This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?

Let me start at the beginning.
Leaving work today, I headed over to St.Margaret Mary's over by UNO. Well, I did make a little detour to grab an Odwalla bar from Wholners but that story is beside the point and the bar is long since been inside my stomach. Anyway, I made it to the church in time to join the beginning of the Eucaristic Procession across UNO campus. Funneling my way into the line, I felt at first a complete outsider. Everyone around me possessed a candle and a song sheet. I only had my green jacket to wrap around me.

Amidst the cold air and slight wind, we made our way to a small makeshift altar set up by Memorial Park by the crosswalk. It was a beautiful sight with the Monstrance at the head of the procession. The Monstrance was complete with a mobile tent carried by four altar servers. There we all knelt before Christ our Lord and prayed for a few minutes before moving along, but it was then a thought came to me.

What do others think? What does it look like we are doing? What are we doing? No really, why am I here? My doubting Thomas had settled in and wasn't about to back off until he had his answers. Whether my mind would wait or not didn't matter. Father had started off the rosary with our creed and general intercessory prayers. Then the group began to move across the crosswalk and into the heart of campus. We began to pray the luminous mysteries of the rosary as we went on our way, so I pulled my sword(rosary) from it's sheath and hoped my mind would catch up with my actions.

While I prayed along, I tried to meditate on the mysteries one after another. First, there was our Lord's Baptism in the Jordan which I can remember pretty well because the back half of the group where I was was just far enough back that we couldn't hear the first half well enough to respond. The next was the Wedding at Cana, where I began to try to seek out my answers.

Who cares what other's think? Really? I don't, I can't, why? because this is who I am, I can't change that.

Then I became distracted because I realized that a pre-designated part of our group was kneeling in the street to allow the procession to continue uninterrupted by traffic. A couple cars were stopped in their tracks by this action. Imagining for a second what we looked like, I think anyone would have their preconceptions shaken by that unexpected sight. There were people kneeling in the street!

Then we meditated on the Proclamation of the Kingdom where Jesus made his sermon on the mount, gave us the beatitudes and announced his divine Davidic Kingship. While I recalled related images and passages, we passed in front of Kaiser Hall. I found myself somewhat giddy, partially because of the cold, but also because such an obviously catholic group had just invaded the dead secularism of UNO. I couldn't even imagine this sight in correlation to UNO. My mind went numb.

The announcement of the mystery of the Transfiguration caught me off guard and I my mind wandered into realms of Moses. Moses and Elijah, both prefigurements of Christ, one of his saving power and the other of his prophetic influence hovered amidst my mind. Then somehow my mind extended back to both Moses and the manna in the desert and Elijah and the cakes he requested. The parallels grew because both were bread-like, life saving and seemingly endless in supply.

Then it hit me like Bam! We were on the mystery of the Institution of the Eucharist. Instead of my mind leaping to the usual images of the Last Supper and various related thoughts, the road to Emmaus strode in unannounced.

My stream of consciousness went approximately as follows.
[Were not our hearts burning within us?
when He opened the scriptures for us...
When He revealed their connections.
But, why then was it in the breaking of the bread that we came to know Him.
This is hard saying, who can hear it?
This is my Body, This is my Blood. Take eat, Take drink.
Do this in memory of me (anamnesis, in doing so, you make it present once again)
Were not our hearts burning within us.
The scriptures bring the passion.
We learn of Jesus in his presence.
But, it was in the breaking of the bread... we came to know Him.
We come to know Him truly in the Eucharist.]

My poor Thomas had his fill, and shut up for the rest of the night. How could he not, there before him stood in full body, blood, soul and divinity the might of Christ veiled only by the appearances of bread and allowing Himself to be humbled to such a lowly, frail position.

My distracted Thomas stepped aside and my Peter, if you will, remembered that in focusing on Christ you too can step on waves. But if at once you remove your gaze and all focus is lost, so are you too. Everything must be about Him.

My mind cleared and I was able to focus on my God before me during the litany of the saints, during which we prayed on bended knee before the student center, and on through the rest of the procession back to the church. Sometimes God grants us the wishes for which we ought to have wished.

This is a hard teaching, who can listen to it?

You have the words of eternal life Lord:
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. " John 6

Go and Set the World on Fire