To be bread for others

"This is my body to be given to you." (1 Cor. 11:24).

To be shared and spent for you. To sacrifice and die for you. Not just this piece of bread, but Me. My person. My Life. This bread is merely a symbol of what I have done and I will do for you. I, as your companion and friend, will nourish and sustain your body, your mind and heart, your spirit, your life. And all this I will do at my own expense. At the cost of my own life. This is how much I love you.

All this and more is what Jesus meant by becoming one among us, climaxed by the Last Supper, the Washing of the Feet, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion. The Passion of the Christ.

"Do this in memory of me." This was never meant to simply say that we should repeat this ritual of the bread, receive it in Holy Communion, and feel holy with the Lord within us, period!

What Jesus meant was this: Remember my story often, as you receive my Bread, so that you, too, as my followers, may offer your own body to be given for others. You, too, must be bread for others. You, too, must be shared and spent and sacrificed for others. This is what love really means. This is what Eucharist means. This is what the Mass is really all about.

It is what you bring to the Mass that you have been and have done for others, and what you commit yourself to do further after the ritual mass – that’s it. Otherwise, the Mass is nothing but a meaningless ritual, done for the sake of the letter of the law.

So when the Priest pronounces the words of consecration at every Mass that you attend, repeat those words, too, quietly in your heart, and mean every word you say: This is my body, to be given to you. And by you is meant the neighbor, the human family of God. To be bread for others.

This bread could literally be food for my family which I choose to share with those who need it even more.

This bread could be our monthly budget, so that the meager salaries of our household help would be more, and our luxuries less and less.

This bread could be the karinyo that my spouse needs which I habitually fail to give.

This bread could be the listening heart that my children keep claiming they do not get from me.

This bread could be my professional time and services given to those who need me but cannot afford me.

This bread could be the big risk I take in investing my money in a business that would be the bread and butter of a hundred families.

This bread could be the profits of my company – shared with my employees in a more proportionate way, beyond the so-called minimum wage law.

This bread could be my land that belongs to God and must be shared with God’s people who have no place they can call their home.

This bread would be my courageous involvement in socio-political issues that concern the welfare of my disadvantaged countrymen.

This bread could be my committed love in bringing the message and life of Jesus to others, even at the risk and sacrifice of my own life.

Yes. My bread broken and shared until I have no more. My supply will inevitably run out someday.

But replenishment will sure come. Only this time, it will be eternal bread.

Lord, thank you for showing me THE WAY.