Crawfish & Communion
I saw a meme of Jesus and the apostles
at the last supper. The table is covered in newspaper and a batch of fresh boiled
crawfish is being poured on the table. It was shared on Facebook by a priest.
In the same light; last week a "Protestant,
yet Catholic" denomination showed their protestant side with a Crawfish
Communion.
It was a fundraiser. They sold t-shirts and had
a great big ole crawfish boil.
This Crawfish Communion was not a sinful event
or an intended mockery. There was, in fact, the possibility of a little gluttony. (It was
a crawfish boil.) However, they were raising money for the parochial school.
Yet, both of these brought to mind the events in
St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in this week’s readings.
Paul was not happy with the church in Corinth.
They had taken the Holy Communion, the Eucharist, and mocked it with gluttony,
drunkenness and greed. Instead of bringing the community together; it was being
pushed apart.
St. Paul re-instructs them in the tradition he
had earlier shared when they were catechized. Paul wants to shock them in realizing their failure to love one another. He wants them to see how their example of the Lord's Supper defied the meaning of the sacrifice of the
Eucharist.
Defying God’s directions is something that
humanity does well.
God created the world and us to enter into
relationship with him. God knows all of creation and in this He gave creation a
personal existence distinct from God. Creation is free; therefore humanity is
free. All God wants is for his creation to know God back; to love God in
return.
For this, we have intellect and will. We have
the free act that is love so we can know God.
Melchizedek did; a King and priest that knew and
worshiped the most high God. Abraham did and he came for God’s blessing.
But most of humanity has resisted knowing God.
It is easy for those with freedom to not know
God, our creator. Saying their unbelief is because of their will and intellect.
But, they have either forgotten the important part, love, or, they don’t
understand what love is.
So God sent us Jesus, who brought us sacrifice;
a sacrifice of bread and wine like Melchizedek. It is a sacrifice
in remembrance of His sacrifice. We call it the sacrifice of
mass; because, it is a sacrifice. It always has been.
It is a sacrifice that is a miracle that happens
at every Eucharistic meal. A miracle foretold in the feeding of the 5000, Jesus
took the break, looked to heaven and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his
disciples. His disciples brought it to the many.
St. Paul brought it to the many and told them
when they had it wrong. In our faith and our communion as Christ’s body of believers
we need to do the same.
One way is to support your local parochial
schools. Make sure that they bring Christ to our children because some may have
no other means to know Him. All or almost all schools usually get some type of
federal support. This means the government will be visiting and inviting
themselves in. This is made especially apparent in recent judicial rulings and Presidential
mandates.
We live in a secular world so worried about
personal freedom that it has forgotten love. It encroaches on the freedom and
welfare of the many. That is what St. Paul was upset about. They had forgotten
love.
Today is the Feast of Body and Blood of Christ,
Corpus Christi. Because of humanity’s misuse of freedom, will, and intellect
many are hungry for Christ. Many have forgotten love, let us share ours. My
friends bring the body and blood of Christ to the world.
Yall be good, Yall be holy. Preach the gospel by
the way you live and love. Amen.
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