Communion

DH is home for a day and a half between trips, so I was able to attend Morning Prayer and mass today. I am having a weird sort of allergic reaction to something in the air this month, and either the allergy or the medication is making me more tired than usual. Despite going to bed on time last night, I dozed off for a moment as I sat on the couch in the Deacon's office, waiting for Father and Deacon to arrive for prayer. I was groggy as I wandered back down the hall to the chapel. I almost fell asleep when I closed my eyes to pray silently in the few moments before mass started.

I did not fully awaken until about halfway through the mass, when we stood to pray the prayers of the faithful. I noticed, then, that the woman who'd recently had surgery for breast cancer was back in her regular seat. Another woman prayed for a fellow daily mass goer who has begun treatment for bladder cancer. I prayed for my dad. The kids' piano teacher is ill, nothing serious but ill enough that he canceled lessons yesterday. He was present today, but careful not to shake hands or receive from the chalice.

I realized this morning, sometime between the blessing of our offering and the hugs at the Sign of Peace that there are two holy communions in this tiny chapel every morning. As much as I am strengthened and filled with peace from the Holy Communion of the Blessed Sacrament, I need the holy communion of my neighbors, too. Praying for each other, noting absences with prayer and presences with hugs, this morning mass community is my strength and encouragement. Christ is as present and alive within and among us as He is in the Eucharist.

The Eucharistic Prayer Father prays most mornings is EPII. Within it, I hear these words: "May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit." This morning, I heard those words more clearly, and felt the effects more fully, than ever before.