If we, who would be his disciples, recall the night before he died, we are led to a table, from a table to a garden, from a garden to a courtyard, from a courtyard to a hill, from a hill to a grave, from a grave to life. The table holds the self-gift of his very flesh and blood; the garden is watered by his tears and blood; and the cross holds him, even as the One whom he knows and loves lifts him up from the grave to release him into the surprise of hope and life.
-- M. Shawn Copeland
The Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect”, but rather “a gift of the presence of Jesus in the church.”
-- Pope Francis
