In the Breaking of the Bread

More and more people have returned to church over the last few weeks. The Bishop has issued a letter saying that the dispensation for not attending mass is over on May 1. More than a year after it began, people are returning to our communal gathering at our Eucharistic liturgy.

Every day we hear people saying things are getting back to “normal.” And I am sad. Life as we knew it stopped for over a year. Personally, I have no desire to get back to the pre-Covid normal. Too much has been lost, and I pray too much has been learned to go back. Life has changed. As we come out of the trenches, we must not allow ourselves to slip back into what was comfortable but rather challenge ourselves to become what God is calling us to be.

This is a graced moment given to us by God. This is a covenant moment. It is not different from the days after the flood, or the journey through the desert to the Promised Land.  Let us not be complacent and return to “normal.” 

Together we can embrace God’s gift and create a new “normal.” Our new standard can be characterized by an appreciation of others who differ, an extended heart to the lost and alone, a willingness to step up and help those who need it. We have been allowed a graced moment to start again with refreshed hearts without cynicism, judgments, disrespect, or disregard for any human being. 

During this year, many have been forced to fast from the Eucharistic Bread. Many have spoken of their starvation for the food of Eucharist served from the table of the Lord. Sometimes it takes fasting to recognize the power of the Lord’s gift.

God did not abandon us during the isolation of the last year. He gave us Eucharist every day. The question is, “Did we recognize Him in the breaking of the bread of our lives?” When we could not come to the table of the Lord, He came to us and shared Eucharist with us. Did we recognize Him in the breaking of the bread during this year of losses and loneliness? Did we acknowledge Him in this year of graciousness and generosity? Did we hear the Lord’s voice in phone calls from friends, emails, letters, face time and zoom gatherings?  Did we see the bread broken and shared in heath care workers, first responders, and essential workers.  As we return to the table of the Lord and receive Eucharist, will we have learned anything? Will absence truly have made our hearts grow fonder and wiser?

In the Eucharist we receive at the altar of the Lord, we become Eucharist. Eucharist is not a private sacrament. Eucharist is a public proclamation. When I say Amen, it is a proclamation that I believe I receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and I am the Body and Blood of Christ. It is a public witness that I am willing to be Jesus’s body broken for love.

As we return to the Lord’s table we must remember when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus it is not a symbolic act. It is real. In Eucharist, we are His Body, and His Blood poured out for the world. If we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, then we become Him and allow ourselves to be broken in love for the world. We must be, through our lives, Eucharist for others. Jesus is incarnate in us. 

No, I don’t want to go back to “normal.” I pray we become a phoenix rising from the ashes of this dread Covid disease and we create a world rooted in love, faith, trust, joy, and God. Let us not miss this moment when we can change the world and become the Kingdom of God.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen