INBOX INSPIRATIONS
May 11, 2022
Eucharist – 1
Dear Friends,
From the earliest decades, Christians have believed that Christ is really present in the Eucharist.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, in the year 107, wrote that Christians believed that Jesus meant what he said: the bread and wine are his Body and Blood.
It was, and is, an issue of accepting what Jesus said at the Last Supper:
“Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a chalice, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant.’” (Matthew 26:26-29)
Throughout the centuries, various Church teachers worked to come up with a word that would describe what happened when the bread and wine are consecrated.
For a thousand years, they did not come up with a word that really caught on, but it was taken for granted that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ.
Finally, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some of our best Church thinkers turned to the concepts of the great Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Aristotle used the terms substance and accidents.
The substance of a thing is the reality itself, like a car.
The accidents are properties or features that are not essential to the substance, like color.
So, a car could be painted black or red, but it remains a car.
The accidents are different, but the substance remains the same.
Church theologians used Aristotle’s concepts but, in a sense, reversed them for understanding the Eucharist.
With the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the accidents remain the same.
The bread and wine still look, feel, and taste life bread and wine.
But the substance has changed completely, from bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ.
This change of substance is what the word transubstantiation means.
That is the word that caught on in our Catholic tradition and is used to explain how Christ is really present in the Eucharist.
More on this next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of May 18.
Father Michael Schleupner
Eucharist – 2
Dear Friends,
Last week’s Inbox gave some background on the Church’s belief for two millennia that Christ is really present in the Eucharist.
The word transubstantiation has been used for almost 1,000 years to explain how the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ.
Because of this belief in the real presence, the reservation of the Eucharist after or outside of Mass has been a practice from the earliest of Christian times.
The consecrated bread, the Body of Christ (not the consecrated wine, the Blood of Christ) was at first reserved primarily to be given as Viaticum, as Communion to those who are dying.
The word Viaticum was a Latin word that originally meant “provision on the way.” It is composed of the Latin words via (meaning way or on the way), te (meaning you) and cum(meaning with) – so, “with you on the way.”
The word seems to have been used originally to refer to any provisions to assist a person on a journey.
It then took on a very specific religious and spiritual meaning and referred to the Eucharist as the presence of Christ to be with us on our way, on our final journey to meet the Lord.
At any rate, this was the original reason for reserving the Eucharist.
Other reasons for the reservation of the Eucharist developed over time:
v for the distribution of Communion to people at times other than at Mass
v for private, personal prayer
v for adoration of Christ in this sacrament.
Today, at times, when Mass cannot be celebrated (as when a priest is not available), there is a service, often led by a deacon, that includes the distribution of Communion.
The Church’s original and even more recent vision for this is for situations where there is a scarcity of priests and people would be without the Eucharist for a more prolonged period of time.
In upcoming Inbox Inspirations, there will be more reflections on the reasons for the reservation of the Eucharist.
Father Michael Schleupner
Some of the above is based on Reservation of the Eucharist by Peter E. Fink, S.J., in The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship.
Eucharist – 3
Dear Friends,
One of the reasons for the reservation of the Eucharist, of the consecrated bread which has become the Body of Christ, is for personal, private prayer.
I think it might be helpful to ask the question: what might our personal, private prayer be like when we are in the presence of Christ in the reserved sacrament. One author says this: “Since the two major purposes of Eucharistic reservation focus on Christ for the absent and Christ present to the church, these two points of focus identify the kind of prayer that is proper to eucharistic devotion.”
First, the Eucharist is reserved for those who are absent and cannot be there. It is intended to be carried to those who are sick or dying. So, in our personal prayer before the Eucharist, we pray for the strength, consolation, and healing of God for all who are sick. We remember by name anyone we know who is suffering.
We can also remember here those who are “absent” because they have not yet come to faith or have left the practice of the faith and are searching. We pray that these persons may come for the first time or return again to communion with God’s people and eventually share in Holy Communion.
Second, the Eucharist is also reserved as a special, unique way for Christ to be present to those who are present. Christ’s presence in the reserved sacrament speaks of God’s constant, day-in and day-out faithfulness to us.
In response, our prayer should be characterized by thanksgiving. Our English word Eucharistcomes directly from the Greek word that means giving thanks. So, we can be thankful to God for the gift of Jesus himself and for our faith, for the hope that faith gives, and for grace to love God and love others as ourself.
We can thank God for all the blessings in our lives. And here, it is always good to be specific – mentioning specific gifts of family or friends, good health, material comforts, financial security, whatever.
Perhaps flowing from this prayer of thankfulness can also come intercessory or petitionary prayer. With trust in God’s faithful presence to us, as experienced in the reserved sacrament, we can bring to God our own needs, the needs of those close to us, and the needs of our entire community and world.
More on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of June 1.
Father Michael Schleupner
Quotation from Reservation of the Eucharist by Peter E. Fink, S.J., in The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship.
Eucharist – 4
Dear Friends,
Eucharistic Adoration has been a practice in the Church since the 1300s. In the earlier centuries of Christianity, the clear emphasis was on Communion – that those present at the celebration of the Eucharist would receive and those absent because of illness would have the Eucharist carried to them. There seems to have been little or no devotion to the Eucharist outside of Mass. But then, beginning in the fifth century, several things happened in Christian belief and practice.
