A Note to My Friends at Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart Catholic Church;
Something happened when Heidi called. I’d known Heidi for about twenty years, and until recently she served as my primary contact and editor at Bayard Books/Twenty-Third Publishing. Heidi is the responsible sort, a bona fide grownup who thinks and acts in the proper sequence, the type of person a bloke like me needs to keep close. I am blessed to call her both friend and colleague.
“I have something to ask you,” Heidi cut to the quick, “and I really want you to think about it.” Before I could respond, she doubled down, “Now, your initial response will ‘no,’ so please don’t respond right away. Think about it. Please promise me you’ll think about it, because we really want you to consider this.”
“Uhmm, ok,” I said with a hedge. How does one respond to a setup like that? Heidi knows me. She knows my style, and she knows that I prefer a religion that rolls up its sleeves and digs elbow-deep into life’s grit. I don’t do high-brow, tidy, coiffed religion well. Others are gifted at starching purificators; I am not. I identify more with the Jesus who draws in the dirt.
“We just got out of a meeting, and Bayard wants us to bring out a book on Eucharist. And they want you to write it. Before you say no, I need to tell you that they’re insisting that you be the author. They don’t think the world needs another book like all the other books on Eucharist. They want to bring to the world a book that gets into the trenches with people.”
I sighed audibly and let it hover like smog. “Ok.” That’s all I said.
“So you’ll think about it? Pray on it? Thank you. That’s all we’re asking. Just give the idea a chance.”
I held my breath. Writing a book is a lot of work. At least it is for me. Perhaps other authors sit in sunshine while coherent insights flow into words the way a bluebird’s song flows into hope, but I have to work hard at it. Contemplating, writing, rewriting, criticizing, revising, starting over. It’s a commitment of heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention endless hours. It’s an act of self-sacrifice into the hot flames of vulnerability.
“No,” I said. “I don’t need to think about it or pray on it. I’ll write the book. When you mentioned the topic, it knocked the air from my lungs. That’s the answer to my prayer even before I uttered the words. I have a deep love and appreciation for Eucharist. I have a profound passion for its life-giving depth and mystery, so if I’m being asked to write the book, then that’s what I need to do. I’ll write the book.”
I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised, but Heidi was quick to get off the phone and get a contract in the mail lest I reconsider. But there was no way I would have reconsidered. Time and again throughout life we are called to offer up our gifts, break ourselves open, and pour ourselves out for others. Such is the nature of a eucharistic life. Too often I have been too busy, too stubborn, too preoccupied, or too comfortable to rise to the occasion. This time, though, I knew I needed to do as Jesus instructed when he told the disciples, “What I have done for you, you should also do.” (Jn 13:15). I needed to write the book.
Here we are, two years later, and you’re reading the output of that conversation: Living With Real Presence—Eucharist as an Approach to Life. On the front end of this journey, I promised to write prayerfully, to write from a place of quiet reflection with a peaceful heart, a calm mind, and a joyful soul. I would be the servant and the book would be the master.
As you read the book, I hope it takes you away from the noise and the news, away from the world’s drama and divisions, and welcomes you into the promise and possibility of a life unified in a spirit of compassion, kindness, empathy, and joy. I pray it rescues you for a bit from the whirling, swirling storms of conflict and busyness that keep us all scrambling on the superficial surface of life, and that it guides you into the quieter, calmer depths of a life inspired by Christ.
But that’s just the beginning. The gospel calls us to live beyond the boundaries of self, so I also hope the book challenges you as it continues to challenge me, inviting—even daring—us to break ourselves open and pour ourselves out for one another. And may it awaken within the community of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart parish a sense to unifying oneness, stirring you to a full realization that while you are many parts, you are all one body.
Finally, I hope that in sharing and discussing the message expressed in Living With Real Presence—Eucharist as an Approach to Life, the living, breathing body and blood of Christ stirs within you and flows forth from you to feed an nourish a world that hungers for the unifying love of Christ.
With peace and joy,
S. James Meyer