#48 The Communion Rite Part 8: Communion in the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven. Undertanding the Mass and Its Parts

 

 

"Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" (Luke 14:15)

 

Scripture scholar Fr. Eugene Laverdiere wrote a very fine book titled Dining in the Kingdom of God. He writes about the meals that Jesus had with his disciples recorded in the Gospel of Luke with, of course, the supreme example of meal-sharing being the Last Supper.

 

So many of these meals had a significance that we don’t readily appreciate today. To share a meal with someone in the culture of Jesus was often to be bonded to them. Meals often had a religious significance. Jesus, a recognized man of God, shared meals not only with his disciples but especially with the poor and lowly, including sinners. He the Son of God was saying by this that God’s table and family were now open to the poor and marginalized. (See, for example, Luke 14:15-24 HERE)

 

This was something revolutionary! It also signified the coming of the Kingdom of God, which everyone understood in Jesus’s day would involve a great feast and was symbolized as a meal:

 

"On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,

of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain

the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

the sheet that is spread over all nations;

he will swallow up death forever." (Isaiah 25:6-8)

 

 

 

We see that this great feast described by the Prophet Isaiah occurs when God destroys death forever. It was recognized that when the Messiah came, there would be a great feast forever. We see that this feast is described in the Book of Revelation as "the Wedding Feast of the Lamb":

 

"Then I [John] heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude,

like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder-peals, crying out,

"‘Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready;

to her it has been granted to be clothed

with fine linen, bright and pure’—

 

"for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

"And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited

to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me,

‘These are true words of God.’" (Revelation 10:6-9)

The Lamb is of course the Risen Christ, the Lamb of God. His Bride is the Church. There will be everlasting joy and celebration when Christ comes again and "the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." Then it will be said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)

 

The Eucharist, then, could be called  a sacrament of "dining in the Kingdom of God"; it is a communion in the Kingdom of God on earth and in Heaven; it is a participation in the now and future Kingdom of God.

 

As we pray in the Lord’s prayer: "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." The Kingdom of God is the Rule of God’s love. In heaven, in the Communion of Saints, this Rule of love reigns supreme; we pray and hope for this Kingdom to be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is our hope and our task for this world.

 

The Eucharist, then, "anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem." (Catechism#1329) "The coming Kingdom [is] anticipated in the Eucharist" (Catechism #2861) and the "Kingdom of God has been coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst." (Catechism #2816).

 

 

The Feast of Heaven is already begun in heaven. "Those who even now celebrate it [the liturgy] without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast." (Catechism #1136). "Christ gives us in the Eucharist the pledge of glory with him." (Catechism #1419) It is the Risen Christ who comes to us in the Mass and "our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's transfiguration of our bodies [in the Resurrection]." (Catechism #1000).

 

We recall how the Mass proclaims the Paschal Mystery, which includes the Second Coming of Christ:

"Therefore, O Lord, we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son,

his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven,

and as we look forward to his second coming,

we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice."

(Eucharistic Prayer III emphasis added)

 

Orthodox Priest and Liturgist Fr. Alexander Schmemann writes:

 

"The Liturgy of the Eucharist is best understood as a journey or procession. It is the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom, our sacramental entrance into the Risen life of Christ." (For the Life of the World, p.26)

The Mass helps us come into the Rule, that is, the Kingdom of the God who is love. It both celebrates this love now present to us and looks forward to when this love will rule the earth as it does heaven.

 

When we receive Holy Communion we are being united to the present Kingdom of God "in our midst" as well as the future coming of the Kingdom, as Feast and Transfiguration in the Risen Christ.

 

Next Week: Concluding the Communion Rite

 

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#47. The Communion Rite Part 7: Communion with Creation. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts

We have been looking at the implications of receiving Holy Holy Communion in the Mass. Holy Communion also puts us in a communion with the creation. Recall that "communion" is a sharing of a deep relationship with another or, in this case, with creation. Fr. Teilhard de Chardin wrote:

"There is a communion with the earth, and a communion with God, and a communion with God through the earth."

 

That last point, "a communion with God through the earth," is one way to express the sacramentality of the Catholic Tradition. By this is meant that creation and human relationships can reveal God’s Presence to us. Or to put it another way, God’s life is mediated to us through the creation and human relationships, the supreme revelation being the Son of God who entered creation in human flesh as Christ Jesus (sometimes Christ is described as the Sacrament of God). The Church takes some of these ways of mediation and names them as Sacraments of the Church," "visible signs of the invisible God."

 

Recall that in the Offertory we bring bread and wine to the altar and these will be used in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The Risen Christ will become Really Present through these created signs.

