Eat your vegetables

In today’s first reading (Daniel 1:1-6,8-20), four young men decline the sumptuous cuisine of a pagan king and chose to eat only vegetables and water.

The young men turn out to be wiser and healthier than anyone else, but not because of the diet itself, but because of their devotion to the Lord.

The world today sets before us a great many temptations, each of which (in different ways) seem to be the way to fulfill our desires. (God have mercy on me and you.)

But none of these temptations can ever fulfill our deepest desires, because (to paraphrase St. Augustine) God made us for himself and we can have no fulfillment except in him.

The ways of God do not always seem as appetizing as the ways of the world, but the ways of God are always more deeply and powerfully fulfilling.

Taste and see that the Lord is good!