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Connections&
June 2, 2002--The Body and Blood of Christ
"I am the living bread come down from heaven, the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world...
John 6:51-58
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." Matthew 7:21-27
Given for you, for you to give...
It is Easter Sunday at a prison. More than 10,000 political prisoners are detained here by the country's repressive and cruel regime. A group of prisoners want to celebrate the Eucharist, but they have no bread, no wine, no cup, no service book, no Bible, no priest.
The non-Christian prisoners offer, "We will help you. We will talk quietly so you can meet together and not draw the attention of the guards."
One of the Christian prisoners says to the others, "We have no bread, not even water to use as wine, but we will act as though we have."
And so he begins to lead the others through the liturgy, surprised at how many of the words he remembers, having heard them so many Sundays since he was a child. When he gets to the words Jesus said at the Last Supper, he turns to the prisoner next to him. He holds out his empty hands and says, "This is my body, which is given for you."
And so they go around in the circle, one by one, each man turning to the next, opening his palms and repeating Jesus' words: "This is my body, given for you."
[Nora Gallagher, "Pentecost: We have the Spirit, we are the body," Episcopal Life, June 2000.]
CONNECTION: In the Eucharist, bread and wine are transformed by the Spirit of God into the body and blood of Christ; in turn, the sacrament we receive should transform us into sacraments, as well--sacraments of God's love for one another, signs of God's presence to our families and communities. As the Eucharist is the heart of Christ's church of reconciliation, so should the Eucharist make us reconcilers; as the Eucharist animates the Church with the life of Christ, so should the Eucharist we receive animate our lives in the love and compassion of God. "If you have received worthily," St. Augustine preached, "you are what you have received."u
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