 

In offering the bread and wine, we are offering creation and human work for the purposes of God’s communication of salvation to us:

 

"Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,

for through your goodness we have received

the bread we offer you:

fruit of the earth and work of human hands,

it will become for us the bread of life."

 

"Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,

for through your goodness we have received

the wine we offer you:

fruit of the vine and work of human hands

it will become our spiritual drink."

 

Reflecting on the role the things of earth play in the Eucharist, a priest and liturgical theologian, Fr. Kevin Irwin, who has written about the subject of sacramentality and ecology, puts it very simply:

 

"For me the earth is brought into the act of worship and the act of worship sends us back to life on this good earth." ( From Interview HERE)

 

One of the gifts that modern ecology gives us is an understanding of how everything in our world is "inter-connected" and "inter-related." This is also the insight of the sacramental view espoused by the Catholic Church, especially in its teaching about creation:

 

"God wills the interdependence of creatures. The sun and the moon, the cedar and the little flower, the eagle and the sparrow: the spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities tells us that no creature is self-sufficient. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each other, in the service of each other." (Catechism #340)

 

This truth also applies to the human person. We were created from the earth and we do not live apart from the earth. We exist within creation. We are in relationship with creation.

 

The Eucharist and especially Holy Communion can express this Communion with Creation and, of course, with Creation’s Creator.

 

Pope Francis, in his recent Encyclical on the care of creation, Laudato Si, relates such care to the Eucharist:

 

"It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours.

 

"In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: ‘Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world’.

 

"The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, ‘creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself’.Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation." (#236; emphasis added)

 

Denis Edwards writes in Ecology at the Heart of Faith:

 

"Tony Kelly has said, that the ‘most intense moment of our communion with God is at the same time an intense moment of our communion with the earth.’ By being taken up into God, we are caught up into God’s love for the creatures of our planetary community. This begins to shape our ecological imagination: ‘The Eucharist educates the imagination, the mind, and the heart to apprehend the universe as one of communion and

connectedness in Christ.’"  

 

Certainly this sacramental view of creation and our relationship with creation is celebrated in the Mass and deepened by our Communion with creation in God’s care of the world.

 

Next Week: Communion Rite Part 8: Communion in the Kingdom of God in Heaven and on Earth

 

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#46 The Communion Rite Part 6: Communion in the Love of God. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

The receiving of Holy Communion in the Mass is a communion and participation in God’s love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Scriptures tell us that "God is love" (1 John 4:16) I have noted previously the magnificent passage in the Catechism which teaches us the implications of this:

 

"St. John goes even further when he affirms that ‘God is love’: God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange." (#221)

 

This "eternal exchange of love" between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is the Communion of Love which is the Holy Trinity. Our receiving Holy Communion in the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ is "to share in that exchange." The Catechism also teaches:

 

"The sacraments are ‘of the Church’ ...[they] manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons." (#1118)

 

This manifestation of God’s love in the Eucharist inspired St. Augustine to say about the Eucharist:
"O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!"

 

The Greek word agape is used to name God’s love for us and this divine love shared among us for one another. It was translated into Latin by the word "caritas"

 

"It is not easy to translate [the Church] Latin's sense of caritas with just one word; it means ‘spiritual love’, or ‘love in action’, the love which is born from a profound respect of the other (or the Other)...and we obtain the English word charity from caritas." (Link)

 

Caritas is God’s kind of love, and its link with the English word "charity" reminds us that God has  a profound love for those in need, especially the poor. God’s love is more than charity, but it also is not less than charity for the poor.

 

So, in Holy Communion, the Church teaches that "the Eucharist [in Communion] strengthens our charity [caritas]..." (Catechism #1394) The Church goes on to make (in my opinion)  a remarkable connection between the poor and Holy Communion:

 

"The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren..." (Catechism #1397)

 

This teaching is restating what Jesus himself said about recognizing him in the poor and those in need and assisting him (See Matthew 25:31-46 HERE ). With this criteria will we be judged. But here the Church is also saying that if we neglect to recognize Christ in the poor and not help them, then we are not receiving the Body and Blood of Christ "in truth." I would interpret this to be about the objective and subjective dimensions of receiving Holy Communion. Objectively speaking, Christ is absolutely Real in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood regardless of any action or lack of it on our part. However, if our reception of Holy Communion doesn’t affect us—indeed, change us—to be more like Christ, then we have not truly received the full grace of the Sacrament in our lives. A person who is a devout Communicant and yet has a hard heart toward the poor is in a contradictory situation.

