Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Tuesday September 24, 2013 

 

Baptism and Eucharist

 

Sacraments are very specific events in which God touches us through creation and transforms us into living Christs.  The two main sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist.  In baptism water is the way to transformation.  In the Eucharist it is bread and wine.  The most ordinary things in life - water, bread, and wine - become the sacred way by which God comes to us.

 

These sacraments are actual events.  Water, bread, and wine are not simple reminders of God's love;  they bring God to us.  In baptism we are set free from the slavery of sin and dressed with Christ.  In the Eucharist, Christ himself becomes our food and drink.

 

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  

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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, �1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible �1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.