Elisha's Bones
And I can taste You in the Bread and in the Wine
There You spread Your feast of joy before me
And like the man who had fallen
On Elisha's bones
I'm alive again
...
William Luse recently spurred me to comment on matters of the Eucharist. (“Fools rush in …”)
Supposedly, Rich Mullins was near to converting to Catholicism before his untimely death. I wonder, was this song inspired by his hungering and thirsting for the Body and Blood that he could not (yet) have?
No. I shouldn’t wonder. I know that he was.
“There was a sense of urgency,” said the priest. “He told me, ‘This may sound strange, but I HAVE to receive the body and blood of Christ.’ I told him, ‘That doesn’t sound strange at all. That sounds wonderful.’ … Of course, I’ll always remember that conversation. Rich finally sounded like he was at peace with his decision.”
That part, from Terry Mattingly’s article, I already knew. This I just found tonight, from a concert transcript (Plymouth, Michigan Concert Review: Temple Baptist Church, August 15, 1997)
Thanks so much! We’re gonna do a couple of songs now that you might not have heard because they’re from a musical that I wrote with Beaker and with Mitch, and I guess some of you have probably heard rumors that we started a religious order… (laughter from audience) (Rich chuckles) and they’re probably true! Because the truth is, we’d all like to be Franciscans, but we don’t even have the guts to really be Catholics. (laughter from audience) It’s hard on you, but I do love, as Mitch and Beaker do, Francis of Assisi…
“… don’t even have the guts to really be Catholics …” (I know the feeling.)
And to think, Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth was released in 1988. That’s quite a long time to be hungering and thirsting.
God bless you, Rich. Enjoy the Banquet. And do remember to pray for those of us who live in time.
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