How To Disappear Completely

Stuffing our faces with bread

I was told that community service was a mandatory part of being on the fencing team. And one really doesn't argue with helping the homeless. So I found myself with three other members of the McMaster Fencing Team at Hamilton's Neighbour to Neighbour Centre this morning, schlepping boxes of peanut butter jars and apple juice cans into the storage room. The supervisors were all in their prime 60s or so.

"Are you sure you gals can handle it? Maybe the guys should move those boxes?"

"No. We're fencers. We've got sufficient muscles."

And by the end of the morning, they stopped asking us if we needed help.

We also repackaged bags of rice and bread loaves. One particularly delectable cheese loaf was too squished to rebag, so we shared it amongst ourselves communally. But instead of ripping off chunks the civilized way, we simply all bit into the loaf with our bare teeth. Fortunately no one slobbered.

"It's like church," observed one fencer.
"We don't stuff bread in people's faces at my church," objected another, and imitated a priest stuffing bread into congregants' mouths..."Here...take it!"

"Hey, how could you refuse Jesus?" I laughed. But then realized that maybe one or more were actually Catholic and my theological joke might not have been a propos.

But really? How can anyone refuse Jesus? We ought to celebrate the Lord's Supper with eagerness. Maybe not by stuffing our faces with bread. But I always feel as if Communion is such a sombre affair when what we are remembering is Life and that abundantly.