St Anne Novena Day VII

DAY VII - Wednesday, July 24th "To celebrate and live the Eucharist, we are called to live this love because you cannot break Sunday's bread if your heart is closed to others; you cannot eat this bread if you do not give the bread to the hungry, you cannot share this bread if you do not share the sufferings of those in need." Pope Francis A wonderful movie that tells the story of the Eucharist is called Babette’s Feast. It features two sisters, Martine and Philippa, who live in a small fishing village in Denmark. Their father had been the pastor of an austere Protestant church in town, but now he is dead, and the church is dwindling. Earlier in life, each sister had the chance to marry but their father had refused. So, instead, they spent their lives caring for their father. And now, much older, they care for the remains of the solemn church he founded. One day Babette arrives on the scene; she is a refugee from Paris. When the sisters explain that they have no money to take her on as a housekeeper, she offers to work for free. The sisters also don’t want to hire her because she always wears a gold crucifix. She is a Catholic or as they say with disdain, “a papist.” For fourteen years she cooks the bland, simple food that fits the rigid and pious lifestyle of the sisters. Then one day Babette wins the lottery in France, 10,000 francs. She decides to spend all the money preparing an incredible feast for the sisters and their small congregation. As the ingredients for the meal begin to arrive from France, the sisters become concerned that the meal will be so extravagant, so luxurious, as to be downright sinful. They decide that they will eat the meal, but they will not enjoy it so as not to give in to bodily pleasure. The tiny congregation arrives at the sisters’ home. As the party gathers and begins to eat, a strange warmth settles over the table. The food feeds not only their bodies but also their souls. Forgiveness, love, and redemption surround the group – the abundance of the food pointing to a deeper abundance of grace in which even the things that have been denied in the past are somehow swept up and included in the fullness that they experience in the present. It is an experience of communion in its deepest sense – communion with one another and communion with God. It might seem strange, a movie about a woman who cooks for a pious Lutheran Family would be about the Eucharist. There is no bread and wine, no altar and of course no Jesus. But there is course bread and wine and so much more. There is no altar but there is a table. And there is no Christ, but there is a Christ figure, Babette who always wears her cross around her neck. Think Babette = the Christ figure. She’s the only one wearing a crucifix. She’s the agent for the transformation of these pietistic Lutherans into “graced and truth filled” Christians. Yes, a Catholic! She puts on the feast all by herself. Who does that sound like? Think eucharistic feast when you think Babette’s feast. Wine there is aplenty as well as bread. After the meal old enemies who hadn’t talked for years leave arm and arm. They have been transformed. The day after the meal the sisters return to say good-bye to Babette. They presume that she will go back to Paris. But she explains that she will stay, she must. She used all her money to feed the members of the Church, there is no money left. Babette is the Christ figure; she gave her all so that others might have life and have it in abundance. In John’s Gospel which is the first miracle or sign that Jesus performs? It is at Cana of Galilee when Jesus turned water into wine. When we think of Jesus’ miracles, we usually thinking of Jesus healing people who were sick, feeding the hungry or raising the dead to life. Things that are important, but in John’s Gospel, the first sign is at the wedding feast of Cana. Jesus transforms water into wine. A sign of Christ’s abundant blessing. When you think about it the miracle wasn’t important. Do we really need wine? The people had been partying and they ran out of wine. They probably had drunk too much anyway. It was time for them to go home. But no Jesus changes the water into wine, and not just a little bit of wine, but 6 100-liter jugs, 600 liters 150 gallons. That was a lot of wine. And it wasn’t the cheap stuff either. No, it was the very best of wine. Such is the love of God; such is the example of Jesus. Only a Catholic heart can understand the Eucharist. What we are doing here doesn’t make sense to non-Catholic Christians, but for us Catholic Christians it makes all sense in the world. Only a Catholic is able to understand a God who loves us so much. In the nearly 20 years that I have been coming here to Saint Anne I have experienced again and again the love and generosity of this community. The catholic heart of this community. The collection is just one sign, but the food and the fellowship so many different kindnesses that are showed to me and to one another. The ushers, the booklets, the lectors, the fellowship. The list goes on and on of the generosity of the people of the Sunset. You are a generous community. What do you do if someone drops off a pan of 100 lumpia, or dumplings, or soda bread, or tamales. More than you can possible use? The Catholic heart gives it away, abundance moves us to generosity. It is interesting in Mexico we have very small refrigerators and tiny freezers. In our freezers we have ice and maybe ice cream. Here we want to store things up, to keep them for a rainy day. The Catholic heart generously shares what they have. We understand the meaning of the eucharist. Not only is the bread and wine transformed but we are transformed as well. After knowing Jesus in the Eucharist we can’t help but to be generous and kind and loving. In the Emmaus story it is said that the disciples rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others that they came to know Jesus, “in the breaking of the bread.” Not in the eucharist, not in the meal like the last supper, but in the breaking of the bread. During the Eucharist the moment when we break the host is called the fraction rite. It is important moment, the breaking of the bread. The sharing of the bread. Today’s quote asks that just as the bread is broken, that we be broken, that we open ourselves up and our shared. That the eucharist is not just between us and Jesus but the true celebration of the Eucharist opens us up to love for others and for the world. The celebration of the eucharist is a completely transforming experience. Just as the bread and wine are no longer the same after the eucharist, we who celebrate the eucharist are no longer the same either. Our hearts are opened, and we are transformed.