Today is a brief reflection from Norman Wirzba.
The Eucharist, in other words, is not an occasional nibbling session in which Christians recall the violence done to their Lord. It is the table where we go to die to ourselves. It is the regular time when we learn to put to death all the self-serving impulses that distort and degrade the world around us. Here we learn to live our baptism in which we die and are buried with Christ, so that we can also be raised with him into the newness of life that glorifies God rather than ourselves.
... It is tempting to confine eucharistic eating to a ritual realm. When this happens, the table around which Christians gather stays in a sanctuary. This is a serious error. The life and ministry of Jesus is not a pious idea. It is an economic revolution that has multiple practical effects, such that the tables in our kitchens and the dining tables in restaurants and cafeterias become places of eucharistic eating. Recall that the members of the early Christian community who gladly and generously ate together were also known to sell their possessions, give to those who had need and hold things in common. In a line that ought to astound us, Luke wrote, 'there was not a needy person among them' (Acts 4.34). To eat in such a way that we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us means that we will give ourselves - our attention, our skills, our energy and our possessions - to others so that we all flourish. Eucharistic table manners result in sacrificial forms of living, in which meeting the needs of others is a defining concern.
Norman Wirzba, 'Reconciliation Through Eating' in Fred Bahnson and Norma Wirzba, Making Peace with the Land (IVP, 2012), pp.123-135.
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