Join our guest, Franciscan Sister Ange Mayers, as she shares the richness of her living and working across cultures, her love of Eucharist, her baking and sharing the bread of love as she breaks open her life in service.
Sister Ange notes that “While doing cross-cultural ministry among the native people of Arizona, I learned that no culture is better than another culture. Each culture is blessed with gifts to share with other cultures. These gifts are expressed in food, language and customs. It is our responsibility and privilege to learn what they are.”
“One Holy Thursday, I was overwhelmed by the needs of neighbors. I didn’t want ANOTHER person coming to the door asking for help. BUT, I did say “YES”! After taking them to get a can of propane gas, I had a change of heart. I BAKED BREAD and got renewed and NOURISHED. The kneading of the dough, released frustration with each punch; the rising of the bread birthed new life; the aroma of baked bread fed my being.”
“The meaning of receiving communion: Just as the food we eat determines the state of our physical being, when we receive the body of Christ, Christ becomes a part of our spiritual being. We become united, one body, and as we drink wine together, we become spiritually united. At the last supper, Jesus said, do this in memory of me. We do the same receiving his body and blood to be strengthened, to feed those who are hungry and thirsty spiritually. By receiving communion, we are nourished as a community to do as Jesus did.”
“God loves me all the time, not only when I am good. Making mistakes is a part of life; God did not make us perfect. And God walks with us through our mistakes throughout our whole life. This we Franciscans call continual conversion.”
References:
The Feeding of the Five Thousand, Mark 6:34-44: a story of the multiplication of loaves of bread. See: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/6.
Comunidades de Base: Base Christian communities: See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_ecclesial_community and https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/christian-base-communities.
Poem by Charlotte Madigan, CSJ:
Kneading, needing bread
We bravely work and hope.
We hunger till we eat
the bread of love, of life
and drink the cup of warmth
and tender wine.
Ah mystery!
enhancing the taste
of the bread and of each other.
water into wine again.
Warning:
To eat and drink
pre-occupied
is foolish waste and loss.
Cross cultural ministry in Arizona:
--Tohono O’odham nation: http://www.tonation-nsn.gov/
--Pascua Yaqui tribe: https://www.pascuayaqui-nsn.gov/ - “Culture is an important element with all Yaqui communities and bonds both Christianity and Yaqui spirituality in the hope for a better view of the world and morality.”
--Communities are Prevention: Addiction Prevention Program: CAP draws from the work of Don Coyhis and Wellbriety. Listen to and read about Don: https://encore.org/purpose-prize/don-coyhis/; here is the White Bison website: : http://www.opensource-projects.com/Default.aspx
Break this Bread, by Lourdes Music Group:
Please break this bread, Lord; please break this bread.
Bread of your body, risen in us.
Pour out your wine, Lord. Pour out your wine.
Let it flow though us to a thirsty world.
- We come to eat your bread, make us one. We come to drink your wine, make us one. We come in memory of your death to give you thanks. We come to celebrate your life and give you praise.
- Let us be broken, O Lord, to feed your sheep. Let us be poured out, O Lord, that all may see. That you are Spirit and Life that satisfies. That you are risen in us to set us all free.
Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship, 237, 284:
“Forgiveness and reconciliation are central themes in Christianity, and in various ways in other religions…Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace. By uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding onto it, by opening paths of dialogue and not by constructing new walls.”
Sister Marilyn Lacey, RSM, of Mercy Beyond Borders: “This then may be the world's only hope for peace, that all of us, friends and enemies, allies and foes, brothers and sisters and strangers alike, we understand that we meet as guests together in God's own tent.”
