Coffee & Writing

(26) While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
(27) Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink from it, all of you,
(28) for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 26:26-28

You know what, I am going to abandon the research and everything for this one because how can you write that way about something you love so much and brings a smile of love to your face?

That big white circle in the middle of that fancy gold thing in the photo above is called the Eucharist. Get this–it is the real body of Jesus! Jesus is physically right there. This is what I believe, many others don’t understand, and that’s fine and completely understandable.

I don’t know the history of how this began or evolved or whatever, except what Jesus said at the Last Supper. The apostles must have known this was how their good friend’s Word was to be spread. Perhaps the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the power to transform bread and wine into the most precious gift for many people, and then the gift just spread.

I remember when I was a little kid, about five, going to Midnight Mass (when they were actually celebrated at midnight), we were late, so we snuck into the cry-room. I was bored (hey, I was 5 and church can be boring from time to time, even if you’re 49), so I was just swinging my legs back and forth, back and forth, they were at least a year away from just barely touching the ground.

I looked up, Father Dobeic’s elderly hands were clutching a large off-white host, and it glowed. There were golden lights spilling from all around it. My eyes were transfixed, I didn’t know what to think, but I knew something very special was happening. I actually saw this tasteless wafer become the most delicious sustenance I could ever hope to enjoy on this Earth.

“Sounds crazy. You were only five, you’re just making this up,” a skeptic might say. How many remarkable memories do you have from when you were five that still cling to you, even at age 100.

Miriam Kavanagh