Some of the oldest Christian writing we have was written by a man on his way to die.
His name was Ignatius. He was the bishop of Antioch, the city where, as the Book of Acts says, “the disciples were for the first time called Christians” (Acts 11:26). He was arrested and sent to Rome under guard. And along the way, he wrote letters to the churches he passed. Seven of them still survive.
He was not writing to show off. He was writing like a shepherd who knows he will not see the flock again. He wanted them to stay close to one another and close to Christ.
In one letter, to the Christians in Smyrna, he gave us a sentence that is still read today. In the translation found at New Advent, it says: “Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
That is one of the earliest places the words “Catholic Church” appear in Christian writing. The word catholic means universal. For everyone, everywhere. Ignatius is saying that where Christ is, there the whole Church is gathered.
Both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches honor Ignatius as a saint. He belongs to the early Church we all share.
Then there is his letter to the Romans. He knew what was waiting for him. And he did not want anyone to stop it. He wrote: “I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts.”
I want to say this carefully. Ignatius was not a man who loved pain. He was a man who loved Christ so much that he wanted his life to be a gift, all the way down. He wanted to be bread, given for others.
Think about wheat. Wheat does not choose to be bread. It is cut, threshed, and ground. But what comes out of all that is something that feeds people.
Most of us will never be asked for that kind of gift. But we are asked for small ones. A meal made when we are tired. A phone call we would rather skip. A little patience with someone who is hard to love.
Those are tiny loaves. And they feed people.
So today, on the memorial of Ignatius, maybe the question is simple. Who could you feed?
Bake a loaf. Make a call. Sit with someone.
Be a little bread.
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