Sunday Reflections

“We Come With Meager Gifts”

Some years ago, I participated in a service trip to Peru with 25 students, faculty, and friends from Mount St. Mary’s University.  One of our outreach activities was to hike about 1,500 feet up a mountain near Cusco, which is already about 12,000 feet above sea level.  We were taking sweaters and some supplies for the small village of San Juan near Yucay, which consists of approximately 30 families.  We rented 4 burros to carry the supplies and it took us 4 hours to make the hike.  After distributing the supplies, I presided at the Eucharist with the people from the village and our university group. 

Of course, language was an issue, but everyone responded in the language that they knew: English, Spanish, and Quechua – it was a little Pentecost!  It was a great celebration, especially at the sign of peace when each person hugged every single person present.  Only afterwards did I learn that the villagers are able to celebrate Eucharist only once a year on their feast day of St. John the Baptist.  Their appreciation for the celebration of the Eucharist made us realize how we can take weekly or daily Eucharist for granted. 

After the Eucharist was over, several people from the village carried a large blanket filled with boiled potatoes—potatoes come from Peru—and hot sauce so that we would have some nourishment before making the hike back down the mountain.  These people had so little, but they shared what little they had with us.  It was humbling, but no matter how much we insisted, they would not eat themselves until we assured them that we were full! 

Many of us, after reflecting upon this experience, realized that we thought that we would be the ones who were “giving” to these poor people.  However, in retrospect, we realized that we received much more than the meager supplies that we brought.  They reminded us to appreciate what we take for granted.  They reminded us that real generosity is most evident when we share from the little that we have.  They reminded us that it is so easy to put our trust in so many things, instead of in God.  They reminded us to note and appreciate the simple things in life, like a smile, a hug, and a potato. 

At the Eucharist, we come with meager gifts of bread and wine, which represent all that we are—our joys and sorrows, our accomplishments and sacrifices, our strength and our frailty—and we are caught up into the generative life of God’s forgiveness, love, peace, and justice.  This most holy day of the Body and Blood of Christ is a time for us to give thanks to the one who gave of himself so that we might have life and to appreciate the many seemingly insignificant ways that this grace is made manifest in our lives.