Bread - Anybody?

More thoughts for reflection—By God’s own Words in Scripture we are told that God knew of us before we were conceived in the womb. We are called and chosen! Called or chosen to do what? Is it possible, that we are just to be a piece of bread?

Jesus at the Last supper took the bread, gave thanks, blessed it and broke it –then gave the bread to be eaten saying “This is my Body.”
What of us—since we are called, chosen, we also are blessed and broken--- are we the BREAD too? If we are to follow Him, is this our mission in life --to be the bread that is multiplied and given so there is no hunger in this world? As always questions are asked for you to think on and answer.
Only Jesus is the bread sent from heaven you may say. The Bread sent from Heaven to replace the manna that the Israelites ate daily of for forty years. So would we dare to put ourselves along side of Jesus, saying we are part of the living Bread of life? That is a ‘MIGHTY high elevation for us to consider. Well here is where the Holy Spirit took me back to for an answer. As always in Scripture you will find the wisdom you are seeking.

In breaking of the bread at the Last Supper, Jesus said at the end of the meal--"Do this in remembrance of Me." Is there more to our daily Mass then the liturgy and receiving the Bread of Life in Communion? Is it just enough to receive Jesus, and then go forth living our lives as before, not changing, and staying the same? The answer to that question is NEVER! Not if we are to be the Bread that is broken and given.

We are broken when we take up our crosses, when we endure suffering and offer it up as prayer/sacrifice for others. As you know it is not easy to be a handmaiden or servant of God—it requires dedication and great love of God to persist in our call and that walk.
But to be the bread ---think of what bread is. Bread is composed of wheat, water, yeast (or not) and salt, oil. The grain of wheat has to die or be broken, split open and then grows. This grain then matures and multiplies into more grain. That grain has to be picked, gleaned, crushed and then baked into bread---all very unpleasant experience or part of the brokenness of what we experience in life. But it is because of this painful process that we gain wisdom, understanding, increased faith, love, hope and all the other gifts from God. This is how we become the bread that is living and given to others. Our life’s story is shared, a story that gives others the hope, the help that they need to rise up from the darkness they are buried in and become fruitful. Our story is a living blessing that continues one grain of seed, one broken piece of bread and one act of love going out, rippling, and increasing: this is the yeast of our bread, the salt of the bread, the living waters of the bread that we become when all is mixed together and let rise. God then makes us into the Bread that is blessed and given to others.

Unleavened bread needs no rising or yeast ---is that why Jesus is represented by unleavened bread? He is perfect wheat, perfect water and is all that is needed to be perfect Bread sent from Heaven for all mankind to give us eternal life.

Lord may we love like You more and more and become more like You in our daily lives. May we 'rise' to whatever occasion or situation You bring us to. Protect us too Lord from ‘going flat, falling, or our waters being stagnant—we want to give off a sweet aroma of freshly baked bread, not a odor of burnt crust from staying too long in our ovens, the purification fires that we are to come out of. May we surrender our lives to you by letting go of our desire for comfort and normalcy? To be the Bread ---we have to be molded, kneaded and shaped by Another’s Hands!

May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always!