From Warships to God Bread
Summary
History has a way of distorting the meaning of some very important truths. Even the truth about of the Body of Christ can become buried beneath seemingly unconnected events. How does a believer in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, sort through the distortions of history to discover the nourishment Jesus promised to provide? Our minds and hearts are fed so much that does not nourish that we can lose sight of the food that matters. Even little children know that this is not just any bread. This is Bread given that we might remember the message that we are born to be at one with each other and the God who created us.
Unfolding the pages of history can sometimes uncover a connection of events that is as disconcerting as it is bizarre. One case in point comes to the fore today. Certainly pope Urban IV had no idea where a decision that he made in the 13th century would lead in the 20th century. In the year 1264 Urban proclaimed a feast day to reflect on and to honor the Body of Christ. The day became known by its Latin name, Corpus Christi. That feast has remained on the church calendar all these years and is in fact the feast we celebrate today.
Two hundred and some years later in 1519, a Spanish explorer by the name of Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda set out to chart the coast of Texas. As he sailed west in the Gulf of Mexico, he came upon a large bay. The day of his discovery happened to be the feast of Corpus Christi. It seems that the Spanish had a pious custom of naming locations after the feast day on which they were discovered. So, Pineda named the newly discovered body of water Corpus Christi Bay.
Then in the mid-19th century, a trading post on the bay became known as the city of Corpus Christi. One hundred years later, the United States launched a gunboat, which was named after the city. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, now had the first of two warships bearing his name. The second, a nuclear powered attack submarine, would be launched in 1981.
How does a believe
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