You came close enough
to breathe our air,
to enter our dust,
to feel the ache of hunger,
the warmth of another hand,
the loneliness of a human heart.

The One whom heaven
could not contain
entered the hidden chamber
of a virgin’s yes
and made her womb
the first tabernacle.

Eternal Light
folded Himself
into the darkness of flesh.
The Word through whom
all things were spoken
became an infant
who could only cry
for His mother.

I wonder
if this is how
You have always loved me,
by coming lower,
and lower,
until nothing stood
between Your heart and mine.

I searched for You
among the stars,
in the vastness of heaven,
in the silence of churches,
in mysteries too deep
for my mind to enter.

You were here.

In dust.
In breath.
In blood.
In the trembling holiness
of human flesh.

I found You
where I least expected You,
hidden beneath the ordinary.

Now I kneel
before the mystery
that You still choose to remain.

The same Word
who entered Mary’s womb,
the same Body
that hung upon the Cross,
the same Heart
pierced open for love,
comes to me
beneath the humble veil
of bread.

You do not merely
come near.

You give Yourself.

You allow me
to receive
what angels cannot possess,
to hold upon my tongue
the One who holds
the universe together.

And sometimes,
when I receive You,
I cannot tell
where my longing ends
and Your presence begins.

Something in me
falls silent.

Something ancient
awakens.

I know
You.

The One I have sought
has been seeking me
all along.

And in Your face, I see glory.

Not distant.
Not hidden
behind the veil of heaven.
Here, breathing beside me.

Breaking bread.
Pouring Yourself
into the emptiness of me.
The Infinite
has become intimate.

The Eternal
has entered time.
The Holy One
has allowed Himself
to be held.

And somehow,
in the silence
after Communion,
when You are hidden
and yet more present
than anything I can see,
I begin to understand:

You are still coming.

Still descending.
Still giving.
Still whispering
through the sacrament
the impossible words
my soul has always longed to hear:

“I am here.
I have always been here.
And I am yours.”

~based on John 1:14