PJ’s Page –
Recently I opened a bottle of lemonade to find this phrase under the bottle top: “Consuming this product may cause joy!” While the lemonade was delicious, what caused my joy was the very subtle reminder of all of the reasons that I had reason to be filled with joy…and they weren’t necessarily related to the lemonade.
Of course, it was a vocational certainty that I would draw a correlation between the message in that bottle top and the Eucharist. When we come to the table, we bring ALL of who we are to the holy meal. Our joys, our sorrows, our struggles, and our accomplishments. The gift of Jesus, present in, with, and under that bread and wine, sustains us. It doesn’t take away our struggles. It doesn’t solve our problems. It is not some sort of magic bullet. Rather, in that bread and wine, we receive again the gift of grace that is ours…each one of us….in Jesus Christ.
I once read somewhere that the very act of opening our hands to receive the bread creates an act of offering up. (Go ahead, cup yours together now.) Imagine that as we receive that bread we are also offering to God the stuff of our lives. All of it. Even those things we don’t speak of, but that remain with us nonetheless. And in that act, we create space, not just for the bread, but for Jesus.
As we prepare again to recognize and honor our high school seniors, my hope for them, and for all of us, is that when we feel overwhelmed or empty or full and hopeful….that we will bring that to the table of the Lord, to the Eucharistic feast.
And remember…consuming this ‘product’ may cause joy!