By Thomas Creen, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

During our annual eight-day Ignatian retreat in silence this past year, I noticed one of my favorite prayers posted up in the sacristy. It was St. Patrick’s Breastplate. One of the invocations in this particular version of the prayer was, “May Christ be in the poop.” That made me chuckle every time I walked through the sacristy and saw it. I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s unusual. Pretty earthy prayer!”

Being in silence, I couldn’t openly share my discovery with the other community members until after the retreat. Once I did, some of them informed me that “the poop” in this case referred to the “poop deck” of a ship. Not nearly as funny.

Nevertheless, during the retreat when I thought that the prayer was talking about another meaning of “poop”, it got me thinking about how earthy Christianity is. Cultures that stray from Christ tend to exhibit unhealthy attitudes toward earthy realities such as death, sexuality, and digestion. But Catholic culture is earthy and real because the true God became a true man in the person of Jesus Christ. And the Church, which engenders Christian culture in the world, is Christ. And Christ is Emmanuel. So God is with us and is one of us.

Christ was earthy as evidenced by Him spitting to make mud and spreading it on someone’s eyes (cf. John 9:6). St. Thomas More was earthy as evidenced by his prayer that says, “Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.” Miles Jesu is earthy as evidenced by a married couple I know who shared with me that they were fighting a lot until a Miles Jesu priest told them that the root of the problem was that one of them was frequently constipated and the other was often loose. Once they realized it and corrected the irregularities, their relationship improved. As St. Teresa of Jesus observed so insightfully, we have to become holy within the context of being human, not in denial of it. And that includes earthy things.

When is the last time you read a Christmas article talking about digestion? You’re welcome, and Merry Christmas!

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