'Christ had good reason to talk about his kingdom as a meal. He talked about meals a lot. And he celebrated one the night before his supreme sacrifice...And he said that this was the great memorial of the redemption: a table shared in brotherhood, where all have their position and place....This is the love of a communion of sisters and brothers that smashes and casts to the earth every sort of barrier and prejudice and that one day will overcome hatred itself.'And then Cavanaugh goes on to say,
Less than a month later, Rutilio Grande was gunned down by a government-sponsored death squad. In response, Archbishop Oscar Romero took the extraordinary measure of declaring that only one Mass, the funeral Mass, would be celebrated in the Archdiocese that Sunday. All the faithful, rich and poor, would be forced into a single space around the celebration of the Eucharist. The elite reacted with outrage, but Romero stood firm. He was drawing on the power of the Eucharist to collapse the spatial barriers separating the rich and the poor, not by surveying the expanse of the Church and declaring it universal and united, but by gathering the faithful in one particular location around the altar, and realizing the heavenly universal Catholica in one place, at one moment, on earth.I am reminded of this beautiful and haunting song, once a fairly regular part of my musical tastings.
put down your paper plate
come to table made
deep blue china
found on the table by the wine
so fine
it brings out flavor like
you bring out color in life
oh, i miss you so
the feel of forever
oh, that taste i know
it hurts to remember
unfortunately high
ironically dissatisfied
i miss you
i miss you
oh, i miss you so
the feel of forever
oh, i miss you so
it hurts to remember
i had a fleeting thought this morning
and i mentioned you today
it breaks my heart
just to know you in part
and not to be with you
where you are
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