When we gather around the table and eat from the same loaf and drink from the
same cup, we are most vulnerable to one another. We cannot have a meal together
in peace with guns hanging over our shoulders and pistols attached to our belts.
When we break bread together we leave our arms - whether they are physical or
mental - at the door and enter into a place of mutual vulnerability and
trust.
The beauty of the Eucharist is precisely
that it is the place where a vulnerable God invites vulnerable people to come
together in a peaceful meal. When we break bread and give it to each other, fear
vanishes and God becomes very close.
Henri Nouwen, Daily Meditation
