The first blog I ever read was Real Live Preacher back when it was hosted on salon.com. RLP just posted this gem titled, Mouse turd on the communion table. With a title like that you know it’s going to be good. It is about exactly what it sounds like. RLP shares some thoughts about the earthiness of the faith.
The Caganer was a well-known figure. He wasn’t as important as the Christ child or the Magi, but he was important enough to have an official name. The Caganer was a boy or a man with his pants down, taking care of business. Yes, going to the bathroom. Taking a dump. Why mince words? There was a statue of a man squatting behind the holy stable, sometimes with a fresh pile on the ground below him. Will euphemisms somehow make this more palatable for you?
We are still a little uncomfortable with the body and the reality of life in the flesh aren’t we. RLP thinks that God sends us messengers to remind us of our own fleshliness. On a recent retreat they had a mouse that was just such a messenger.
On the night before communion, all through the house, God’s children were sleeping, except for one mouse. After four days of prayers and singing and other religious hoo-ha, this little mouse – our own caganer – crept into the room and mounted the communion table. He lifted his fur and left us a little present.
“There you go, humans. That’s what I think of your religion, your cleanliness, your arrogance, and your pomp and circumstance. Here’s an element you weren’t expecting. Transubstantiate that, you bastards!”
The whole post is well worth a read.
Transforming the Body 
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