HA3 9.3 – Salt is Replaceable
The evening mass took about 45 minutes to complete. Hide and the group followed it with ease. When they had to stood, they stood. When they had to sit, they sit. When they had to say amen, they said it solemnly.
The only thing they couldn’t follow was the singing. Among the group, only Kana sang when they had to sing. Fortunately, it was not a problem. Even though the mass went without a choir, the children who attended it sang each song in high spirit, including Paolo’s toddler.
Most of all, out of 100s people who attended the mass, more than half were children. So, their childish and happy voice with ease covered every corner. The sermon was also being presented specifically for the children and it was really good. The children laughed breathlessly when the pastor made a joke for them.
It looked easy and simple, but actually it took lot of effort and correct mindset to perform a sermon that could properly catch children’s interest and attention. Hide heard from Carlson that when he was in seminary, a lot of seminarist could make good sermon for elderly, adult, or teenager, but almost no one scored beyond D+ when performing sermon for children.
Honestly, this was also the first time Hide saw a mass where the children happily dominating it. Last time he attended a mass, the children around him looked so bored and their parent had to work hard to prevent them from making great escape.
‘A religion and spiritual rites should be able to be looked upon by children as joyous and friendly occasion,’ Hide calmly muttered as he found Aizawa, Kana, Rei, Kei, and the other children who attended the mass looked very happy.
And so, the mass went like a breeze and it ended before everyone realized it. After the pastor performed the last blessing, the children sang the last song as the final closure for the mass.
After that everyone made small personal pray before going to simple dining hall in wing building. It was a tradition in St Marry that after the evening mass the church would invite everyone to have simple meal. After regrouping with Aizawa and Kaede Sensei, Hide and the rest also went to dining hall.
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The menu for the simple meal was fried chicken, shrimp tempura, spinach tempura, strawberry shortcake, and orange juice. Some adults, including Kaede Sensei volunteered themselves to man the serving table. And so, after the group took their serving, Kana led them to one of long table.
Half of the table was already being occupied by children, but Hide and Takeo didn’t see it as a problem. They blended with the kids with ease. Then, they started their meal.
After helping Rei and Kei opened their juice box Takeo turned his gaze to Aizawa. “Your piano play is remarkable. You must have trained very hard.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa happily replied. “Aizawa and Kaede Sensei trained together a lot for it.”
After a smile Takeo said, “I see.”
Rei then turned his gaze to Takeo, “Big Bro, why Mr. Pastor said, ‘Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted.’ back then.”
“It’s from Ezekiel 21:26, today first reading,” A chubby boy replied as he took a chair in front of Rei.
Hide recognized the chubby boy instantly. He was Shinji Kiyomasa, Sayaka’s little brother. Hide also clearly saw that for some reason, Shinji slightly flinched when Aizawa looked at him. However, Shinji managed to strengthen his resolve to join the group.
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Shinji then took out an e-bible through his featured phone before continuing, “Here is the full verse, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted.’”
“Yeah,” Rei said while giving the boys a confuse look. “But why Mr. Pastor said it?”
“It’s a reminder about fighting the bad unconditionally. It means, even though the bad is the society or even the government itself, we shouldn’t back down,” Shinji firmly said. “Big Sis always says that sometimes we have to launch a rebellion against the society, and she argues a lot about this with mommy and daddy.”
“Jesus… Chubby,” Hide interjected Shinji. For some reason, he had an urge to sow distrust seed on Sayaka’s little brother. “Your Big Sis sounds like a radical sheep.”
“Really?” Shinji looked at Hide as big question mark filled his chubby face to the brim.
“Really,” Hide firmly replied.
“Then, what is the meaning of the verse?”
“It’s about fighting your own tendency,” Hide casually said before putting a piece of fried chicken in his mouth. “If you are too shy, you have to be a little braver. If you are too chatty, you have to be a bit quieter. If you have too much of pride, you have to learn how to be a bit humble.”
Shinji instantly gave Hide a skeptical look. “I never heard that.”
“In Catholic teaching there is a Latin phrase for it, Abnegatio Sui,” Hide replied. “Literally, it means fighting your own tendency.”
“Fighting my own tendency?”
Hide gave Shinji a nod. “Balance yourself and strives to be a better person, with enough confidence while being humble at the same time.
Then, you can be salt for your community even though all you do, is becoming yourself.”
“Big Bro Hide,” Kei said as she looked at Hide. “Can we really become salt for our community?”
“Of course we can,” After a smile Hide added. “Like a simple salt that give flavor to a cuisine without drawing attention, we can give our community a good flavor through simple act of kindness.
But make no mistake, sometimes, even the smallest and ordinary kindness mean a world for someone.”
“Big Bro, what about miso?” An unknown little girl who sat in front of Hide asked him. “Miso is much better seasoning than salt. Can we become miso instead of salt?”
Hide immediately held back the piece of fried chicken he was about to eat. “Of course we can.”
“Really?” The girl asked as she gave Hide an expectant look. “But Mommy said we can’t replace the salt in the Bible with anything else, because it’s holly salt.”
‘Holly salt my foot.’ Hide muttered before gently said to the girl, “The salt in Bible is just a figurative speech. It’s not a sin to replace it with something else we understand better.”
“Okay,” The girl happily nodded. “Grandpa and grandma will be very happy to hear that we can use the miso they made like the salt in the Bible.”
“What about bonito flake?” Another unknown little girl asked Hide while looking at him with her clear gaze. “Bonito flake can give a good flavor too and daddy makes lot of it in his workplace.”
“Bonito flake will do more than enough,” Hide gently replied.
“What about pork bone stock?” An unknown boy asked Hide as he was about to put the piece of fried chicken to his mouth for the second time. “Daddy makes lot of pork bone stock in for our ramen shop.”
“Pork bone stock will do more than enough too.”
“What about soy sauce?”
“Soy sauce is good seasoning too.”
“What about shichimi togarashi?”
“Shichimi togarashi is good too.”
In the end, every single child in the long table asked Hide about the seasoning their parent used or made in their workplace, and Hide replied them one by one.
In a glance it looked though. You used salt in figurative speaking about contributing to your community through unseen act, but the kids just banked hard into culinary seasoning. However, Hide took it casually.
Then, Hide finally had the chance to continue his meal. However, he was about to put the piece of fried chicken he held in his hand all this time to his mouth, when suddenly he felt a light tug on his left sleeves.
Hide immediately checked it and found the culprit was Paolo’s granddaughter. He immediately smiled at her.
“Yes?”
“Can Arianne replace the salt with meat sauce?” The toddler girl asked while looking at Hide with her clear eyes. “Grandpa makes a super delicious meat sauce for spaghetti in our shop. Sometimes, mommy also uses it to make omurice for Arianne.”
“Sure, we can replace the salt with your Grandpa’s meat sauce.”
“Okay,” Arianne happily nodded.
“So, did you lose your Grandpa?”
“No.” Arianne pointed at where Paolo stood and added, “He ask Arianne to call you and your friend.”
“I see. Let’s go to your Grandpa.”
“No,” Arianne firmly shook her head. “Arianne will stay here when Grandpa talk with you two.”
“Okay.”
Hide then helped Arianne to take over her seat and asked Aizawa to look after her. Then, he and Takeo went over to Paolo.
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