 

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose mission was to serve the poorest of the poor, once said:

 

"Like Mary, let us be full of zeal to go in haste to give Jesus to others. She was full of grace when, at the Annunciation, she received Jesus. Like her, we too become full of grace every time we receive Holy Communion. It is the same Jesus whom she received and whom we receive at Mass. As soon as we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, let us go in haste to give Him to our sisters, to our poor, to the sick, to the dying, to the lepers, to the unwanted, and the unloved. By this we make Jesus present in the world today."

Next time you receive Holy Communion think how you are receiving the love of God as a gift which softens our hearts to be changed into his loving children and the result of that love is to make us more loving, especially for those in need and the poor.

 

Next Week: The Communion Rite Part 7: Communion with Creation.

 

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#45 The Communion Rite Part 5: Communion in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

I have already discussed the celebration of the Paschal (Passover) Mystery in the Mass (HERE). But again briefly, Christ calls us to "pass over" from sin and selfishness to a new life of sacrificial, self-giving love. He has made this passover from Death to Resurrection for us and this we call his Paschal (Passover) Mystery. The heart of this Mystery is the Dying and Rising of Christ.
 

"The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life." (Catechism #645)
 

We are immersed in his Paschal Mystery at our Baptism and the pattern of our Christian life is to die to sin and selfishness and rise up to live a life of sacrificial love. (The word "Baptism" means "immerse" or "wash" in the original Greek)
 

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4)
 

Now we are unable by our own power to live the Paschal Mystery. We find it very hard to die to sin and selfishness. But the good news is that living the Dying and Rising of Jesus is not meant to be accomplished on our own. Baptism unites us to Christ and the Holy Spirit is given to us to empower us to live the life of Christ. As the Catechism reassures us:
 

"Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us... We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model:
 

"We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and his mysteries and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole Church. . . For it is the plan of the Son of God to make us and the whole Church partake in his mysteries and to extend them to and continue them in us and in his whole Church. This is his plan for fulfilling his mysteries in us." (#521)
 

The life of Christ is both a gift and a task given to us. A gift in that Christ lives in us. A task on our part to be continually cooperative with his life in us. Even in this "the Spirit helps us in our weakness." (Romans 8:26)
 

Now it makes sense that when we receive the Crucified and Risen Christ in Holy Communion, we are also receiving his life, his Paschal Mystery within us. As quoted already, the Catechism associates the Paschal Mystery with the liberation of sin and the opening up of a new life. (Catechism #645) In the words of Consecration over the wine, recall that the blood of Christ is "poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins." This is one of the "fruits" of Holy Communion, as taught by the Church:
 

"Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us," and the blood we drink 'shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.' For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins:
 

" ‘For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord's death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.’(St. Ambrose)" (Catehism#1393)
 

Note: If one is in serious sin, one should go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion." (For more on this go HERE)
 

When we receive Holy Communion, therefore, we can call to mind that we are being put in communion with the Dying and Rising of Christ, his Paschal Mystery, which includes the forgiveness of sin and the beginning of the new life, the Risen life, of Christ in us.
 

Next week: The Communion Rite Part 6: Communion in the Love of God.
 

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#44 The Communion Rite Part 4: Communion in the Trinity. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

Mosaic of the Three Angels Who Appeared to Abraham at Mamre
Often used to depict the Holy Trinity

Having said that Christ and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable, and so both are received in Holy Communion (see last week's entry HERE), what about God the Father? The Father is also inseparable from the Son and the Holy Spirit, though each of the Divine Persons are still distinct from One another:

"Inseparable in what they are, the divine persons are also inseparable in what they do." (Catechism #267)
 

We can recall from the Gospel of John: "Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.’" (14:23; emphasis added) So for the sake of fullness, we see that our Communion is with the Holy Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is called the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity, i.e., the Three Divine Persons, One God, dwell in the soul of the Baptized.

Recall that the entire Eucharist is begun "In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer is also a doxology to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are finally blessed and dismissed from the Mass in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The entire Eucharist is a work of the Triune God, a mystery and sacrament of the Trinity. As one Orthodox Christian source states:

"Finally, the 'mystery of mysteries,' the Holy Eucharist, is the actual experience of all Christian people led to communion with God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit through Christ the Son who is present in the Word of the Gospel and in the Passover Meal of His Body and Blood eaten in remembrance of Him. The very movement of the Divine Liturgy—towards the Father through Christ the Word and the Lamb, in the power of the Holy Spirit—is the living sacramental symbol of our eternal movement in and toward God, the Blessed Trinity."
 

