Meditation for June 13, One and the Same Bread

In the unity of one and the same Bread, we all make but one body.

This is what 81. Paul explains in his first letter to the Corinthians, For we being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread. (I Cor. x, 17.)

It is interesting to note that from the beginning the Eucharist was regarded as the Sacrament which united all the members of Christ, rather than a bond of union between Our Lord and the individual soul only.

To indicate that there was but one and the same bread from the standpoint both of time and location, the Pope used to keep several hosts from each Mass, one host destined to be used with the hosts consecrated the next morning, thus marking continuity in time; the others, destined to be carried to priests of distant communities, thus denoting continuity in space. Thanks to this leaven, as these particles were called, the idea of a single liturgy was forcibly emphasized - the one Mass, the one Christ immolated for all.

After the kiss of peace recalling and demanding universal charity among brethren, communion effects or rather confirms among them through participation in the same bread, the unity already existing among all souls in grace, who are rich in the possession of the same Trinity.

"O Jesus, grant that communion may teach me union, that the Sacra­ment of love may teach me love. Let me not carry to the Holy Table only my personal interests, but a profound concern for the salvation of the world; in receiving You let me think of all, enfolding the entire universe in my prayer and in my charity."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)