In creation, God spoke, the Logos, the Word, brought order out of chaos; this same Word brought freedom out of captivity, Torah, the Prophets; and this same Word, incarnate surrenders itself into the hands of sinful humanity.
The Real Presence of Christ in the bread and the wine is not an abstaction but the flowering of the mystery of our Lord's death and resurrection within the soul of the called, covenanted, and gathered community of the baptized.
To be commented upon:
Corpus Christi & the Church of England
From at least the fourteenth century in the West and thus within the Ecclesia Anglicana the Feast of Corpus Christi was held on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. Usually there were processions through the streets headed by the Blessed Sacrament.
In the middle of the 16th century, the reformed Catholic Church of England ceased to keep the Feast because of doctrinal considerations; but the Roman Catholic Church has continued to keep it to this day and recently has given it the new name, Corpus et Sanguis Christi (Body & Blood of Christ). And, somewhat surprisingly, the Church of England has set in motion the revival of the Feast by making it a part of the Christian Year/Calendar in Common Worship 2000 (her new Directory of worship which is an alternative to The Book of Common Prayer of 1662) and providing a Collect and readings for it.
In origin Corpus Christi was inextricably associated with the doctrine of transubstantiation, the view that the whole bread is changed in the act of consecration in the Mass into the true Body of Christ. Thus, this Body is not only to be consumed as Bread from heaven but also adored as Christ present amongst his people. Because of their rejection of the medieval doctrine of the Mass, it was inevitable that the Reformers should also reject this Feast. Thus there is no sign of it within The Book of Common Prayer.
Common Worship (volume 1) informs us on page 407 that “the Thursday after Trinity Sunday may be observed as ‘The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)’.” The liturgical colour is white, the Collect is addressed to “Lord Jesus Christ” and the Post Communion Prayer to “our God and Father”. The Epistle is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and the Gospel is John 6:51-58.
In a Reformed Catholic Church, one wonders why this celebration is necessary since if Holy Week is kept there is a suitable recognition of the institution of this Sacrament on Maundy Thursday. It is true that some Anglo-Catholics have long kept this day but this is because they are committed to the doctrine of transubstantiation, which they freely accept has never been the doctrine of the reformed Church of England.
Apparently the liturgists responsible for Common Worship thought it would be good to follow the modern Roman Catholic festival of “The Body and Blood of Christ” but to soften it by giving it a generalised and apparently harmless title. However, the Collect (though based on an original said to be by St Thomas Aquinas) is somewhat vague and may be taken as either validating the doctrine of transubstantiation or simply stating a very high view of this Sacrament in terms of the value of the consecrated elements.
“Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament you have given us the memorial of your passion: grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries of your body and blood that we may know within ourselves and show forth in our lives the fruits of your redemption;…”
The opening declaration is fine. The petition introduces the idea of reverencing the consecrated elements as “the sacred mysteries of your body and blood”. To reverence the elements is presumably to attribute to them divine content or quality or character. But on the basis of which C of E doctrine is this done?
This Collect is a revised form of the Latin Collect for the medieval festival of Corpus Christi. In 1929 the Scottish Episcopal Church provided a similar Collect as an additional Collect for Maundy Thursday and in 1979 the American Episcopal Church did the same, stating that it was especially suitable for use on any Thursday. More recently several Provinces of the Anglican Communion have included “Thanksgiving for Holy Communion” in their Calendars for the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.
In origin the doctrine of transubstantiation led to the festival of Corpus Christi. Now it seems a love of festivals and a desire to imitate Rome by liturgists are causing the revival of the festival under a new name and without the doctrine of transubstantiation to support it. Thus it hangs in vague space to be blown by any wind that touches it.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)
Communal verses Association
Incarnation verses voluntary response
real presence verses receptionism
In the Mass Christ comes to a place where he already is; the body of Christ given to the body of Christ. (AUGUSTINE)
___________
Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermon on the Eucharist
What you see on God's altar, you've already observed during the night that has now ended. But you've heard nothing about just what it might be, or what it might mean, or what great thing it might be said to symbolize.
For what you see is simply bread and a cup - this is the information your eyes report. But your faith demands far subtler insight: the bread is Christ's body, the cup is Christ's blood. Faith can grasp the fundamentals quickly, succinctly, yet it hungers for a fuller account of the matter.
As the prophet says, "Unless you believe, you will not understand." [Is. 7.9; Septuagint] So you can say to me, "You urged us to believe; now explain, so we can understand." Inside each of you, thoughts like these are rising: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, we know the source of his flesh; he took it from the virgin Mary. Like any infant, he was nursed and nourished; he grew; became a youngster; suffered persecution from his own people. To the wood he was nailed; on the wood he died; from the wood, his body was taken down and buried. On the third day (as he willed) he rose; he ascended bodily into heaven whence he will come to judge the living and the dead. There he dwells even now, seated at God's right.
So how can bread be his body? And what about the cup? How can it (or what it contains) be his blood?" My friends, these realities are called sacraments because in them one thing is seen, while another is grasped. What is seen is a mere physical likeness; what is grasped bears spiritual fruit.
So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: "You are the body of Christ, member for member." [1 Cor. 12.27] If you, therefore, are Christ's body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord's table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying "Amen" to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith.
