COMMUNION OF HOPE

Celebrated in my cell at Christ in the Desert Monastery
on Wednesday, May 23, 2007

How fitting that tonight,
we gather in an upper room –
a room filled with the love of Christ
and pregnant with possibilities.

We see ourselves as the people of God,
beneficiaries of the gift of hope –
hope that one day
this world will truly live
Christ’s message.

Until that time
we continue to gather
around the table
with like-minded people
to share the gifts of God –
this bread, this wine –
this body, this blood –
to make us whole.

Let us remember
our family and friends
as we approach this table –
sharing the love
Christ first shared with us.

One: God be with you
All: And also with you
One: Let us lift up our hearts
All: We lift up our hearts to God our source of hope.
One: Let us give thanks to our blessed God.
All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is truly right
to give our thanks and praise
to the one who gives us hope.
As we love our earthly existence,
it is far too easy
to become cynical
and to feel empty.

One need only be present
to the world to see
abject poverty,
pain,
and abuses of power.

We have been shown
the other way
by the teacher sent to us.
We’ve heard the lessons;
But have we learned them?

In sharing this meal,
let us remember
when these lessons
are fully lived
hope can be brought
to all not just a few.

As we ponder this charge,
let us listen to the choir of angels:

All: “Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of pow’r and migh.t
Heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
Hosanna in the highest.”

The angels sing
and our hearts soar;
it is now time to take up
the message of hope -
to share it with one another –
family, friend and stranger.
Let us declare the mystery of faith:

All: “Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ shall come again.”

On the night of his betrayal…