Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

By Sister Theresa Molchanow, MSC

Learn to savor how good the Lord is…(Psalm 34:9)

It was my first year on mission in Vunapope, Papua New Guinea. I was happily teaching the incoming students at St. Mary’s School of Nursing. Suddenly, the appendicitis that had made me ill, become a ruptured appendix, an emergency! Despite my youth, I was very sick. Recovery took months! In trying to build me up and get me back on my feet, the Sisters had asked: “What would you like to eat? Name it and we will get it for you!” Do you know what I had an appetite for and wanted more than anything that the bountiful South Pacific had to offer? Corn Flakes! Yes, breakfast cereal! The Sisters went out of their way to buy Corn Flakes for me and to have an order of fresh cows’ milk delivered to the convent every day. I was never so spoiled!

How blest are we to be able to taste and to smell, to have enough to eat and enough clean water to drink! For us, taste and food are almost inseparable. Taste and smell give us so much pleasure and come with such vivid memories. I knew a Sister who, on the first day of baseball season, could actually smell the catcher’s leather glove when she opened the front door of her home! Then, is there anything like the smell of a baby, the smell of the first rose of summer, the ocean or Nona’s spaghetti gravy? Surely, you have a favorite perfume, a favorite food, a favorite beverage! Your favorite smell may be as pure as the scent of the morning’s air, as symbolic as incense! Your favorite taste may be as basic as salt! When, last, have you really enjoyed a scent that came to your notice or tasted what you were eating or drinking? Noticing a taste takes time and thought. When we truly savor our food or drink, we praise God, honor our own body that is being nourished and thank those who produced and provided them. Just imagine how good the loaves and fish tasted to the Five Thousand! (John 6:1-14)