19th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2018
19th Sunday/ The Eucharist is About Communion
Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.” And that is why we are here today. Somehow those words inspire each of us. But if we read on to the end of the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John we hear how many of those who listen to what Jesus has to say, in the end, walk away from him. Why? Is it about the fact he claims that a piece of bread is his flesh, that a cup of wine is his blood? Or is there another message that people are rejecting?
Someone once said that the Eucharist is like a group photo rather than and individual picture. If we look at any depiction of the Last supper we always see Jesus with twelve Apostles. Some paintings have a larger group at the Last Supper. We see women, there are children. The renditions show more people than the twelve apostles. We would have to say that the Last Supper was a lot like the gathering we have here this Sunday. Someone once joked when looking at Leonardo DaVinci’s portrait of the Lord’s supper that the final words must have been, “Everyone on this side of the table for a picture.”
Again, the Eucharist is more like a group photo rather than a selfie. Why is that statement so apropos? Just think about the last time you had a picture taken with a group of friends. Usually, there are a couple of people who don’t want to get in the picture because they say I am not photogenic. And when we look at a group picture what do we do first? We look for ourselves in the photo. We don’t just look at the group saying, “Boy that is a wonderful picture.” We look at ourselves saying, “Gee, I have put on weight. I have more wrinkles than everyone. I did not smile.” Seeing ourselves as a part of a group is not our first instinct.
We call Eucharist Holy Communion. What does it mean to be in communion? Being in Communion with others means that I give up my individuality. I must take risks. I need to let down interpersonal walls.
We can treat Eucharist as an act of individual piety. We can come to the Eucharist to quietly to sit in the back pew. We can ignore almost everyone at Mass. And that is so tempting. Eucharist is just between me and God. We suppose that is what it means to be reverent. But when we reflect on the first Eucharist it was a group experience. The Eucharist was table fellowship. The disciples were fully engaged in conversation with Jesus as well as with one another. Jesus presided over the evening, but he was not the only one speaking. You can bet he was listening a lot too. His friends were committed to him. But they were also committed to each other. Perhaps that is why they stayed together after his crucifixion. Being part of a Christian community is appealing as well as challenging.
A story is told of a woman who joined a religious community after leading the single life for a long time. She came to her spiritual director after several months. She complained about not being able to sleep. She was spiritually distraught. She said, “When I was living alone I felt that I was a good Christian person. I would be polite with strangers on the street. I would be patient with them if they did not wait their turn to get on the bus. I was generous to charities that asked for my donations. I seemed to be able to see the good in everyone.”
“Now, I live in the convent with other members of my community. I am so petty now. When someone asks the same question repeatedly I get impatient. If my superior asks me to do something I do not want to I get resentful. If others do not volunteer to help with projects around the house I wonder how they can be so lazy. I am so judgmental. I am not the person I thought I was.” The Spiritual Director asked the sister if she wanted to leave. Her answer was firm. “No, I am finding out who I really am. I am learning more about myself than I ever knew. If I cannot learn to deal with my faults now when will I ever do it. If I left I would be refusing to grow.” Eucharist is about communion. Communion is about community. Living in community can be about self-discovery if we are courageous enough to enter the messiness.
We are the Body of Christ today. Jesus says to us the one who shares in communion finds out about life. We are to invest in each other. When we do we learn compassion. We can understand empathy. We need to be forgiving. We also can grow in patience. Such feelings do not always come naturally. But if we are Christian we commit to community, so we can be the Body of Christ in the world today. Not just abstractly, but concretely.