Suzy says enough already with reconciliation, and since reconciliation begins at home, I will come back to the subject later.
The most Christian Act is sharing a meal. — Sister Eileen, curtesy of my friend Kent.
I know Sister Eileen’s message to be true, but reading it again caused me to wonder why. Perhaps hunger and the need to eat is one thing all humans have in common. Perhaps their is an intimacy of sharing a meal that breaks down barriers, whether real or fabricated. Perhaps it is simply the act of being in the same room and it is difficult to yell or shout when one’s mouth is full. I know that people who work in soup kitchens often come back from a meal with the homeless saying just one meal with a group of homeless people has changed their life. There are a hundred ideas that come into my head, but whatever the reason let us all take a lead from Jesus, a lead from Sister Eileen, and decide today to begin to live reconciliation in our every day lives and to seek out someone or some group and find a way to share a meal with that person or group. Let me know how that works out.
Thank you, Webb, for this beautiful and helpful series. As I’ve read the installments, more than once I’ve found myself entertaining the thought that I really don’t have any reconciliation to do… and then as I finish reading your piece, I reflect and find that the thought was really a veil, helping me to avoid an insightful conversation with myself about the several areas in my life where reconciliation is, in fact, needed. Good relationships, for example, can be taken to a much deeper level if we’ll just consider the possibility and the investments or changes we would need to make… usually minor!
Tom
Thank You Tom