more synchronicity ... this time around the eucharist

Just went to daily mass at noon time. I've been busy at work and haven't been going as much. Today I realized that I miss it. Yes, it's a break in my work day which certainly helps. It makes me get out of the office, etc… But there is also the Jesus factor. The Eucharist. The mystery of what takes place in that half hour, with the breaking open of the word and the bread. Sometimes I'm just in awe of it all. That folks have been doing this simple ritual for 2,000+ years as directed "Do this in memory of me." Every once in a while I think of the countless others who have stood there and participated in this sacrament over the years and across the globe. It's amazing to me.

Came back to my desk and had my daily e-mail meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society in my mail box.

When we gather around the Eucharistic table and eat from the same bread and drink from the same cup, saying, "This is the Body and Blood of Christ," we become the living Christ, here and now. Our faith in Jesus is not our belief that Jesus, the Son of God, lived long ago, performed great miracles, presented wise teachings, died for us on the cross, and rose from the grave. It first of all means that we fully accept the truth that Jesus lives within us and fulfills his divine ministry in and through us. This spiritual knowledge of the Christ living in us is what allows us to affirm fully the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection as historic events. It is the Christ in us who reveals to us the Christ in history.

Like I said, synchronicty. And then I did some quick lunch time online news reading and ran across an article by John Allen in NCR on the Eucharistic Synod, "Environment, social justice emerge as eucharistic themes."

Two bishops from the developing world have insisted that if the Eucharist is the summit of all creation, then it necessarily implies concern for the integrity of the environment. Both men have linked this concern with real-world problems
of environmental degradation experienced in their countries.

“Climactic change presents a serious threat to world peace. It is an authentic ‘sign of the times’ that demands of us an ‘ecological conversion,’” said Archbishop Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo, Peru, on Oct. 4.

“The church has a huge responsibility in this spiritual field,” said Barreto Jimeno, a Jesuit.

“As ‘fruit of the earth’, the bread and the wine represent the creation which is entrusted to us by our Creator,” Barreto Jimeno said. “For that reason the Eucharist has a direct relationship with the life and hope of humanity and must be a constant concern for the church and a sign of Eucharistic authenticity.”

“[In] the Archdiocese of Huancayo, the air, the ground and the basin of the river Mantaro are seriously affected by contamination,” he said. “The Eucharist commits us to working so that the bread and wine be fruit of ‘a fertile, pure and uncontaminated land.’”

Exciting stuff and worth some serious reflection. But for now, lunch time is over and so back to work for me.