Daily Bread

I love attending daily Mass and can't wait to get there on Monday through Thursday mornings, but I also love having Fridays and Saturdays free, morning being my most productive and creative time of the day. Having no reason to leave home two days a week allows me to get into a delicious groove of creativity. I could attend the Saturday afternoon vigil Mass, I suppose, so I'd only be missing one day a week, but I've decided I rather like having two full days off (besides which, the vigil Mass is simply an earlier version of the Sunday Mass). This break allows me an extended, uninterrupted stretch of time - a sabbatical, if you will - in which to accomplish a few things - or even nothing, if I so desire - and then, by Sunday afternoon, I am truly hungry again for the Eucharist and can't wait to get to 5:00 Mass (okay, by Sunday afternoon it's almost three days off). And I rather like that hungry feeling, a feeling that translates into the experience of wanting and eagerly anticipating God (as compared with being constantly satiated and possibly becoming complacent).

The above photo is of a sand dollar - one of many that my mother brought home from Siesta Key beaches during the years she lived there during the late 1970s/early 1980s. I've kept this one on my mantle, prominently displayed, for years. This large version - I also have several fifty-cent-piece-sized versions - has come to remind me of the large wafer that the priest elevates and consecrates during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass. On some level, even during the years I was away from the Church, I lived with this visual, albeit subliminal, reminder of the Eucharist. Of course, during my non-Christian years, it was just a shell; a fond memory of my mother and an innocent connection to my past.

Coincidentally - or not - the sand dollar is replete with Christian symbolism. Rather than explaining it in my own words (as I have, hundreds of times, because I find it fascinating - and the part about the star inside breaking into five tiny white doves is absolutely true, and amazing), I'll let this little poem tell the story (author unknown):

The Legend of the Sand Dollar

There’s a lovely little legend
That I would like to tell,
Of the birth and death of Jesus
Found in this lowly shell.

If you examine closely
You’ll see that you find here,
Four nail holes and a fifth one
Made by a Roman’s spear.

On one side the Easter Lily,
Its center is the star,
That appeared unto the shepherds
And led them from afar.

The Christmas Poinsettia
Etched on the other side,
Reminds us of His birthday
Our happy Christmastide.

Now break the center open
And here you will release,
The five white doves awaiting
To spread Good Will and Peace.

This simple little symbol
Christ left for you and me,
To help us spread His Gospel
Through all Eternity