May 3, 2026

After Communion at Catholic Mass, in prayer I saw how receiving Communion is like being in the crowd of five thousand being fed by Jesus with the loaves and fishes (Matthew 14:13–21 for example). It is also being fed by Christ’s body that has broken into a million pieces, and there is enough for all. Receiving Communion is participating in this breaking apart of Christ’s body as it is, the body he offered up according to God’s will. And just so, our own ego-identities are broken apart when we receive Communion (or they can be if we let them).

In the Garden of Gethsemane, in the hours leading up to Jesus’ detention and crucifixion by the authorities, Jesus struggled with what he knew was coming – the excruciating pain of torture and death. As he prayed to the Father, he said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). He surrendered to God’s will, died and yet found new life in the Resurrection, and this changed the course of history for humanity. This surrender to God’s will is inherent in receiving Communion.

Just so, receiving Communion has the potential to break apart our earthly agendas and plans and to dissolve our own carefully constructed identities. We can become attached to our ideas about where we are going and to our plans for how to get there, which we think is our path to happiness. Yet quite the contrary – when our agendas, plans, and guarded identities dissolve, there is freedom and peace, right now in the moment. 

Let us dwell in that freedom and peace.  Amen.