In the early Church, they had a prayer for the breaking of the bread, the Didache: As this broken bread was once grain, scattered across the mountainside, to be gathered together and made into a single loaf, to be broken to feed the many, so may we be.
The Didache defined why they gathered. It defined the significant moments of that gathering and for them in it. Imagine you are a single grain; what can you do with a single grain? Your value is not in your independence; your value is allowing yourself to be changed so that you can become bread to feed the many.
The breaking of the bread is change – change in us, so that there can be change in our world. We are his instruments gathered in Word and sacrament, broken and changed, to feed the many. When we break bread, we recognize Jesus in our midst, in ourselves, as we receive him. We welcome him to stay, to be with us, to teach us how to be his Body in the world.
--Fr. Patrick Michaels Homily, April 23, 2023
Image source 1: https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/sunday-eucharist-in-the-early-church/attachment/early-church-eucharistic-meal/
Image source 2: https://earlychurchhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Agape-Feast-1.jpg
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