Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, April 5, 2012

[ Maundy Thursday in the Christian Calendar. ]

There is a communion of more than our bodies

when bread is broken and wine drunk.

M. F. K. Fisher

The only thing that can save the world

is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world.

That's what poetry does.

Alan Ginsberg, poet; he died on this

date, 1970, age 70

I love M. F. K. Fisher! She writes about food. I recommend her book The Art of Eating. I’m not sure where she got the sense of “communion”, i.e., I don’t know if she was religious. But she expresses the mystery of “Eating God”, which is found in many World religions. Ms. Fisher understood food and eating … and she intuitively knew that eating food and drinking wine together had a “spiritual” parallel. So did Jesus. Eating food and drinking wine together, we “eat each other” … we become part of each other, share the gift of each other … which is the meaning of “Communion”. I am not at all surprised that, at the last Passover He celebrated with his disciples, Jesus superimposed upon bread and wine His body and blood. Simple elements (bread and wine) become the bearers of Mystical Union. This is the dynamic of “Sacrament”.

Dear Alan Ginsburg, American Jewish poet, understood that poetry was an element of a Sacrament. Poetry reveals the mystical hidden in the World, revealing the awareness of the World. So what does poetry do? It uncovers the World’s beauty … and we become aware that the World is in us and in “God”. All is One.

Jesus was deeply wise. Just as Passover unites the Israelites to their God, so Jesus binds His followers to Him and to God. Food and Drink become nourishment of the Inner Reality.

Alan reminds us: if we want to give new life to the World, we must commune, have communion, with the World, God, ourselves, others.

Brian+