I remembered a show I use to watch on PBS, Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, and did a little research to see if the show was still on.  Unfortunately, it is not, but Fr. Dominic has a series of books based on the show.  While checking those out of the library I came across his Bake and be Blessed.  Only a few pages into it I knew I had to have my own copy.  It’s one of those books I read with a pencil at hand, underlining his thoughts that strike me as important. 

He relates different steps in bread making to different components of our spiritual life.  Mixing the dough, letting it rise, punching it down and baking the loaves can be seen as metaphors praying, meditation, carrying our crosses, and growing in God’s love. 

I find the bread making process very satisfying, more so than cooking or baking other things.  In reading this book I think I finally found the reasons why.

Bread baking is a not cure all of modern society's ills, but it can be a means by which, on a given day, we reintegrate our fragmented selves by engaging mind, body, emotions and spirit in an intentional act of creativity.

PS.  I couldn’t find a copy of this on where I normally buy my books, so I ordered from his Abbey’s  website.  The book arrived quickly and with a little surprise – it was autographed!

AMDG