physical spirituality

Last week, I was privileged to participate in a retreat for those in occupational ministry. It was run by 5 spiritual directors and was the kick-off for a 9-month program called SoulCARE that includes monthly spiritual direction coupled with monthly mini-retreats and longer retreats at the beginning, middle and end. It was great to be taken care of for a couple days, instead of trying to take care of myself. They put together spiritual exercises, times of solitude and times of worship and celebration together that were hugely refreshing.

One thing we did was to have communion individually. At the end of the first evening together we were given a chalice of white grape juice (in case we spilled!) and a small loaf of crusty sourdough to take back to our rooms. We were also under a discipline of silence until after breakfast the next day (it was liberating to not have to make conversation at breakfast and it leveled the playing field between natural talkers and the more introverted). So I went back to my room and prayed and journaled while munching sourdough and sipping juice. The tactile-ness of having to rip the crusty bread, tasting the tang of the sourdough, and smelling the fruitiness of the juice focused me on the physicality of Jesus’ presence with me and his love for me. In spite of the fact that Jesus used unleavened bread at the Last Supper and not the wonderfully substantial San Francisco sourdough we were given, it was still a very spiritual experience. In fact it was spiritual in large part because of its physicality.