When you hear "The body of Christ", you reply "Amen." Be a member of Christ's body, then, so that your "Amen" may ring true! But what role does the bread play? We have no theory of our own to propose here; listen, instead, to what Paul says about this sacrament: "The bread is one, and we, though many, are one body." [1 Cor. 10.17] Understand and rejoice: unity, truth, faithfulness, love. "One bread," he says. What is this one bread? Is it not the "one body," formed from many? Remember: bread doesn't come from a single grain, but from many. When you received exorcism, you were "ground." When you were baptized, you were "leavened." When you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, you were "baked." Be what you see; receive what you are. This is what Paul is saying about the bread. So too, what we are to understand about the cup is similar and requires little explanation. In the visible object of bread, many grains are gathered into one just as the faithful (so Scripture says) form "a single heart and mind in God" [Acts 4.32]. And thus it is with the wine. Remember, friends, how wine is made. Individual grapes hang together in a bunch, but the juice from them all is mingled to become a single brew. This is the image chosen by Christ our Lord to show how, at his own table, the mystery of our unity and peace is solemnly consecrated. All who fail to keep the bond of peace after entering this mystery receive not a sacrament that benefits them, but an indictment that condemns them. So let us give God our sincere and deepest gratitude, and, as far as human weakness will permit, let us turn to the Lord with pure hearts. With all our strength, let us seek God's singular mercy, for then the Divine Goodness will surely hear our prayers. God's power will drive the Evil One from our acts and thoughts; it will deepen our faith, govern our minds, grant us holy thoughts, and lead us, finally, to share the divine happiness through God's own son Jesus Christ. Amen!
THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011
New Liturgical Movement
BY GREGORY DIPIPPO
From the life of St. Juliana of Mont-Cornillon, sometimes called Juliana of Liège, according to the 1791 Breviary of Liège.
The Most High God, who chooses the weak things of this world, wondrously deigned to elect (this) humble virgin, endowed with a singular grace, to obtain a special feast of His Body. For as she lay prostrate daily before the most august Sacrament of the Eucharist, she learned by divine revelations that a special solemnity of the Body of Christ was to be instituted. When she declared these revelations to certain holy and learned men, the matter was examined in due time, and they judged that such a solemnity would be useful to further the glory of God and the devotion of Christ’s faithful towards the most holy and august Sacrament of the Eucharist; and so they and she induced the bishop to institute the feast. The first to do so was Bishop Robert of Liège in the year 1246, who commanded that it be celebrated throughout his diocese; at the behest of the Blessed Eve, the companion of Juliana, Urban IV afterwards gave his approval, and extended the feast to the universal church.
St. Juliana died in the year 1252, nine years before the former archdeacon of her native city, Jacques Pantaléon, was elected to the papacy with the name Urban IV; he is one of the “learned men” referred to above who were consulted on the propriety of adding a feast to the Temporal Cycle of the liturgical year. The vision to which Juliana’s legend refers was one of a full moon with a dark spot on it, which appeared to her both day and night over many years; the meaning of it was imparted to her by the Lord Himself, namely, that something was missing from the liturgical year, since there was no special feast to honor the Blessed Sacrament.
The Vision of St. Juliana, by Philippe de Champaigne, ca. 1650.
In his homily for the office of Corpus Christi, written at the request of Urban IV, St. Thomas Aquinas notes that:
(a)lthough on the day of the (Lord’s) Supper, when we know the Sacrament to have been instituted, a special mention is made of this fact in the solemn Mass, nevertheless, all the rest of the day’s services pertains to Christ’s Passion, which the Church is concerned to venerate at that time. In order that the faithful may once again honor the institution of so great a Sacrament with its own service, the Roman Pontiff Urban IV, moved by his devotion to It, piously decreed that the memory of this institution should be celebrated by all the faithful on the first Thursday after the Octave of Pentecost, so that we who make use of this Sacrament throughout the year unto our salvation, may specially honor Its institution at that time when the Holy Spirit taught the hearts of the disciples to know the mysteries thereof; for at the same time did the Sacrament begin to be frequented by the faithful.
The bull “Transiturus” by which Pope Urban established the feast in 1264, the last year of his short pontificate, was in some places read in the Divine Office for the lessons of Matins during the octave of Corpus Christi; this was the custom in the medieval use of Prague, and in the post-Tridentine uses of Liège and of the Carthusian Order.
Bishop Urban, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brethren the archbishops and their suffragans, greetings and apostolic blessing. When Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, was about to pass from this world to the Father, as the time of His Passion drew nigh, having taken supper, He instituted unto the memory of His death the most exalted and magnificent Sacrament of His Body and Blood, giving His Body to eat and His Blood to drink. For however so often we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. In the institution of this saving Sacrament, He said to the Apostles, “Do this in memory of Me”, so that this august and venerable Sacrament might be the special and particular memorial of the exceptional love with which He loved us: this memorial, I say, wondrous and astounding, full of delight, sweet, most secure, and precious above all things, in which signs are renewed and wonders changed, in which is contained every delight and the enjoyment of every savor, and the very sweetness of the Lord is tasted, by which we do indeed obtain the support of our life and salvation. This is the memorial most sweet, most sacred, most holy, profitable unto salvation, by which we recall the grace of our redemption; by which we are drawn away from evil and strengthened in good, and advance to the increase of virtues and graces, by the bodily presence of the Savior.
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