It’s officially one month since we popped the champagne, toasted 2021 and wrote down a list of resolutions. This is usually the time when we start to take a good, hard look in the mirror to assess what we have done — or have not done — with the first month of this brand-new year. New years can be scary, can’t they? Full of promise, sure, but also full of room for failure. Full of space for our old baggage, old fears and the continuation of old mistakes. The same can be said of Christ, and the new life he offers us, if we are brave enough to accept it. Opportunities like that can be intimidating. In that moment, we might find ourselves like the man with the unclean spirit crying out: “What have you to do with me, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” Jesus is a comforter of the afflicted; he is a consoling figure, but he is also a challenging one. Sometimes we have grown attached to our afflictions. The idea of correcting bad habits or forming new ones is frankly terrifying to us. We have a voice deep inside who sees Christ and his invitation to repentance, and it cries out in fear: “I know who you are!” When we live in the present, disavowing the baggage of the past or fear of the future, we submit ourselves to the promise of redemption. Let us be brave everyday stewards and invite Christ’s healing power into our lives. We won’t regret it.

Can it be different kinds of bread? Do you know? In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the most common form for the eucharistic bread is the small white communion “wafer” that is a ubiquitous part of the Catholic Mass. The instructions of the Church have been very specific regarding the make-up of the bread used in the Mass: “The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made … it follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament.” The Church’s tradition of using a wheat-based bread is based on the bread that Jesus would have used at the Last Supper and is considered to be an essential part of the “matter” of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As we consider the question of whether a “wafer” — which is properly called a “host” — should be used, we also must keep in mind that in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, leavened (i.e. “raised”) bread is more often used. And so, while the thin, white “wafer” is most commonly used in the Roman Rite of the Church, the full expression of the Catholic tradition does allow for a more substantial form of bread to be used, but the tradition of using a simple wheat bread with no other additions or additives is considered essential.