Journal of Sacred Work

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.  Luke 22:19-20

   The challenge to the Christian caregiver is to honor a covenant with God. When Jesus sacrificed for us, he did so to signal that our responsibility was to model our lives after his teachings & example – to bring aid and comfort to the suffering, to do so out of a caring heart. Each time we reach out to others with love, we celebrate a sort of caregiver’s communion, a merging of love with need. Whenever we feel hungry, thirsty or exhausted, it may well be it’s time for us to recall a meaning of communion…

   There is a hunger in all of us that, for Christians, can only be met
from one source. Periodically, I lose sight of this source. Communion
is a ritual of recommiting and of remembering or covenant.

Communion

I am hungry & can’t tell why.
I have had plenty to eat & want more
of something. I sit with my
hunger awhile, think of all those
children in China – the ones my mother
warned me about as I sat staring at a
plate half-filled with broccoli-asparagus-
carrots wondering how my small belly
could hold such large & unappealing things.

If I had that plateful of food in front of me now,
I would eat it all. Because I am hungry for
anything that will fill every empty part of me
the way thick soup fills ever part of a bowl.

Somewhere in the Serengeti an antelope
chews dry leaves.
Somewhere in the Serengeti,
a lioness chews fresh antelope.
Somewhere in Sarasota, a millionaire chews
tenderloin while he shows
his friends the lioness & antelope he
shot while hunting on the Serengeti.

They are no more filled than am I.
I am still hungry
& forget the why that will fill it.
My friend reminds that food won’t
fill, but that a small wafer & sip of wine
helps.