It’s a Tuesday morning and I’m in the drive-thru at my favorite coffee shop. I’m currently under caffeinated and overly anxious about the million and one things I have on my to-do list. The impatient tap-tap-tapping of my fingernails on my steering wheel compliments the song lowly humming in my car. The bright morning sun shines through my windshield, warming the spot between my eyebrows. I stare intently at the clock. It changes to 7:52 and I frown as I contemplate the audacity of the guy in the blue Ford Fusion in front of me. We’ve both been in line for the past 20 minutes and now that he’s finally made it to the window, he has decided to make conversation with the barista. Get your coffee and go buddy! Tuesday morning between 7:50 and 8:00am is not a great time to be holding up the drive-thru! Coffee with complimentary conversation is for retirees and you look way too young to be retired. Hurry up—you’re making me late! My annoyance boils over into an exasperated sigh just as the chatterbox pulls away.
Finally.
I pull up to the window, breathing in the aroma of freshly brewed beans, and some of my annoyance is replaced by the sheer relief of knowing that caffeine will soon be mine. I extend my phone for payment, expecting the barista to ask if I’d like to use any rewards points, but instead he grins, shakes his head, and says, “The guy in the car in front of you paid for your drink.” My heart sinks. I hope the barista can’t hear the lump in my throat as I say “Oh, wow. Well, then I’d like to pay for the person behind me.” When the barista informs me that the total for that order is three times what my total would have been and asks if I’d still like to pay it, I say “Of course.” How could I not? I pull away, sipping my black cold brew and the coffee is smooth and I marvel at how black coffee, brewed cold, loses some of the bitterness for which coffee is known. And I realize that my heart just lost some bitterness, too.
And my friends, the Most Holy Eucharist is a lot like that free coffee I received on a busy Tuesday morning – a latte.
Comparing the Most Holy Eucharist to coffee? Am I crazy? Typing that sentence out seemed cheesy at best and sacrilegious at worst. But to me, truly, there is no better analogy. The love of Christ outpoured for our unworthy souls, remembered and revered in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, is indeed a lot like my encounter with a generous stranger in a little blue car in a coffee shop drive thru. Or should I say that stranger’s generosity and my unworthy receipt of their kindness, mirrors the way I often experience the Eucharist – ever-surprised and totally in awe at how Jesus seeks me out, amidst the business I’ve created in my own life, to rain His love on me. Even when I’m being impatient and selfish. Even when I’m so focused on my own agenda that I see His timing as inconvenient. Even, and especially when, I don’t deserve it, my beautiful, wonderful Lord, picks up my tab. In his altruism, He gives me everything I cannot obtain for myself. In the Most Holy Eucharist, I receive the graces needed to be more of who I was always meant to be.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13
In His love, Jesus laid down His life, washing away our sins. He loves you and I so much that He willingly took on human form, knowing full-well how tortuous and painful the journey would be, and after experiencing the depth of human brutality, He still stretched out his arms, wrapping us in love and dying for us all at once. The saints, the sinners, the daily Mass goers, the fallen away Catholics, the quiet faithful, the strugglers, the strivers, the amazing you currently reading this blog, and even the unappreciative 20-something woman in the coffee shop drive-thru. He died for us all.
The Lord will always be one car ahead of us at the coffee shop and it’s up to us to decide how to respond. Will we treat this gift like a shot of espresso, downing it in one gulp or will we savor it like a good cup of coffee on a rainy Saturday morning, warming it in the microwave when it gets cold? Will we pay it forward before pulling away?
I’m not alone in sharing the sentiment that 2020 felt like year-long Lent. The redeeming love of Holy Week 2021 and the radiant joy of Easter has helped to heal some of the residual pain I felt after being separated from the Eucharist during the pandemic. However, it’s become abundantly clear that much of that pain came not from the forced separation of closed churches and virtual Masses, but rather, the separation I chose, each time I took the Eucharist for granted or remained so wrapped up in my own life that I failed to pay His love forward when I was called to do so.
So, as we celebrate the love of the Risen Lord this Easter season, I invite you savor the Eucharist with me. Like a good cup of free coffee, let’s not let it go to waste.
5 Ways to Savor the Eucharist More Deeply:
- Pray the Anima Christi after receiving the Most Holy Eucharist (it can be found on page 233 of the current edition of Breaking Bread!)
- Receive the Eucharist with a clean heart – yes, that means going to Confession.
- Visit the Lord in Adoration.
- Listen closely to the words being said during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
- Become the love that you’ve received – pay it forward.
Note from the Author: This blog post was originally written for Women at the Well and was published on their blog in April of 2021. Women at the Well is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and empowering Catholic women to grow in Faith + Community. Women at the Well has been such a blessing in my life. Check them out at Women at the Well to find out how you can bring Women at the Well to your parish!
