REFLECTION:

We have all heard the phrase before: “You are what you eat.” Usually we hear it when someone is trying to convince us to eat healthier. And usually we hear it while we are eating something we probably shouldn't be eating.

The idea behind the phrase goes back a long way. In the 1800s, the French writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote something along the lines of, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Later, the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach expressed a similar idea, and eventually the English phrase “you are what you eat” became popular. The basic meaning is simple: what we continually put into ourselves affects what we become.

But maybe today's readings invite us to change the phrase a little bit. Maybe it is not only, “You are what you eat.” Maybe spiritually, “You become what you feed your heart.”

In the first reading from Ezekiel, we hear about the ruler of Tyre. He was powerful, successful, wealthy, and apparently very intelligent. None of those things were necessarily bad. The problem was that he kept feeding himself with his success. He fed himself with wealth. He fed himself with power. He fed himself with the idea of how important he was. And eventually he started believing his own publicity. He says, “A god am I!”

And God basically has to remind him: Okay… you're doing well, but calm down. “You are a man, and not a god.” He had consumed so much success that success became his identity.

Then in the Gospel, Jesus speaks about how difficult it can be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. This comes immediately after the rich young man walks away from Jesus because he cannot let go of his possessions. Again, the problem is not simply that he has things. The problem is that the things have him. And that's where “you are what you eat” becomes a good spiritual examination for us. What are we feeding our hearts?

If I constantly feed myself with negativity, eventually I become negative. If I constantly feed myself with people's praise, eventually I cannot live without their approval. If I constantly feed myself with money, status, titles, power, or being right, eventually those things begin to define who I am.

And perhaps that's why Jesus says, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Because sometimes we don't even realize how attached we have become until God asks us to let something go.

But there is also something beautiful for us as Catholics. We say, “You are what you eat.” Well, every time we come to Mass, what do we receive?

The Body of Christ. We receive Jesus himself.

So if “you are what you eat” has any spiritual truth to it, then receiving Christ should slowly make us more like Christ—more generous, more patient, more forgiving, more humble, more willing to serve and less attached to ourselves.

So today, perhaps the question isn't simply, “What did I eat?” The better question is: “What have I been feeding my heart?” Because what we continually feed our hearts will eventually shape the people we become. And if we are going to become what we consume, then may we consume Christ, receive Christ, and allow Christ to transform us more and more into himself.