Greetings,
Sunday, April 15th, was the Second Sunday of Easter, and I preached using the Gospel lesson from John 20:19-31 as the text. The focus was on The Risen Lord, and the reality of the Resurrection for us, who in Jesus are now the Resurrection People. These comments, ranging from the Fourteenth century and the Twentieth century, raise thought provoking images for our understanding of the Body and Blood of Jesus, our Communion, as the essence of being Resurrection Christians.
The table fellowship of Christians implies obligation. It is our daily bread that we eat, not my own. We share our bread. Thus we are firmly bound to one another not only in the Spirit but in our whole physical being. The one bread that is given to our fellowship links us together in a firm covenant. Now none dares go hungry as long as another have bread, and anyone who breaks this fellowship of the physical life also breaks the fellowship of the Spirit.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
By this light I shall come to know
that you, eternal Trinity,
are table
and food
and waiter for us.
You, eternal Father,
are the table
that offers us as food
the Lamb, your only-begotten Son.
He is the most exquisite of foods for us,
both in his teaching,
which nourishes us in your will,
and in the sacrament
that we receive in holy communion,
which feeds and strengthens us
while we are pilgrim travelers in this life.
And the Holy Spirit
is indeed a waiter for us,
for he serves us this teaching
by enlightening our mind’s eye with it
and inspiring us to follow it.
And he serves us charity for our neighbors
and hunger to have as our food
souls
and the salvation of the whole world
for the Father’s honor.
Catherine of Siena
Yours & His,
DED
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