Power Each Sunday

Many years ago, I started mentally taking note at the beginning of each sacrament meeting of the cloth that is placed over the sacrament table once the water and bread trays have been prepared. As many other people, I notice that it looks like Christ’s body covered by a cloth after his crucifixion. This helps me to get my mind where it should be before we sing the sacrament hymn with words that can remind of us of the important ordinance we participate in.


One recent Sunday during the sacrament I was thinking about those people who were there during the crucifixion who didn’t have an idea of the divinity of our Savior. Some of them injured Christ. Some of them mocked Him. Then they left and didn’t give another thought to Him. That made me sad to think of Him being treated like that.


Then I thought of us. How many of us have eaten the torn body (bread) and drank his blood (water) without a thought of our Savior and the atonement? How many of us have taken the sacrament with reverence, but then immediately afterward, our thoughts are turned to the world or our lives and we do not give another thought to Jesus Christ, his sacrifice and our covenants with our Heavenly Father?

I am so grateful for the blessing of the sacrament as my re-baptism, allowing me to be purified and clean again along with my repentance. I have felt this wonderful blessing in my life and we all can. Besides this part of the sacrament, there is another part that I have been blessed to feel. In my recent struggles with my divorce, I was at times physically weak and I felt so unable to stand on my own emotionally. I knew I wasn’t alone, but still I suffered and prayed. During a particularly difficult week, I could not wait until the sacrament so I could feel close to my Heavenly Father. It is difficult for me to describe, but as I swallowed the bread, it was as if the power of the sacrament lifted me up. I actually felt a physical strengthening, not just spiritual. It is such a blessing for me to be able to take the sacrament each week, to remember my Savior and His atonement and my Heavenly Father’s plan, to renew my covenants, and to receive a spiritual and physical strength that I couldn’t receive any other way.