Corpus Mysticum: How the Eucharistic Image Informs my Eating

By Lisa Carlson

I have situated myself in front of my dinner table as I write. My heart and mind are both filled with grief and inspiration. I grieve how exclusive our homes and tables are in this society. I lament that the poor do not know that they are welcome to knock at the doors of our churches and our homes to be cared for and yet (sigh) I am utterly and unstoppably inspired by the imagination and revolutionary ways of Jesus’s eating practices. As I have wrestled with, ruminated on and researched the holy texts around eating, I am comforted, affirmed and galvanized by the explicit fact that this is our tradition and our unique identity as followers of Christ; to allow our ways of eating to witness to the inclusive, healing and flourishing way of Christ in our world and for our people. I am charged that even in something as ordinary as eating, Jesus served to heal, liberate and reconstruct society.
I have learned through the scriptures and liberation theologians that I think Christ is mostly concerned with us being aware of our interconnectedness with God and with one another and that his meal practices are what spoke to this. Because of this, I believe now that one of our greatest tasks as a Christian is that we simply must nurture our understanding of this interconnectedness. Because, you see, it appears to me that what was so miraculous about Jesus eating practices was not that everyone got fed, but that everyone ate together. Because in this eating together, people became more aware that Christianity is about relational wholeness, which makes us all Christ’s Body and members of one another: “The knitting together would be the beginning of the recapitulation of all systems in Christ… It is clear that Paul sees the concrete working out of real presence in a community of people who are open and who identify not with the few, the like-believers, but with all- with Christ himself in the whole body.”
Our tradition, in its very beingness, is revolutionary. It is a tradition deeply rooted in the ways that Jesus subverted and transformed the complex structural issues of society that served to separate the elite and the non-elite, rich from the poor, the clean from the unclean. He did this not by talking about how the rules should be changed, but by simply living (and in this- modeling) a different way in the face of the ruling cultural narrative. Simply put, this was just something he did: to eat with the poor, the lonely, the exiled, the Jew, the Gentile, the clean and unclean. And from this, I believe that we, as a part of the Mystical Body of Christ, should be living this way too.
I find it to be extremely honoring that Christ in Fritz Eichenberg’s, “Christ of the breadlines”, is located in the line with the people and not at the other end of the line serving the people. Gustavo Gutierrez speaks to this when he says: “Jesus’ table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners vividly expresses his solidarity with the victims of established powers. Eating is a symbol of fellowship. Jesus got into trouble for eating with social outcasts because for the Jews, meal is also a symbol of fellowship with God. This is why Jesus used the meal as a picture of the Kingdom.” This is precisely what makes Christ’s way of eating revolutionary- it is because he is with them, and all are invited. We, as a church, must find ways of manifesting this identity too and I believe that even our eating habits make way for this manifestation to nuzzle its way into the hearts and minds of society.
What Jesus did in biblical times, was not only to socially reconstruct the way of the table; the way that people had known their whole lives; He modeled to them that this change in their eating practices should become their very way of functioning. And I believe that when Peter speaks to them in1 Corinthians 11: 17-34 that he is speaking to the ways that the Church in Corinth had abstracted Jesus’ way of eating to the point of it not being honored or even practiced. Here, Paul is seeking to get to the root of the insensitive behavior in the Corinthians. He aims for the deeper meaning of “real presence” as the body of Christ identified with the community. “Defective perception of the mystery of the Lords presence in the community led to defective internalization and in turn, to [defective] social behavior.” The Corinthians, in spite of their belief in the real presence did not get it. Their understanding was very much tied with an “individuated Christ”. There was little or no grasp of “being members of one another in a whole which is his sacred presence.” Pauls concern gets behind interpersonal behavior as well as racial, national, economic, ideological and social divisions. I am beginning to believe that maybe we still suffer from the Corinthian myopia. In general, I see us individuating Christ in our own homes and around our own tables- instead of being guided by our Holy interconnectedness with Christ and our community through eating with the poor.
