Bread Blessed and Broken for the World: A Pastor's Reflections on the Celebration of Mass

by Paulson Mundanmani

After 25 years of ministry in the priesthood, Oakland Bishop Michael Barber gave me the gift of a sabbatical. I spent two months in Latin America learning Spanish in one of the nicest places—Antigua, Guatemala and then traveled farther south to the mountains of Peru, working in one of the remotest missions practicing my newly acquired language. One of the most uplifting aspects of my time in Peru was hiking up to Machu Picchu. As I was getting up close and personal with Nevada Salkantay, the iconic Andean peak and the most sacred mountain in the land of the Incas, I was visualizing what my second phase of sabbatical would look like. It was then the thought of writing a book captured my mind. I had always wanted to write something about my ministry. A good friend shared with me that writing—a book, short story, an individual life story, or poetry—was a goal for his time away from work. So, I embarked on a writing trajectory from day one of the second phase of my sabbatical. I immersed myself in my newly found freedom writing and reflecting while having lots of fun.