- The Kintsugi Way of Mending Pottery Cracks & Eucharistic Healing. 03/30/25. Chima Offurum.
As I was thinking about this Weekend’s celebrations, I asked myself one question, which I am turning around to ask you who are listening or reading this message today: Have you ever been so hungry or thirsty that all you want is just food to satisfy your hunger or water to quench your thirst? If so, that’s precisely how hungry our souls are for God! We want God in our lives to settle estrangements.
Some of you know about that classical saying attributed to St. Augustine, which goes like him seeking all around the world for God (like the Prodigal Son in today’s gospel; Luke 15:12-32) before finally finding Him within. And he (St. Augustine) acknowledges that his heart was restless until it rested in God. St. Augustine’s acclamation is ours today; Our Hearts are restless until they rest in God.
What the Jewish people call Passover, Christians call the Eucharistic meal enacted at the Last Supper before Easter. Like us, who are about to begin our Easter preparations, the Jewish people will soon commence their Passover preparations as well, and around the same time, we shall both eat “the produce of the land” as we march triumphantly together in God’s Promised Land.
In the Book of Kings (1 Kg 19), the Prophet Elijah flees from King Ahab and Jezebel and comes to Mount Horeb’s foot. Like some of us through life’s journeys, Elijah was so exhausted that he slumped and fell asleep by the edge of the rocks. In verse six (of chapter nineteen), the Angel of God woke him to stand and eat a couple of times, and at some point, when he expressed reluctance and didn’t want more food, the Angel encouraged him to go ahead and eat, for the journey is still long. He obeyed, and thanks to the food, he completed his journey up the mountain to meet with God. That passage from the Book of Kings puts it well, and you may like to reread it alone to help you reflect.
Today’s first reading from Joshua (5:9-12) has something similar. It says that the people of Israel encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, they ate the produce of the land, and the Manna, which had sustained them for food through their journey in the desert, ceased. That narrative is significant on several levels, but I relate it to the earlier story from the Prophet Elijah. The Eucharist, just like the Manna of the Jewish Passover, is a food for pilgrims. We are pilgrims, and the Eucharist is our food to take us to our destination. Like the Manna ceased when the Jews arrived at their home, it’ll be the same when we get to Heaven. The Eucharist will also cease because we shall see whom we eat for sustenance, Jesus Christ, as He is.
Before then, we have the Eucharist food for the journey, given to us freely as children of God, in His house, in the Church. Sadly, many of us who tasted the goodness of God (Psalm 34:9) have now abandoned our way to personal happiness and spiritual freedom in the Eucharist. Many of us do not appreciate the Eucharist. Many more do not desire to return to the Church, their Mother, or to participate in the Eucharist. Some may have even abandoned their homes and fled where they think they can find peace.
Like St. Augustine and perhaps the Prodigal Son of the gospel, we go around the world seeking God, who is right before us. However, thanks to God’s grace, we can discover Him even after our mistakes. If you fall under this category of persons, there are no problems. We appreciate you listening to the voice calling you to return and find true peace.
The goal of this special season is to bring all of us to recognize and recapture the flavors derived from our baptism. We are a new creation. The old order has passed, and we are in a new era (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). The favors derived from the Lenten season are all from God, who has given us victory in Christ Jesus. The good news today is that God is within us, and He comes back over and over through the Eucharist we receive, and we have the power to rebuild our brokenness and assume the newness that God has offered us through Christ Jesus.
Like the Japanese symbol of the kintsugi (a traditional Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery by mending the fractures to enrich its value finally), our new value is a restored self to assume our original nature of grace, not disappointment. And my dear sisters and brothers, we achieve this goal each time we approach the throne of God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Penance. That was what St. Augustine did when he found himself. The same was what the Prodigal Son did when he realized he had a home where members of his household appreciated him for who he was!