Fr.. Denis A. V. Carter SSC
sowing watering and weeding to the harvest, reaping, winnowing, grinding into flour. I spoke to them using the simplest words I could find. We are like the single grains of wheat gathered together and ground in our suffering to become one with the waters of Baptism. In the fire of the Holy Spirit we are changed into something new and wonderful. I told them that in this way we are united with Jesus who feeds us with himself as the Bread of Life, and so makes us one with him. As we eat we absorb him and are absorbed by him. He enters fully into our lives and we into his. This is not easy to understand or to accept but we have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us in our faith. It is the Holy Spirit that draws us to him in the first place, and our acceptance of his claim on us in Baptism, unites us with Jesus and the Father of all life.
I asked Shona, if he and his family truly believed in what I had said. And if so, did they really want to become Christians and be baptised. I asked them if they really wanted to share in the Body and Blood of Jesus and to call God Father.
Shona, his face glowing in the light of the fire, smiled and looked around at his family and then back to me. Of course they believed, that is why they invited my team and I to come and teach them. Since their experience of the Easter celebrations they had believed. There were things they hadn't understood very well, even now there were still many things that were hard to understand, but they could be accepted and with God's help they would become clearer in time.
I baptised the whole village, family by family, adults, children and babies. The Eucharist that followed was one of the most moving experiences of my life. The offering of the gifts was made with the declaration that they were offering their whole lives in the bread and wine to God, so that he would make them into what he wanted them to be.
Having shared their life for the past week and experienced their love, hardship and work, I knew that this was not just a glib statement, but something they meant. At the consecration, as the bread and wine was turned into the Body and Blood of Christ and I held the host up high for all to adore, a child's small voice said, 'He has changed us into himself.'
I began to tremble and prayed for the grace to believe and trust as much as that child. What happened at that Mass was powerful and real. Today I still offer myself to God in the Mass to do with me as he wills.
Sometimes as I celebrate Mass I almost take it for granted, without making much effort to be aware of the meaning of the symbols and rituals. Sometimes I ask myself what has this got to do with the price of bread? Sometimes my work gets so very involved with the very ordinary things of life, things that take up so much energy and time. When that happens I can lose sight of why I am a priest.
But it only take the scent of bread to jolt me back to reality.
When I remember the village of Bhozoni, I am able to see that everyone has his or her part in life. It does not matter how small or mundane it may seem to be, in taking part we are transformed and contribute to the bread of life for the world.
DAVC.
I asked Shona, if he and his family truly believed in what I had said. And if so, did they really want to become Christians and be baptised. I asked them if they really wanted to share in the Body and Blood of Jesus and to call God Father.
Shona, his face glowing in the light of the fire, smiled and looked around at his family and then back to me. Of course they believed, that is why they invited my team and I to come and teach them. Since their experience of the Easter celebrations they had believed. There were things they hadn't understood very well, even now there were still many things that were hard to understand, but they could be accepted and with God's help they would become clearer in time.
I baptised the whole village, family by family, adults, children and babies. The Eucharist that followed was one of the most moving experiences of my life. The offering of the gifts was made with the declaration that they were offering their whole lives in the bread and wine to God, so that he would make them into what he wanted them to be.
Having shared their life for the past week and experienced their love, hardship and work, I knew that this was not just a glib statement, but something they meant. At the consecration, as the bread and wine was turned into the Body and Blood of Christ and I held the host up high for all to adore, a child's small voice said, 'He has changed us into himself.'
I began to tremble and prayed for the grace to believe and trust as much as that child. What happened at that Mass was powerful and real. Today I still offer myself to God in the Mass to do with me as he wills.
Sometimes as I celebrate Mass I almost take it for granted, without making much effort to be aware of the meaning of the symbols and rituals. Sometimes I ask myself what has this got to do with the price of bread? Sometimes my work gets so very involved with the very ordinary things of life, things that take up so much energy and time. When that happens I can lose sight of why I am a priest.
But it only take the scent of bread to jolt me back to reality.
When I remember the village of Bhozoni, I am able to see that everyone has his or her part in life. It does not matter how small or mundane it may seem to be, in taking part we are transformed and contribute to the bread of life for the world.
DAVC.
The Bread of Life 2
