{"id":2264,"date":"2008-01-31T22:18:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T22:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/01\/the-whole-universe-is-a-mass-feeding-us-every-day.html"},"modified":"2008-01-31T22:18:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T22:18:00","slug":"the-whole-universe-is-a-mass-feeding-us-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/01\/the-whole-universe-is-a-mass-feeding-us-every-day.html","title":{"rendered":"“The whole universe is a Mass, feeding us every day”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got a letter today from my friend, the Trappist priest and writer James Stephen Behrens <\/a>(known to his pals as “Jeff.”) He enclosed with it, as he does with many letters, a short reflection. In this one, he wrote about what it was like when he was a parish priest; on the first Friday of every month, he was assigned to take communion to the homebound. These were known routinely as Communion Calls. <\/p>\n

So to mark this particular first Friday for February, I wanted to share Jeff’s closing paragraphs, written against the backdrop of a rare Georgia snowfall: <\/p>\n

<\/a>All of life is a Communion Call — as if God is the ever present first Friday Visitor, asking that we be with him, receive him, welcome him. <\/p>\n

I look at the beauty of freshly fallen snow — it is rare, here in Georgia, to have snow. Just yesterday I was telling a group in our retreat house that I used to love the sound of falling snow when I lived in the northeast. There was that pervasive hiss as the snow fell and touched the earth. Even when the snow stopped falling, there seemed to be a sound in the air, the sound of snow, a peaceful yet rich sound. Something like a communion of white, of innocence, of purity. Billions of hosts, coming softly to the earth, covering everything. A gift from God, as is everything, coming from above, arising from below, whispering to me as to where he is, communing with us. <\/p>\n

The whole universe is a Mass — feeding us every day. The banquet of God, this life we live. It is special, very special.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got a letter today from my friend, the Trappist priest and writer James Stephen Behrens (known to his pals as “Jeff.”) He enclosed with it, as he does with many letters, a short reflection. 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