I have always been taken by the word Namaste. There are several translations of the word, but my favorite is ‘the God in me greets the God in you’. A connection came to mind while thinking about the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Corpus Christi is about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Do I really believe that when I receive Communion, I am receiving the ‘real’ body and blood of Christ? Sometime, actions become rote, and this can happen when we receive Communion. What a sacred time! God is so physically present to us!
Okay, so what connection does it have with Namaste? The longer I thought on it, the more I realized that although we can sit for hour before the Blessed Sacrament or receive Communion daily, rarely do we stop and think on how we take it out into the world: to our home, workplace, schools, and the like. We need to become that body of Christ, His hands, His feet, and His heart. Therefore, when we say Namaste, we would truly be saying ‘the God in me greets the God in you’.
Ah, but do we truly believe that? Recently, I was talking to a friend who was presenting on the topic of negotiating. I shared with her this word and said that if we greeted each other with that image in mind, all negotiation would come much easier. We would LISTEN to the other person and truly HEAR what they are saying, and not be preparing our rebuttal while they tried to speak to us. Imagine that! I would suggest in most instances that this is not the case. Imagine if we greeted one another by recognizing the presence of God in the other person, the living, breathing Corpus Christi! I think our families, workplaces, churches, cities, and world would be much different places.
As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, do what you can to become the hands, feet, and heart of Christ, greeting all you meet with Namaste on your lips and in your hearts. I offer you this prayer, to pray frequently during this coming week:
Let us pray for the willingness to make present in our world the love of Christ shown to us in the Eucharist. Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you living among us in the sacrament of your body and blood. May we offer to our brothers and sisters a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God for ever and ever. Amen! (New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal)
Till next week… Namaste!
Sister Theresita
