By Daniel Schantz
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread . . . “ (Acts 20:7, King James Version).
Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Catholic Jesuits, started life as a fiery, Spanish romantic””womanizer, gambler, warrior.
When he was wounded in a battle against the French at Pampeluna, he was carried off to a castle hospital. While recovering, he was given a copy of The Imitations of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, and he was so moved by it that he resolved to give up his wild living and become a saint.
At once, he began a rigorous plan of self-examination and prayer, determined to rid himself of any evil thoughts. He spent hours every day analyzing his motives and thoughts, recording them in a journal.
As time went on, Ignatius found to his chagrin that the more he meditated, the more sins and errors he found in himself. At one point he contemplated jumping out of a window and committing suicide.
Ignatius was a victim of what you might call “The Tar Baby Effect,” a reference to a children”s story by Joel Chandler Harris. In the story, Brer Fox decided to trap Brer Rabbit by making a baby out of tar, which he placed along the road where Brer Rabbit always walked. When Brer Rabbit saw the Tar Baby, he spoke to it, but it didn”t speak back. Infuriated, Brer Rabbit punched the Tar Baby in the nose, but his hand got stuck, so he punched it in the gut with the other hand. The more he beat on the Tar Baby, the more tangled up he got.
Self-recrimination can be like beating the Tar Baby. Sometimes, the more you tinker with your thoughts and the more you beat up on yourself, the more paralyzed you become.
On the first day of the week, the early Christians came together to break bread. Leisure time was almost nonexistent in those days, especially for many slaves who were Christians. They didn”t have the luxury of sitting around, thinking about their failures.
Today, the Lord”s Supper is an opportunity for us to come aside from the battle of life and spend a few minutes dressing our wounds, checking our ammunition, and refreshing ourselves with spiritual food and drink before we go back into battle.
The average Communion service lasts less than 10 minutes, but it”s long enough for us to turn our sins over to the Forgiver and to find courage to face Monday morning.
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Daniel Schantz is professor of Christian education at Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Missouri.
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