The teacher asked her young students to bring to their next religious
education class something from home that symbolized their families’
faith. One student brought a rosary; another brought a Bible, a third a
crucifix. But one little girl brought perhaps the most meaningful
expression of all: her mother’s casserole dish often used to bring food to
the sick.
In our church, we use many “sacred” vessels and objects in our
worship: plates on which the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is
placed, chalices to hold the precious blood of the Lord, linens to cover
the altar, bowls of incense with clouds of smoke rising like our prayers
to heaven.
But there are many other ordinary, common things we use every day
that we would never think of as “sacred” – yet they can be instruments
and tools of God’s compassion.
For example: the crock pot, in which you make supper for a family in
mourning preparing to bury a loved one, is a sacred vessel.
The towel you use to wipe the brow of a dying parent or spouse is as
precious as altar linen.
The soup kettle and ladle that are used to feed the poor and homeless
transform a basement soup kitchen into a very holy place.
Every act of generosity, every kindness extended, every moment
given to the needs of another, is the incense of prayer rising to God’s
dwelling place.
On this day we recall something very special. In our taking the body
of Christ, we become the body of Christ. In receiving the Eucharist, we
must be willing to become Eucharist for others: to make the limitless,
complete love of Christ real for all.
I close with this: One day Mother Theresa of Calcutta was talking
about her ministry to the dying and her love of the Eucharist. She said
this, “We see Christ under two forms. We see him on the altar as bread
and wine and we see him in the slums as the broken bodies of forgotten
people. A body comes in eaten by worms. I know when I touch it that I
am touching the body of Christ otherwise nothing could make me do it.”
Take this home with you! “When we say “Amen” at communion today,
how do we become Eucharist to others”?
Tags: 6-11-2023