This week I took my two oldest boys, 14 and 7 years of age, up to the university to meet with an RN who teaches anatomy. This was a planned trip for their home-schooling, a really special trip.
My RN friend pulled out all the stops and had half a dozen models (worth some $40,000) out on display for the boys to explore. We all got to dismantle, reassemble, and ask questions about the models. There was one of the abdomen with removable organs, one of the ear, one of the heart, one with organs, muscles, and brains, one of the eye, a full life sized skeleton, a box of bones to match up with the skeleton, a big overlapping transparent flip chart showing all of the veins, arteries, lymph nodes, nerves, organs, skeleton, etc. It was really overwhelming to see it all. We spent a full two hours learning and having quite a blast.
Near the end of the session, we donned lab coats and rubber gloves for a good look at a rat-disection that was in process. Matthew (7) curiously poked and prodded away while Joseph disappeared to the other side of the room to escape the ordeal. Out came the intestines, stomach, liver, etc.
So many times in my life I have marvelled at the fact that many of us will go through our entire life never seeing, never really needing to see, any of this. We know about it because we learn about it in school. But have you ever seen your intestines or brains? They are there and we get a stark reminder that they are there when something goes wrong.
Is the Holy Eucharist not precisely the same? The hidden Jesus is there, flesh and blood upon our altars. We forget about His great love for us, about His long-suffering patience, about His infinite humility. Sometimes we doubt. Yet He is still there even though we go through our entire life never seeing Him.
I can go through my whole life never once thinking about my liver. It's really quite funny to me! I have a liver but I never really spend any time thinking about it. If I did not have a liver, I'd be dead really fast.
Think about the words of Jesus when He says "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you". These are stunningly amazing words, and they are literal. Take some time and pray about that.
My RN friend pulled out all the stops and had half a dozen models (worth some $40,000) out on display for the boys to explore. We all got to dismantle, reassemble, and ask questions about the models. There was one of the abdomen with removable organs, one of the ear, one of the heart, one with organs, muscles, and brains, one of the eye, a full life sized skeleton, a box of bones to match up with the skeleton, a big overlapping transparent flip chart showing all of the veins, arteries, lymph nodes, nerves, organs, skeleton, etc. It was really overwhelming to see it all. We spent a full two hours learning and having quite a blast.
Near the end of the session, we donned lab coats and rubber gloves for a good look at a rat-disection that was in process. Matthew (7) curiously poked and prodded away while Joseph disappeared to the other side of the room to escape the ordeal. Out came the intestines, stomach, liver, etc.
So many times in my life I have marvelled at the fact that many of us will go through our entire life never seeing, never really needing to see, any of this. We know about it because we learn about it in school. But have you ever seen your intestines or brains? They are there and we get a stark reminder that they are there when something goes wrong.
Is the Holy Eucharist not precisely the same? The hidden Jesus is there, flesh and blood upon our altars. We forget about His great love for us, about His long-suffering patience, about His infinite humility. Sometimes we doubt. Yet He is still there even though we go through our entire life never seeing Him.
I can go through my whole life never once thinking about my liver. It's really quite funny to me! I have a liver but I never really spend any time thinking about it. If I did not have a liver, I'd be dead really fast.
Think about the words of Jesus when He says "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you". These are stunningly amazing words, and they are literal. Take some time and pray about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment