Missing the Eucharist

I am missing the Eucharist! I am missing the prayers, the gestures, the
music. I am missing your faces. I am missing placing the body of Christ into your cupped
hands.

And as soon as I say that; it and you are here! What might I ask is going on?

We have adopted a poetic sacramental language not to mention a eucharistic faith which transcends the physical, the actual. In this imposed exile we have been accompanied by a Spirit which calls us to a new intentionality. It whispers through the fear in the dark, I AM here just listen for the poetry, look for the beauty. And when you realize it, pause, mark, digest.

I came across a story the other day told by Gerrit Scott Dawson, a pastor, who offered his young daughter soup: Leah would you like soup? And she responded: And also with you! He was called up short by the rhythm of the sursum corda, the opening of the Eucharistic prayer which then calls us to lift up our hearts! The supreme open gesture to receive light and hope and grace.

While The Eucharist in its physical bread and wine form is missing for a while, communion is theologically and liturgically revealed by Word as well. As our Bishops reminded us it is about concomitance and right now it is about our common loss as well as our common hope! To be more precise we might embrace our day by day, moment by moment eucharistic way of being.

Eucharist means thanksgiving; when we give thanks and lift up our hearts we are rewarded with grace. We are rewarded with life.

Our sacramental life continues, our awareness heightened, our imaginations inspired, as we look for ways to honor and practice our faith.

Today at noon the Pope has called for all to pause and say the Lord's Prayer! I can think of no greater way of being the community in the world which God calls us to be.

I choke on my tears when I think of this powerful humble moment. And then I remember that tears are sacramental; they are the outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace! Talk about communion!

So remember sacrament and thanksgiving can be the way we live in the world, making the ordinary extraordinary: sacrament in the time of coronavirus. The Lord be with You.....Lift up your hearts!...