I have paused at the action of the Consecration to go deeper into the meanings of this central moment in the Mass. In the Consecration is the Institution Narrative, i.e. the account of how Jesus instituted the Eucharist until the end of time. Jesus takes bread and he takes wine; he blesses the bread and wine in an act of thanksgiving; he breaks the bread; and he gives the blessed bread and wine to his disciples, telling them that this is his Body and Blood. These actions can be summarized as a Four-fold Action of the Institution Narrative: (1) Take (2) Bless/give thanks (3) Break (4) Give.
All four actions are mentioned in the New Testament. The breaking of the Consecrated Bread was especially significant and the whole Eucharist was called "the Breaking of Bread."All the ancient forms of the Eucharist (which varied by location) incorporate this pattern of the Eucharist.
Note the variations (in red) of each Institution narrative from the New Testament:
Mark 14:22-2: "While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’"
Matthew 26: 26-28: "While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.’"
Luke 22:19-20: "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’"
1 Corinthians 11:23-25: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it [gave it is implied] and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’"
[See Matthew 14:13-21 HERE which uses the "Eucharistic language" of the Four-fold Action]
What is useful to us about this Four-fold Action beyond liturgical studies is that a number of preachers and authors of spirituality use these four actions to describe a Christian life centered in the Eucharist. For example, Fr. Henri Nouwen in his book Life of the Beloved (a very good book) writes:
"To identify the movements of the Spirit in our lives, I have found it helpful to use four words: taken, blessed, broken, and given....These words also summarize my life as a Christian because, as a Christian, I am called to become bread for the world: bread that is taken, blessed, broken and given." (pp.41-42)
St. Augustine preached in his Sermon 57:
“You are the body of Christ... You are to be taken; you are to be blessed, broken, and given; that you may be the means of grace and the vehicles of the Eternal love. Behold what you are. Become what you receive.”
This kind of reflection is found in a homily given by Fr. Andrew Budzinski as an example:
"Jesus takes you. Another way of saying this is that Jesus chooses you. Think about that for a moment, Jesus chooses you! Jesus says, ‘It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.’ (Jn 15:16). Perhaps that’s a difficult thing for us to understand sometimes.
"God chooses me? Yes. God loves you. Remember ... Jesus’ words at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John when Jesus said to His Father: ‘You loved them even as you love me.’
"St. Peter says, ‘you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own.’ (1 Peter 2:9). St. Paul says, ‘he chose us in [Christ], before the foundation of the world."’(Eph 4:1).
" Jesus takes you. He chooses you."
(Sunday, July 31, 2011 Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given Homily from the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time; emphasis added)
Another example is given by the Methodist liturgical professor Don Saliers:
"Just as bread and wine are taken, we are to offer ourselves into God's hands, to give ourselves to God's purposes; just as thanksgiving is raised up, we are to ‘live the thanksgiving’ in gratitude for the mighty acts of God that the eucharistic prayer narrates; just as bread is broken and wine poured out, we must be vulnerable to all that faith demands; and just as nourishment is shared, so we ‘must be prepared to be given for others.’" (Worship and Spirituality; emphasis added)
Finally, I quote a particularly fine example of reflection upon the Four-fold Action in our lives from an Episcopal minister:
"Christians want to be taken and blessed … and stop right there, thank you very much! That’s the ‘feel good’ part of Christianity. Being claimed by God and blessed by God feels good. But if we stop there, Christianity can become dangerous – even toxic - because if we only accept being taken and blessed, we will continue to encounter Christ on our terms and not on his terms. We will still retain control. This is a sort of spiritual narcissism where I get to be claimed and blessed, but I still hold onto the right to interpret the Bible my way, use the Bible to uphold my own prejudices, and choose who I want to be in relationship with and who I want to exclude.
"This is the kind of spirituality the crowd exhibits. They want Jesus on their terms. They want to take him by force and make him a king. They want to know what they need to do to perform the works of God. They want this bread always. They like being taken and blessed … but they stop short of broken and given.
"And let’s be honest – none of us really wants to be broken do we? We don’t want to face our faults, our defects, our deficiencies, our weaknesses, our hurts, our suffering, our pain, the abuse we’ve suffered and the abuse we have in turn hurled at others. That doesn’t feel good, does it? It’s not fun. We’d rather be smug, self-sufficient, and self-righteous if given our druthers. We’d rather justify, minimize and flee from our brokenness. But that’s not the way of the cross – it is not the way of the Christian.
"We cannot be given for the sake of a broken and hurting world unless we allow our own brokenness to be what it is – and to face it honestly. Our brokenness is the place where the crucified One meets us and reminds us that even as we are broken, we are still taken and blessed. We don’t stop being taken and blessed … even when we are broken. It is in our broken state where we can be emptied of our spiritual narcissism and our false ego. It is there where we can find not just serenity but also the ability to connect with the sufferings of others so that we can be given for the sake of God’s people. We cannot be a gift to others until we accept we are broken.
"The shape of the Eucharistic life involves all four actions: being taken, blessed, broken and given. It was the pattern of Jesus’ life and ministry and for us to live authentically as Christians it needs to be ours too. We cannot claim to be Christian by having Christ on our terms and avoid being broken and given for others. If we do, our faith remains centered in ourselves and we will succumb to the temptation to harm others and cloak our actions with religiosity and "self-righteousness.
"When we are taken, blessed, broken and given, we find ourselves able to connect with the Other and see the face of Christ in them and in doing so we will promote the Body’s growth in building itself up in Love." (Anjel Scarborough; emphasis added)
Next Week: The New Covenant Proclaimed in the Eucharist.