The risen Christ, whom we receive in Communion, began to be seen as distant, far away. Then, the liturgy itself also became a distant experience celebrated by the priest. The use of Latin as the only liturgical language contributed to a widening of the gap between the people and the celebration of the Eucharist. From here, it seems to have been a short step to the practice of ordinary people not receiving the Eucharist often, probably only rarely. The attitude was that the Eucharist was something more to be looked at or adored rather than consumed.
The result was that by the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, praying before the reserved Eucharist in the tabernacle and Eucharistic processions where one could see or gaze at the Blessed Sacrament became commonplace. Out of this grew the practice of exposing the consecrated host in a monstrance placed on the altar so that all could behold the sacramental Body of Christ. Again, the emphasis was on seeing and not receiving. By the way, a monstrance is a vessel that holds the consecrated host for the purpose of adoration. The word comes from the Latin word monstrare which means to show.
Today, Eucharistic Adoration continues as a devotional practice. I want to make two concluding comments about this.
1. The actual celebration and receiving of the Eucharist remains the central practice of our faith. We call this Holy Communion because of the closeness that this gives us with Jesus. Eucharistic Adoration needs to arise from this summit experience of our spiritual life and lead us back to it.
2. If we participate in Eucharistic Adoration, I recommend some silence. Simply being in the presence of God, without saying or doing anything, as God is here being present to us – this in itself is a rich prayer and opens us to a closeness and oneness with Jesus Christ.
More on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of June 8.
Father Michael Schleupner
Eucharist – 5
Dear Friends,
There are a number of Catholic practices that relate to our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
First, every church is to have a tabernacle. This is a kind of cabinet in which the consecrated bread (the Body of Christ) that remains after the celebration of Mass is to be stored or reserved. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that the tabernacle may be located either in the sanctuary where the Mass is celebrated or in a chapel that is connected to the church and is readily visible. Often large and frequently visited churches, like Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Cathedral of Mary our Queen in Baltimore, have the tabernacle located in a side chapel. Today, the liturgical preference seems to be that the tabernacle would be located in the main sanctuary area in most church buildings.
The tabernacle is to be made of a solid and worthy material – usually metal, wood, or stone. It is to be opaque and not transparent. It should also be able to be locked as a way of safeguarding the sacrament.
Associated with the tabernacle is a special lamp or candle. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that this is to be near the tabernacle and is always to be lit as a sign that Christ is here, present in the Eucharist. This special candle can be oil or wax. Its color, or the color of the glass that holds it, should be different from that of other candles and stand out in a special way. Red has been the most customary color for this special candle.
Finally for today, there is an option about using bells at three points in the celebration of the Mass. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal says that a bell may be rung at the time of the prayer that immediately precedes the words of consecration. Here the priest is calling down the presence of the Holy Spirit to sanctify these gifts of bread and wine and change them into the body and blood of Christ. Following this, after the consecratory words, a bell may again be rung at each elevation – first of the Body and then of the Blood of Christ.
The use of bells at Mass seems to have started in the thirteenth century. When the Mass was celebrated in Latin and not in the language of the people, the bells called people’s attention to the sacred moments mentioned above. When Mass in the spoken language of people started in the 1960s, the use of bells became an option. Each parish can choose what to do with this. On the one hand, bells add another sensory dimension to our worship. On the other hand, sheer silence at these moments also conveys our reverence for Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. I myself prefer the silence. It speaks loudly especially in a culture which is gradually losing the art of silence.
I will conclude this series on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of June 15.
Father Michael Schleupner
Eucharist – 6
Dear Friends,
In our Catholic calendar, this coming Sunday is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the one Sunday of the liturgical year devoted exclusively to praising God for the gift of the Eucharist. The traditional name for this feast day is Corpus Christi, the Latin words for the Body of Christ. The Church initiated this special feast day in 1264. Today I want to focus on the words Body of Christ.
From the first century until now, the phrase “body of Christ” has expressed something of our understanding of the Eucharist and also something of our self-understanding. Saint Paul frequently uses the image of a body and speaks of us as one body, Christ’s body, as a result of our baptism (I Corinthians 12:12-27). We are to see ourselves as joined with one another in forming the living or mystical body of Christ on this earth.
“Those who have been incorporated into Christ through baptism are engaged with other members of the body in an ongoing process of transformation into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). Their corporate identity as the body of Christ is renewed every time they celebrate the Lord’s Supper and share in the body and blood of Christ” (From Body of Christ by Margaret Mary Kelleher, O.S.U., in The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship edited by Peter E. Fink, S.J.).
Saint John Chrysostom (d.407) taught that the bread is the body of Christ and that all who eat this bread become the body of Christ. Saint Augustine (d.430) says it beautifully: “You are the body of Christ, and His members….You reply ‘Amen’ to that which you are, and by replying you consent. For you hear ‘The Body of Christ’ and you reply ‘Amen.’ Be a member of the body of Christ so that your ‘Amen’ may be true. Be what you see, and receive what you are” (Sermon 272).
And so, for us, remembering the full meaning of the words “The Body of Christ” and the response “Amen” is very important. In our “Amen,” we are making an act of faith that this bread is the body of Christ and that Christ is really present here. Additionally, we are also saying that through baptism, we as a community of faith are the body of Christ and that the Eucharist nourishes us in being full and active members of this body.
Father Michael Schleupner
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