Speak to Me Sunday: Take Our Bread

Once Upon a Time I was traveling with a medical team to Haiti when we stopped in a small village for a quick break. As I was wandering around, I came across a woman removing a loaf of bread from an open campfire. She saw me, broke off a chunk, and with a smile offered it to me. 

And I hesitated to take it.  

In the months leading up to our departure we had attended training sessions to prepare us for traveling in a third world country. We were given immunizations, a bottle of anti-malarial medication, and a list of do's and don'ts that were whittled down to this: Do NOT drink the water and Do NOT eat food that isn't cooked by a member of the staff. 

So when the woman offered me a chunk of bread, all those training sessions, the bitter-tasting anti-malarial pills, and the warnings of dirty tap water and contaminated food converged in that moment and... 

I reached out and took what she offered. Because it was all she had.

And so we broke bread together. 

That memory resurfaced while reading the Gospel of John's Bread of Life Discourse. Christ, the Living Bread, who died for us. 

A sacrifice in which he gave us everything he had. His body, blood, soul, and divinity.

The act of giving from a place of nothing, the love that comes from a complete emptying out of everything, takes on greater meaning when we step forward to take what is offered. And during Mass, when I go forward to receive what was given to each and every one of us, as I accept the precious gift that comes from a wellspring of sacrifice and love, I will remember that woman.

And I will feel grateful that Once Upon a Time in a remote village somewhere in Haiti, God's grace showed me how to be fully present in the moment so I could reach out to take what was offered.