Then the just will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”
-Matthew 25: 37-39
Seeker,
Who can remain alien to you, outside the arc of your heart’s attention?
You are made to make connections—
you and me becoming WE—
one life reaching into another, yearning to relate to all.
We crave companionship and long for kinship.
Every one of us needs to feel part of
and fears being torn apart from life’s common-union.
Our senses, external and internal,
are fine-tuned for hyper sensitivity,
to savor and suffer with the living.
O taste and see that the Holy One is good;
happy are those who take refuge in God.
-Psalm 34: 8
Our very humanity,
the quality of our care,
is set by the scope of such connectivity.
Severed from the coils of relationship
none can last long,
as the sacred thread connecting us to the real slips away.
But whenever we stand together
under that canopy of connection we call holiness,
(not trying to rise above the clamor of creatures) we rejoice in life’s symphony.
Mitakuye Oyasin! – All My Relations!
-Lakota prayer
Social isolation in any form is devastation,
torture unspeakable for such a relational people.
Yet alienation perverse and pervasive remains—Sin of a sundered world.
When the layers of connective tissue that link us
lie tattered,
Christ suffers torments unbearable—minds and bodies shattered.
Unnoticed, the pain of isolation
haunts homes, hallways and highways, as many settle
for hollow commodity—cheaper substitute for costly community.
Meanwhile, hanging round every corner
Corpus Christi languishes,
in lives denuded of dignity, devoid of friendship, fettered and famished.
The Holy One is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.
-Psalm 34: 18
Our Maker’s mercy tolerates no exception.
Such exemptions lead to lacerations
that set me and mine above and before us and others.
In the Realm of Mercy
there are no dank corners,
for no life lies beyond the infinite range of love’s radiance.
Consciousness and connection,
keys to care and compassion,
open the tabernacle to expose a most blessed sacrament.
Christ so close, Christ so dear.
How dare we not see you,
when you are so near?
We are already woven into every other life.
It is one breath we all share,
free-gifted forest and ocean air.
We only truly belong when we are blessed and broken together.
In this communion we can taste, touch, see and meet Christ
in the blessed sacrament of one another.
But Christ has not come
just for the few or for the some,
for God wears the skin of everyone.
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
-Matthew 25: 40
May you be a daily communicant,
ready to reach out and receive that other
most blessed sacrament—Christ-present in every sister and brother.
joe