Emmaus road in Assembly this morning. The seniors stay back afterwards and we explore some ramifications. Then we consider the umbilicus. Is there a connexion? I’ll get to that in a minute. The thing is, you see, that I’d had occasion to draw attention to a young man’s visible belly button to get him to sit upright. So, the umbilicus.

Anybody know what it’s for?

For a cord.

Connecting to what?

Mammy.

OK, says I. Really, it goes to the placenta, which then plugs into mammy. Has any of you seen horses or calves or pups being born? And some of them had. (No cats: cats should never be born).

I find the belly button very useful. When you’re eating in bed, you can put the salt in it to dip your food into.

They recognized this as a joke.

And, says I, if you get a screwdriver you can unscrew the umbilicus so that your bottom drops off. Yes, cynical reader, I did indeed use the word bottom, though it wasn’t the word that first came to mind.

They did not recognize this as a joke. I had to confess. Then they thought it uproariously funny. Strange isn’t it? eating salt they did, unscrewing they did not.

Emmaus and umbilicus—is there a connexion?

New life, nurturing, feeding, serving. The two-way traffic of nutrients going one way and waste products the other. One universe contracting down enabling another to open up. Cosmic renewal, the means of refreshment, exchange, vivification.

Admirabile commercium.