Abundance.
We tend to judge things not as they are but as we are. Our feelings, our prejudices, even our health can be like coloured glasses that distort how we view life. Most people reading this live most of the time in an abundance that most people in our world can only dream of. Yet do we walk around contented, full of joy at our abundant good luck? I’ll leave you to answer that question.
In the Gospel, Jesus always works with abundance. He turns gallons of water into wine at the Wedding Feast and he multiplies a few scraps of bread into enough for five thousand. Even more amazingly, he makes his agonising death into the sign of his overflowing, relentless love.
This coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Our Lord. On this day, we strive to appreciate the abundance that we receive when we come to Communion. Yes, in the form of this little piece of bread, this little sip of wine we believe that Jesus comes to us in all his fullness, with all his love. We may well find Mass boring, because ritual often is – that is until you ‘get it’ and one only gets it by moving out of our comfort zone and trying to appreciate the meaning of the words and actions. They are so rich; we struggle to hold them with our minds and hearts. Too much, even though it feels like too little.
We can live abundant lives – no matter the circumstances. We can begin by recognising just what we are given each and every day: the beauty of our children, the countryside in which we live, the food we have. As we recognise, so we praise and when we praise our minds and hearts widen making them even more capable of living abundant lives.
Loving Jesus, let me appreciate the abundance in which I live. As I appreciate may I give generously in love, as you have given to me. I ask this in your name, confident that God will hear me.
Sr Kym Harris osb