First, she came for the abundant blooms of our daylilies. Thus emboldened, she stepped all the way onto the front porch the very next evening, and started munching on the begonias
You’re welcome, Sister Deer.
But I think that’s where I’m gonna draw the line. No more “snacks in the gloaming” for you! (At least, not from the pedestal planters we can easily move out of your reach. We’d like to keep a little of their floral beauty for ourselves.)
There are trade-offs, of course. Instead of gracing the entrance to our home, the planters now spend most of their days on our deck out back – returning to their rightful place only when we know “company’s coming.”
Oh, Deer…now you’ve gone too far…
…so we’re going to have to keep these blooms far from you…
Now I admit, I feel a little selfish about all this: Sister Deer is only doing what deers do. And my claim to “ownership” of the begonias’ beauty is tenuous at best. Sure, my Sweetie and I paid for the plants, and we water them regularly. But determining how and when they grow or bloom, it’s all a flourishing phenomenon that stretches well beyond our paygrade.
On some level, in fact, I find myself feeling a reluctant gratitude for the deer’s destructive acts, because they provide a portal for entering a bit more deeply into the great mystery we celebrate today – Corpus Christi, The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
As someone who’s been consuming the Eucharist for something like 60 years now, I find all too often that I approach this great sacrament in doe-like fashion. I may or may not stop to think about what I’m doing. I may or may not meditate on Jesus’ invitation to feed on Him.
It’s an odd notion, isn’t it?
Positively scandalous to many, even in Jesus’ day.
And I’m told that the Greek words we see as “eat” in today’s gospel passage actually shift from one verse to the next – from phagein to trõgein (which more literally translates to “munch” or “gnaw”.)
A disconnect is lurking herein, it seems to me. We celebrate Eucharist as a Solemnity…a great and mystical feast, worthy of our praise and beyond our understanding. Yet, there’s an everyday-ness to Jesus’ invitation, too. He literally says “munch on Me…gnaw on Me.” Do this, and you will live forever.
So here’s where my heart is being drawn on the occasion of this marvelous feast day: “To us, the angels’ food is given.” We are not worthy of its beauty, its life-sustaining nourishment. We haven’t earned it, any more than Sister Deer has earned a share of a begonia’s blooms. And yet, like the Jewish community in Jesus’ day, we Catholics and Christians tend to quarrel among ourselves about what this great gift means.
Seems to me, we may never fully understand precisely what it is we worship in the Eucharist. Better just to munch, perhaps. Better just to keep coming to the table. And to be grateful. And to ever seek to grow in the love of Him who feeds us.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 