Angels at Mamre from Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

Now we can also add that the very act of Holy Communion in the Mass is also Communion in the Trinity. The Catechism has this to say about the personal Communion of the Triune God:
 

"But St. John goes even further when he affirms that ‘God is love’: God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange." (#221)
 

This "exchange of love" is another way of saying that God is a "Communion of Love" and the divine love "circulates" between the Three Persons. Moreover, we are destined to be in this Communion of Love shared by the Holy Trinity! If God is a Family, we are called to be part of that Family! We know the Church is born from the Font of Baptism, when we were immersed into the Holy Trinity, into that Communion of Love, in the very Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus the Catechism also teaches that the Church "is the sacrament of the Holy Trinity's communion with men." (#747)

 

We are also created in the image of God, who is One yet Three in a divine Communion and Community of Love. Anytime that we live in communion and community with others we are living according to the image of God within us, being "like God." The Church teaches us that we have a vocation to be in communion with other persons (See Catechism # 2419 HERE)
 

The next time you receive Holy Communion, think about how Christ brings the Holy Spirit and  God the Father in love to dwell within you. You are receiving Communion and you are to build communion in this world, to the glory of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
 

Next week: The Communion Rite Part 5: Communion in the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
 

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#43 The Commuinion Rite Part 3: Communion in the Holy Spirit. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

By receiving Holy Communion we also receive the Holy Spirit along with Christ. We know that it is the Risen Christ that we really receive in Holy Communion in the signs of the Consecrated Bread and Wine. We are not so familiar that we also receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit with Christ. In a beautiful passage from the Catechism we are taught:

 

"When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable." (#689)

 

The Word is the Son of God (see John 1) and the Breath of God here means the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Spirit are always working together. Recall it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Son took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mother to become Jesus the Christ. His very title means "The Anointed One" (in Greek, Christos, in Hebrew Messiah); the One who ‘anoints" him, i.e., consecrates him for his mission is the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Spirit are distinct but they are inseparable. Therefore we receive the Holy Spirit with Christ in Holy Communion.

 

We first received the Holy Spirit in our Baptism. From the Rite of Baptism for Children:

 

"We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her)."

 

And the grace of the Holy Spirit is increased in us through the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

 

 

I like to recall here the teaching of the Gospel of John that the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the Helper. The Holy Spirit is "the Best Friend" of the Son and of his Body the Church. As "best friends" are inseparable, so with the Son and the Spirit. (See my entry on this HERE) The Holy Spirit is our Helper, our Advocate, our Counselor, our Comforter, our Defender, our Friend. As St. Paul reminds us, "The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us." (Romans 5:5)

 

The Holy Spirit is at work with Christ in the celebration of the Mass.

 

The Catechism teaches that "In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the ‘communion of the Holy Spirit’ who gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ." (#1097)

 

Recall that the first act of the Eucharist is to gather together the Body of Christ, the Church. Also in the Eucharistic Prayer (at the Epiclesis) we saw how the Holy Spirit is invoked to come, with the Word of Christ, to transform the Bread and Wine into the true Body and Blood of the Risen Christ, the whole Christ. (See Epiclesis HERE, Catechism #706  HERE)

 

 

Every celebration of the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, is an outpouring (epiclesis) of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, the Mystical and Spirit-filled Body of Christ. (See Catechism #1104 HERE) Yet we become what we receive in the Eucharist by receiving the Spirit-filled Body and Blood of the Risen Christ in Holy Communion. We are given "Spiritual Food," i.e., the Spirit-filled and Consecrated Body and Blood of Christ."

 

Catechism #1392: "What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh ‘given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit,’ preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism."

 

Next Week: The Communion Rite Part 4: Communion with the Trinity

 

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#42. Receiving Holy Communion Part 2: The Body of Christ. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

When we receive Holy Communion we know that we receive the Body of Christ in the sign of the Consecrated Bread and the Blood of Christ in the sign of the Consecrated Wine. There is, however, a wonderful "multilayering" of the different meanings of the term "Body of Christ" which we receive in Holy Communion.

The Three Ways the New Testament Uses the Term "the Body of Christ":

1. As the human Body of Christ which is now Risen

2. As the Eucharistic Body of Christ

3. As the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e. the Church

 

https://theeucharist.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/mcsween_p40.jpg

 

The human Body of Christ which is now Risen. The great revelation of our Christian Faith is that God is One yet Three Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (the Most Holy Trinity). Out of love for us God the Father sent his only Begotten Son to us. The Son became human  by the power of the Holy Spirit  in the womb of the Virgin Mary.  The Son of God became flesh–a human being–and dwelt among us. He had all the qualities of a human being except he knew no sin. He got tired, hungry, thirsty; he was limited in his humanity by time and space; he was mortal and could suffer and die. He was fully human, the Church teaches, and yet also fully God.