John Howard Yoder shares with us the power of what we do as we share in a meal together: “ Jesus says, “whenever you do this, do it in my memory.” Do what in his memory? It cannot mean “whenever you celebrate the Mass” because there was then no such thing as Mass. He might mean “whenever you celebrate the Passover,” but this is not what the hearers took him to mean. That would have called for an annual celebration. He must have meant (and the record indicates that they took him to mean) “whenever you have a common meal.” The meal he blessed and claimed as his memorial was their ordinary partaking together of food for the body.”
On February 13, 1977 in the midst of the horrendous conflict between the rich and poor of El Salvador, Fr. Rutilio Grande gave a homily during a Mass which expresses (better than I could) the power of Jesus’ meal practices if they were to be lived out and guiding us today: He said, “The Lord gave us…a material world for all, without borders…”I’ll buy half of El Salvador. Look at all my money. That’ll give me the right to it’…No! That’s denying God! There is no ‘right’ against the masses of the people! A material world for all, then, without borders, without frontiers. A common table, with broad linens, a table for everybody, like this Eucharist. A chair for everybody. And a table setting for everybody. Christ had good reason to talk about his kingdom as a meal. He talked about meals a lot. And he celebrated one before his supreme sacrifice… And he said that this was the great memorial of the redemption: a table shared in brotherhood, where all have their position and place…This is the love of a communion of sisters and brothers that smashes and casts to the earth every sort of barrier and prejudice that one day will overcome hatred itself.”
In light of this new understanding of what I believe Jesus’s meal practices were about, I now turn myself towards our present ways of eating with, or rather I should say of feeding the poor. For the most part I see us feeding the poor and not eating with the poor and I ask us now: does this create the relational wholeness and interconnectedness that Jesus’ ways of eating did? I do not believe that it does. To manifest the honor, inclusivity and love for those whom have been told by society or through their history that they are not worthy of such a destiny – we must sit with them at the table, as Christ did. We must do this because we are a people divided, and sharing a meal unifies us, like the Eucharist and like Christ’s redemption.
This month my husband and I shared meals with a handful of women that are prostituted in our neighborhood. We are grateful that they trust us enough to enter our home. As I reflect on the faces of each woman- one stands out to me the most, and this is the story that I must share: her name is “Rose”. I met “Rose” on the corner of Aurora and 95th street. When I met her she was practically slumped over onto the fast paced street of Aurora, she could barely keep herself awake. I touched her on the shoulder and she looked at me as if she did not know where she was. She told me that she was in pain and that she had not slept in four days. She went on to tell me that a “john” had busted out all her teeth on a trick a few days ago, so that is what caused the pain. Her teeth were all knocked out and she hobbled as we stepped. I invited “Rose” to walk with me to my home where she could take a much needed, much deserved nap in a safe place. She agreed and this began our 24 hours together. “Rose” slept on the couch, and as she slept I prepared a meal of chicken, potatoes, bread and salad. I lit candles and put out our finest plates and napkins. When “Rose” woke up, I invited her to join us at the table. And as we sat together, she asked if she could pray for our dinner. Her prayer was beautiful and yet it held a harsh reality: as she prayed she shared with us that she is 40 years old and that she has been prostituted since age 13 when her dad started feeding her crack. In this prayer she thanked God for a warm and safe place to sleep and then she shared with us and with God that this is the first time that anyone has ever invited her into a home to eat. My goodness, “Rose” is 40 and has been out in the streets for 27 years and this is the first time she has shared in meal fellowship! I could not believe my ears. As she ate, she shared that this was the best meal that she could ever remember having and then later on in the meal as she talked about her love of singing, she bust out into song! “Rose” spent the night at our home that night, and the next day I accompanied her to the methadone clinic and then to lunch at Recovery Café.
This is certainly not the first time that I have had neighbors eat at my home or sleep on my couch but this was the first time that I gave myself permission to experience the table fellowship in light of Christ’s words, “Whenever you do this, do it in my memory.” We shared Eucharist with “Rose” that evening; I have no doubt about this. “Rose” was at the table with us, sitting in the position and place that she deserved…fine linens, candles, a warm meal, singing and fellowship with the Mystical Body of Christ. This is the work of God, for the people of God. Amen.