BREAD OF LIFE: SCATTERED, BROUGHT TOGETHER, HEALING

Bread is the means whereby we connect sacramental life with our homes and jobs. We break and share bread with others -- at family tables, at business luncheons, at testimonial dinners. We pray grace over bread, i.e., we thank God for the staff of life, then we distribute bread with guests. The one loaf is broken, passed and shared. Bread unites us. Table sharing commits us to a lifestyle of unity. "As this piece of bread was scattered over the hills (of Judea) and then was brought together from the ends of the earth into your Kingdom (The Didache/Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 9:4)."

The Eucharist is sacrament of reconciliation. Sharing the bread and drinking the cup calls and commits communities to a ministry of reconciliation. Why? Because communion with the Lord and with one another is a public action. It draws us into Christ's mission. It makes us agents of reconciliation.

Personal and social reconciliation is never easy. First, the process is messy and unmanageable. Reconciliation does not substitute for truth and justice. The truth has to be told often so that humankind does not slip into heinous behavior again. Second, reconciliation is not forgive and forget. No one ever forgets the hurts, wounds, and damage done to oneself by another person or institution. (To forgive and forget is not from the Bible. The concept comes from the 14th century).

What is reconciliation? Like the Eucharist, reconciliation is the work of God achieved through human response. Only God can deal with the enormity of damage done to families of the disappeared, of those murdered in war, of those tortured and displaced. We are ambassadors (2 Cor 5:19) and agents of reconciliation.

Reconciliation does not begin with the wrongdoer, even if we might wish it were otherwise. Reconciliation begins with the victim, i.e., the one tortured, molested, raped, abandoned, betrayed. This is where God begins. Jesus reached out to those on the margins and edges. He offered healing. He re-established bonds of trust. He helped others re-imagine a new possibility, a new creation instead of perpetual brokenness.

Reconciliation is a process. It begins when victims can tell their stories. Rehearsing enables both victims and companions to acknowledge the wounds and explore the pain. In time, the victim may be able to forgive the wrongdoer by remembering the event differently. The narrative of the lie is able to be reframed. We learn this in Eucharist: by his wounds we are healed. The risen One stands in our midst with his scars, with evidence that he was tortured unto death.

Reconciliation is also a decision. The community shares table and breaks bread so that victims can be restored to wholeness. Victims and companions commit to a new kind of future where there is safety, hospitality, memory and hope. Table sharing helps us regain our humanity because Christ's death and resurrection are a pledge that the power of trauma and pain is not the final word. We often sing this: "Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the savior of the world." A reconciled, restored and healed creation is the final word.