"This is my body, which is given for you."

Coordinates:
N 37 34
W 77 30


Listening: "Politik," by Coldplay from "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2002)

Luke 22: 14-30

This is my body, which is given for you.

When I was a child, my mother would often read Shel Silverstein’s story “The Giving Tree” (Harper and Row, 1964) to me as I fell asleep. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, this is a tale about a relationship between a young boy and a tree. The tree, personified, gradually gives away her leaves, apples, and branches to the young boy who uses these things to make himself happy. As the boy grows into a young man, he requires more of the tree, and ultimately cuts her down so that he can build a boat in which to sail away. Many years later, the tree-- now merely a stump-- and the boy --now a tired old man-- reconnect as the stump serves as a suitable place for her beloved to sit and rest.

Recently in my daily life I have found myself requiring more of God—asking God more frequently for strength when I am tested, for courage when I am afraid, and for patience and calm when I am faced with anxiety. The more I have come to rely on God’s mercy, the more I have been questioning of my worthiness to receive it. Like Jesus’ disciples at the Last Supper, I’ve been struggling to discern whether the balance of my virtue versus my iniquity has earned me a place at the table.

Silverstein’s story about unconditional love and self-sacrifice helps me to see the Eucharist as a reminder of God’s grace and my worthiness to receive it. Though I may have wandered far from my Provider, this passage from the Gospel of Luke helps me to understand the season of Advent as an invitation back to the table and an opportunity for new life in God through the birth of His son Jesus Christ.