SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Prayer with fantasy
[11] The Celebration (1)
As a preparation for this exercise
I read Matthew 26:26-30
Luke 22:14-19
and John 13-17
I imagine I hear Jesus say, “Prepare a place for me,
for I am going to dine with you tonight.”
I choose a place.
Whom do I invite to this unusual supper?
What preparations do my friends and I make for it?
The time has finally arrived.
I see the room, the food,
the bread and wine,
the friends I have invited.
When introducing Jesus to my friends
I invent an adjective for each of them.
For instance, ”This is John, the faithful;
this is Ann, the Loving;
this is Gentle Joseph.”
Then Jesus gives a sign of love to each of us and the meal begins.
Quite early in the meal Jesus breaks a loaf of bread
and comes around to offer it to each of us.
To each he says a sentence.
What does he say to me?
After the bread is eaten the meal goes on.
Jesus often speaks,
sometimes in answer to our questions,
sometimes unasked.
He speaks of love.
It is as if he spoke to me alone.
He tells us of discipleship
and the persecution that must go with it.
We ask him what this means concretely in our lives.
He then goes on to talk of peace.
And I ask myself how much I have of it,
what obstacles I put to it.
He talks about a joy
that comes from his mysterious presence
that no one can deprive us of,
so we question him about this joy,
that “presence,”
and I recall the moments when I felt it in my life.
We know this meal is linked
in some mysterious way
to his and our existence:
to passion, death, and resurrection.
So we talk with him about this too.
Supper is almost over.
Jesus pronounced sacred words
over a glass of wine
and offers it to each of us.
Again he says a sentence as he offers it.
What does he say to me?
After the wine is drunk, silence invades the room.
Then Jesus prays aloud for me and for my friends.
I hear him pray that we will be united,
that we will foster unity wherever we may be.
It is time for us to leave.
We stand as Jesus leads us in a song of praise.
And as I sing, I savor in my heart
the sentiments created by this supper I prepared
for Jesus and my friends.