In recent weeks and as a result of the pandemic occasioned by the Coronavirus many Catholic Christians across the world have been unable to break bread with Jesus, to celebrate mass with a priest present and to receive the body and blood of the Lord.They have not been able to hear the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples while he was still with them; “take and eat, for this is my body, take and drink for this is my blood”.
I was moved to think about what has been going through the minds of some Catholic faithful today who have not been able to break bread with Jesus at a public mass. My thinking about this was occasioned by an article I read about a woman who invested in a course to learn how to make bread, or as she described it to take her sour dough loaves to the next level.
Contrast the women’s words of encouragement to her bread while needing it to Jesus words to his disciples we heard spoken today in the gospel. “Why are you troubled? Look at my hands, my feet, it is I myself, touch me and see”.
The bread taken up into the hands of the priest will not only have words of love addressed to it but will also become the presence of the risen Lord among us inviting us now to take and eat, take and drink, it is I.
Maybe my own meandering thoughts and words about bread making and bread breaking can enter our prayer today as we gather with our families or alone with Christ.
