November 3, 2017

SACRAMENTS

Sitting there, waiting for my plane,

in an airplane terminal, I began

listening to two men in the seats

just behind me. One said, “I used

to be a Catholic - but then I realized

I don’t believe in things like priests

and sacraments and all that religious

stuff.” Silence. Silence. Silence.

“Well,” the other man said, “I used

to be an atheist - but then I realized

we are all priests and we're all called 
to give and to receive the body and 
blood - of Christ - and all of creation - 
with all of creation - which we are 
all part of each and every day.”

“It was as simple as that,” he continued.
I had been baptized as a baby - but

standing at the sacrament of the ocean

one Sunday morning - all by myself, all

changed. It was 6 AM, July 4^th, 1999.

The round bread of the sun was rising

and I ran into the water and was baptized

into who I was in the first place - but

sorry to say, I had forgotten all of this.”

Silence. Silence, Silence, Silence.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017