Candy Jesus, Communion Dresses and Chocolate Saints

Today we went shopping.  It is overcast and likely to rain, so Beth took me to "the mall." The only familiar stores were McDonalds and the Apple Store, but it looked pretty much like every mall I've ever seen.

What was strange, however, was looking through the the window of the candy store and seeing a bin full of candy Baby Jesuses.  (Is that the plural of Jesus?)

I was both intrigued and repulsed at the thought of eating Jesus in candy form.  Is it appropriate?  Is it blasphemous?  And most importantly, what does a candy Baby Jesus taste like?  So I bought some.

I even wrote a Haiku about my theological ponderings:

Here Baby Jesus
Is eaten in candy form
Is it communion?

P.S. it turns out that a candy Baby Jesus tastes a lot like a circus peanut.

Then we walked by a store that had beautiful clothing for children in the window.  Even if you don't speak French, see if you can read the signs above the outfits.

These (very expensive) fashions are designed for a child's baptism, confirmation and first communion.  How remarkable to see this as a part of the predominantly Catholic culture here - in a high-end fashion store.

After the mall, we went to a health food store so I could get some kombucha.  In a store full of organic vegetables and gluten-free crackers, there was this:

Thanks to my Dutch step-father, Adrian, I  recognized St Nicholas immediately. But why was he in chocolate form? Yes, we have chocolate Santas but Nicholas was real person! A saint! And why was there only one? And why was he out in June? And why was he at the health food store?  So many questions.  Beth and I really wanted to buy him as a tribute to the wonderful St Nicholas traditions our family has celebrated.  But he would never have survived the trip home or even sitting on the counter in this heat.  So we sadly left him behind.

And I didn't even mention the English-speaking Mormon missionaries (women) at the mall who stopped us to talk after they heard us speaking English.  Beth, wisely, did not volunteer that she, too, was a missionary because that was a conversation for a place other than a mall.

All this is to say that I encountered signs of religion all around me while out shopping today.  But I felt God most strongly in the quiet moments of beauty and time spent with my daughter. While I'm sure that one can find God at the mall, I don't think it will be in candy form.