In Leonardo DaVinci's rendering, Jesus and the apostles sit before a table laid with a white cloth upon which has been scattered an assortment of what look like modern dinner rolls. [...] In Peter Paul Rubens's version, Jesus holds what looks like a miche tenderly in both hands. In Agostino Caracci's, a braided basket overflowing with brioche lingers underneath the table.

Jordan Kisner, "He is Risen"^[1]

Kisner's brief essay shares the story of a couple whose Catholic parish, which had taken a conservative turn, was unwilling to provide a gluten-free option for communion. The belief that the "bread" of communion must be of wheat and water only becomes an unlikely wrinkle in the apparent miracle of transubstantiation.

But Kisner also takes a wonderful detour to consider depictions of the "bread" of the Last Supper through the ages, which makes me realize that I really don't know much about how communion has actually been practiced, and what might have constituted its "bread" and its "wine," in any given place and time. Some good questions there.