I had the profound understanding while celebrating Mass this morning that a bunch of human beings were standing together, uttering words, but partaking in something much bigger than any of us could ever hope or imagine.
Perhaps a part of it started as I deepened my meditation on the paradox of poverty. Having prepared a homily on the reasons for money mattering, I was led to another level of understanding that it has often been the ones in my life who have nothing by earthly standards (either because of choice, such as priests who take vows of poverty, or because of circumstance) who seem to be the richest in their appreciation of what they have.
There are many other such paradoxes if we have the eyes to see them. This morning for instance, I poured a small amount of water over the heads of two infants, while understanding (albeit in a limited way) that what God was doing was washing away their sin: something much more profound than simply wiping away the dirt from their foreheads. I also placed a sign of the cross on each of the children's foreheads, even as I understood that God was claiming them as his own beloved and sealing them by means of a drop of oil on their chests and on the crowns of their heads with a prize much more valuable than royalty.
Then of course I had the privilege of distributing the body of Christ to those who were present. I wonder if any of them had a similar understanding of the magnitude of this gift, and how very small the part is that we play in fulfilling the plan of the One who has given us this and every other gift.
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