If you take bread. If you have passed through water. If you have been taken.
If you bless bread. If you have passed through fire. If you have been blessed.
If you break bread. If you have passed through the desert. If you have been broken.
If you give bread. If you have fallen from the sky like manna. If you have been given.
Then God shines through the bread like Hopkins’ “shining from foil shook.”
Then God shines through the gathered people.
Then God shines through you.
Then the bread of the New Creation graces our altar table.
Then the gap between God and creation is once again bridged.
Then the Incarnation is still happening
Bethlehem means house of bread. The awaited descendant of King David would be born in Bethlehem, the house of bread. The Blessed Mother is the oven in which the Bread of Life grows. Even though a sword waits to pierce both her heart and that of her son, life is stronger than sorrow and death. The Bread will rise again. It will rise again, and again, and again in our hearts and on our altars.
Addendum: I just found out that there is a book about Pope Benedict XVI as though written by his cat. So I guess it’s not too unusual for Jesus to have a book about his life written by his mouse, as in this blog’s The Mouse and the Master. Find Benedict’s biography at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586172522?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=1586172522&linkCode=shr&tag=crux0d-20&linkId=GJHZGG76GBL6FMFL
Next week Jesus is born in Chicago, Jesus’ mouse meets the weeping woman, and we will explore symbols in meditation and prayer.
bridgingthegaplessgap 