Can’t pizza lead you towards God? (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).
On Sunday I made pizza for supper. Herbed crust, thick, garlicky sauce, uncured pepperoni, black olives, and two cheeses. Is your mouth watering yet? Is pizza among your disordered attachments?
As you may know, I’m focusing on being more truly detached from everything except God this year. Before you read the rest of this post, you may want to read or review these:
- What is detachment in the Catholic spiritual life?
- Why is detachment necessary?
- How can you know what your spiritual attachments are?
- Why do you have inordinate attachments?
I can’t work on every possible type of spiritual detachment at once. I have to slice it into small pieces. Here is an easy way I’m trying to start. Every time I experience pleasure or enjoyment, I am immediately turning my thoughts towards God.
As I’ve said before, we are not Puritans. We don’t reject the goodness in God’s creation. The world was damaged by Adam’s fall, but not destroyed.
Enjoying pizza, a good movie, splashing in the rain, or time with your spouse is not sinful. But when we dwell on these pleasures we take them out of their proper context.
Holy pizza, Batman!
Why did God make pizza? (Okay, I know there’s no pizzeria in the sky, as much as some of my in-laws would like to believe that God is Italian.) Obviously, God made food to nourish us. But that’s not all. If it were, He would not have made it taste so good.
Everything in creation, whether food or drink or natural beauty or the companionship of animals has another purpose. That purpose is to lead us back to God.
We need to see every good thing in the world as God’s gift to us. This leads our thoughts to Him.
Pizza can make us holy!
No longer a distraction
So, next time you visit the ocean, say, “Lord, you are more glorious than the surging of the sea!” When you taste an awesome dessert, thank God for His goodness, which goes way beyond the goodness of tiramisu. When you spend time with your spouse, ask God to draw you into the most intimate union with Himself.
I am hoping that by acting in this way, I’ll form new habits. Earthly pleasures will lead me to God, instead of distracting me from Him. I look forward to the day when my prayer time goes something like this:
“God, help me to open my heart to your grace. Boy, that pizza was good this evening! Thank you, Lord, for your heavenly care, which you show me through the food you have created. Grant me patience with my kids. I really love pepperoni and black olives. May I learn to savor your sweetness, O Lord…” You get the idea.
Connie Rossini
Share with us: Have you ever tried this method of working on detachment? How can you put it into practice?
Theresa
Can’t read enough about detachment…that’s for sure especially in today’s world. I like the practice you shared and I have tried it…but darn if I don’t forget by the next day! It is not an easy one to remember.
I seem to be in the habit of automatically raising my thoughts to God for my cup of coffee in the morning…the warmth…the taste…the way it wakes me for Morning Prayer : ) But I have to practice more with other things…even computer use.
Thanks for a great post.
Connie Rossini
Interesting, Theresa. I only drink Mystic Monk coffee, so I know I’m getting holier with each cup (haha). I think any new habit requires work and perseverance. I remember how hard it was when I first tried to have a steady prayer time. It seems so simple now, but at the time it was a fight.
Theresa
LOL! Hmmm…maybe I should try that too : ) Do you get a discount since you have connections?
Connie Rossini
Sorry, no discount. But I do get a small cut if you buy it through my links. 🙂 The rest I consider a donation. It supports the monks’ daily life.
Victor S E Moubarak
God wants us to enjoy this life; not endure it. So there’s nothing wrong in the pleasures we have on this earth; in preparation for an eternity with Him.
God bless.
Connie Rossini
Victor, I’m not sure if you’re agreeing or disagreeing with me here. The problem of course is not pleasure, but whether we make a god out of it. If I think about pizza all day long, I’ve really blown it out of proportion. Conversely, if the pleasure I get out of pizza leads me to think about and praise God, it has served the highest possible purpose.
Victor S E Moubarak
You’re 100% right. Sorry if I did not make myself clear.
God bless.
Growing in detachment for Lent - Contemplative Homeschool
[…] 1, I have been practicing lifting my thoughts to God as soon as I experience any pleasure. You can read more about that here. I can’t say I do this automatically all the time yet. I’ll have to keep working on […]
frances esemezie
Hello Connie, how do i get the mystic monk coffee? I reside in Lagos Nigeria.
Connie Rossini
Frances, I’m not sure if they ship overseas or not. If you are on a PC, just click the link/ad on my sidebar or on my Welcome page. That will take you to their website. Thanks for asking!