Egyházi Értesítő, 1990 (314-325. szám)
1990-04-01 / 317. szám
"And Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it"(St.Luke 22:19)« Eating bread is something meet of us do every day of our lives and probably never fe&L the deep significance of it until the Harvest Thanksgiving comes round each year. Jesus also "took the cup, and gave thanks". Earlier,, when the disciples James and John asked Him to give tEem whatever they desired, He said: "Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?" (St.Maric10:38).Heis referring of course to His coming crucifixion, and whenever we drink from this cup of the Lord we are pledging ourselves to share in His suffering and to bear with Him some of the weight of redeeming the world. These elements of the bread and the wine are broken and poured out. This is the dramatised way in which Jesus is present for us in the world. This way of living, by giving and serving, becomes a part of our moral and spiritual life as the bread and the wine become part of our bodies by being absorbed in them, "Man* " said Bonhoeffer, shortly before his execution by Nazis, "is summoned to share in God's sufferings at the hands of a godless world." The bread and the wine also speak to us of something else.They speak of our dependence.These things didn't come down from heaven for our Lord to use, untouched by human hands. The wheat and the grapes had to be grown, the bread baked, the vines tended, the fruit picked and prepared. Think of the number of processes involved in all this - and of the number of people who, somewhere, had a part in getting that bread and .wine into our Lord's hand on that fateful night. Even the Son of God was dependent on the labours of others for the daily food by which His physical life was sustained. I am sure it is good for us to remember this at a time when people speak hastily and sometimes vehemently about their "independence". The fact is we are "members one of another" in this matter, and the business of living couldn't go on unless it were the case! PRAYER FOR THE MONTH 0 Son of God, who for us hast drained the cup of sacrifice: Enable us by Thy grace to drink of Thy cup, and rejoice that unto us it is given, not only to believe in Thee, but also to suffer withHee; to the glory of Thy name. 14. Egyházi Értesítő 1990 április ho
