"Blood of Christ, inebriate me." Anima Christi
Spiritual writers are always searching for images and metaphors that help them and us understand more deeply the mysteries of faith, and because the Easter season explores Baptism and the Eucharist so often, it stretches our imagination and prayer in ways that can shock us.
Though abhorrent to some, especially those whose lives have been undermined by the abuse of alcohol, the idea that the blood of Christ should inebriate us is one that Christian writers have often employed. The Anima Christi, a 14th century prayer that many older Catholics memorized as children, is probably the best known, but today's selection from the office of readings by St Gaudentius of Brescia explores the same image. When we receive the blood of Christ, Gaudentius writes, our "hearts, like capacious wineskins," expand and change, and that is the point.
Our hearts need to change. They have to become bigger and more open to the power of Christ's love. Because wine in moderate amounts can do this, we need to probe its possibilities. Otherwise, we risk stagnation and death.
Today, open your heart to new ways of knowing the boundless ways God loves us.
How would you help others understand the strength an power of the Eucharist?
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