Food for the Journey: the Lembas of the Saints

Tolkien’s Love for the Eucharist

J.R.R. Tolkien’s emphatic Catholicism pervades many of his works, especially his strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament or the Eucharist. Catholics believe the Eucharist to be Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Tolkien reveals his great love and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in a letter written to his son Michael, “Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth” (Letters, # 43).

He continues, “and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all” (Letters, # 43). For Tolkien, death was not a curse but a gift. In order for death to be a gift, there would have to be something greater one receives from it. 

Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross opened the gates of Heaven to receive the souls of those who follow after Him. The Eucharist is His continual Presence on earth and gives man the strength to persevere in His love until the very end when the soul returns to its Creator.

Tolkien recognized the connection between perseverance and the Eucharist, saying, “The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion…Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals (Letters, # 250).

In a long line of saints and popes, Tolkien recommends the daily reception of Holy Communion. Just as without food the body is dead, so without the spiritual food of the Eucharist, the soul is dead. In our time of Eucharistic revival, I believe Tolkien would have suggested frequent Holy Communion as the answer to sagging belief in the Real Presence.

The Eucharist in The Lord of the Rings?

Tolkien of course disliked allegory and tried to steer far away from it in his works. He did, however, note in his works a certain “applicability.” Indeed, the Eucharist applies quite well to lembas. Many authors in the past have made connections between lembas and the Eucharist in The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). 

The origins of lembas are uncertain. The Peoples of Middle-Earth seems to suggest that Yavanna was the originator of the waybread but The Silmarillion mentions it first being given by Melian to Turin and his companions. 

Regardless of where specifically it originated, it was a gift from the angelic beings sent by Eru, something Aquinas might have called the “Bread of Angels.” Lembas is the Sindarin pronunciation meaning waybread. In Quenya, however, lembas is translated as coimas meaning “life-bread.” 

One cannot fail to make the connection with Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

Food for the Journey

Lembas first appears as a gift for the Fellowship from the Elves of Lothlórien as food to sustain them on their journey to destroy the Ring and described as a thin white colored wafer (LOTR 360) reminiscent of the wafers used by the Catholic Church for the Eucharist, which  are typically flat and white.

The Elves bid the Fellowship use lembas on need only basis: “’Eat little and only at need. For these things are given to serve you when all else fails…One will keep a traveller on his feet for a day of long labour, even if he be one of the tall Men of Minas Tirith’” (LOTR, 360-361).

At one point, the entire Fellowship (excluding Gandalf) is nourished by this bread. It is used to sustain Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they search for Merry and Pippin. As Merry and Pippin escape from Grishnákh, Merry notes its power saying, “Lembas does put heart into you! A more wholesome sort of feeling, too, than the heat of that orc-draught” (LOTR, 448).

Repelling Evil

As they travel through Mordor, Sam and Frodo rely heavily upon it. The Orcs and Gollum refuse to eat lembas: “But I guess they [orcs] disliked the very look and smell of lembas, worse than Gollum did. It’s scattered about and some of it is trampled and broken, but I’ve gathered it together” (LOTR, 893).

Evil things seem to be repelled by lembas. Indeed, many evil things are repelled by the Eucharist. An example is when St. Clare of Assisi’s convent was being invaded by the Saracens in 1240 AD. St. Clare prostrated herself before the Blessed Sacrament entreating our Lord for protection. The Saracens became so frightened, that they left running away in fear of St. Clare’s prayer before the Blessed Sacrament! 

Feeding the will, giving strength to endure

When Sam and Frodo are ascending Mount Doom, Tolkien writes that, “lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die…yet this waybread of the Elves had a potency that increased as travellers relied on it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master the sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind” (LOTR, 915). 

Ordinary food does not feed the will. Clearly, Tolkien’s waybread has a much deeper significance in The Lord of the Rings than just being a literary device.

Viaticum 

Etymologically, viaticum originally meant sustenance or money for a journey. The Church uses this word to refer to when the Blessed Sacrament is given to a dying person – being food (or sustenance) for the way (the soul’s journey to union with God). The Catechism says Viaticum “has a particular significance and importance” as “the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection” calling it “the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father” (CCC 1524).

In The Silmarillion, lembas serves Túrin Turambar during his journeys. Not only does it sustain Túrin on his journeys, it also helps to heal the sick and the wounded: “Those that were hurt or sick he [Beleg] tended, and gave them the lembas of Melian; and they were quickly healed…” (Silmarillion, p. 244, Ballantine Ed.)

The Power to Sustain

Another important connection between the Eucharist and lembas is their ability to sustain not only on both the spiritual and physical levels. There have been a number of saints and blesseds throughout the history of the Church who have been given the grace to live solely off of the Eucharist.

One of the most well-known is St. Joseph of Cupertino. For the last five years of his life, St. Joseph of Cupertino was sustained solely by the Eucharist. Another example is St. Catherine of Siena. Catherine lived on the Eucharist for twenty-five years before her death!

A more recent example, and a contemporary in Tolkien’s time, is Blessed Alexandrina Maria de Costa. Alexandrina was permanently crippled at the age of 14 and spent the rest of her life uniting her suffering to the sufferings of Christ for the conversion of sinners. For the last thirteen years and seven months before her death, Alexandrina only received nourishment from the Blessed Sacrament.

Conclusion

In recent times, the Catholic Church has called for a “Eucharistic Revival.” Tolkien “fell in love with the Blessed Sacrament” (Letters, # 250). Let us pray that we too might fall in love with the Blessed Sacrament. Let us also listen as Tolkien did to the silent appeal of the Tabernacle, or as Elijah would say the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) of God.