The Son of God did stop being God when he became human.

Of course, we know he did suffer and die for us on the Cross and on the Third Day he rose from the Dead. Now he dies no more. Catechism #645 states that the Risen body of Christ is the same body in which he was crucified, but it now possesses "the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills." It says the Risen body of Christ is no longer confined to this earth but belongs "to the Father’s divine realm."

Catechism #646 states "Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life...In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is ‘the man of heaven’."

 

I have written elsewhere about the state of a Risen Body (See HERE). It is more spiritual than physical and yet it is still physical, a transformed type of physical with no limitations and such a "spiritualized body" is quite mysterious to us in this life.

The Eucharistic body of Christ. Now the Body of Christ that we receive in Communion is the Risen Body of the Crucified Christ. We do not receive ordinary, mortal flesh and blood in the Eucharist. What I mean, is that we receive the risen flesh and blood of Christ. We are not cannibals who eat mortal, dead flesh; we are communicants in the Risen Body of Christ.

But we also receive the Risen, glorified Body (and Blood of Christ) "under the signs" (sacrament) of the Consecrated Bread and Wine of the Eucharist. We eat this Bread and Drink this Wine, but the very essence (equivalent to the "substance") of the bread and wine is totally changed to actually be the Risen Body and Blood of Christ. He comes to us in this form of Food so that we may indeed receive him within ourselves. The Risen Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Consecrated Bread is called Christ's Eucharistic body. (The same applies to the Blood of Christ).

 

It should be noted that when we say we receive the Risen  Body and Blood of Christ, we are receiving actually the entire Person of Christ, the Son of God as human and Risen. We don't, in other words, receive parts of Christ but as the Catechism teaches, in Communion is "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." (#1374)

The Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Now the Church has a most marvelous teaching which  is thoroughly Catholic in its "pedigree." It concerns what is termed the "Whole Christ."  Quite simply it is the Risen Christ united to his disciples by their Baptism "into him." All who are baptized are united to him who is the Head of his Body the Church. (See Colossians 1:18 HERE) This Mystical Body includes the living and the dead who are now alive in Christ, the Communion of Saints.

 

Catholics therefore believe that since the Resurrection of Christ, Christ is not solely "an individual" but he is a "corporate being." This teaching is often referred to by its Latin term "Totus Christus" or "the Whole Christ." ("Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ." Catechism #794)We believe that you cannot have Christ without his Body the Church, because his Body the Church is united to him, really and spiritually.

This meaning of "the Body of Christ" as Church is called "the Mystical Body of Christ."

The word "mystical" is used with a number of nuances: "it is called mystical body, because it is neither a purely physical nor a purely spiritual unity, but supernatural...The relation of the faithful with Christ is mystical, not physical." (See wikipedia article on "Mystici Corporis Christi" HERE) It also refers to a union which is sacramental and involves the sacraments, also called "the mysteries":

"Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called ‘mystical’ because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments—‘the holy mysteries’—and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him..." (Catechism # 2014)

One implication of this is that when we therefore receive Christ in Holy Communion, we also are given one another as the Church. We are bonded to one another in Christ which is why this act of receiving the Whole Christ in the Eucharist is called Communion. We are placed in Communion with Christ and also in Christ with one another the Church.

 

St. Augustine famously preached:

"If, therefore, you are the Body of Christ and His members, your mystery is presented at the table of the Lord, you receive your mystery. To that which you are, you answer: `Amen’…Be a member of Christ’s Body, so that your `Amen’ may be the truth." (Sermon 272)

"There you are on the table [the altar], there you are in the cup." (Sermon 229)

"If you receive them well [i.e. the Body and Blood of Christ in the form of Bread and Wine], you are that which you receive." [the Body of Christ the Church] (Sermon 227)

Next Week: Communion and the Holy Spirit

 

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#41 Receiving Holy Communion: The Ritual. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

The act of receiving Holy Communion in the Mass is the conclusion of the Sacrifice-meal (see discussion on "Sacrifice-meal" HERE) which is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. All that is left after Holy Communion and its concluding Prayer, is the Dismissal Rite, "the Mass is ended."

 

As we will see, the act of Holy Communion sums up many of the themes and the purposes of the Mass which I have been discussing throughout this series. Themes such as being gathered as the Church, the Body of Christ; the Eucharist making the Church visible; Communion in the life of the Triune God (the Trinity); Christ living in us and we living in Christ; sharing in the Dying and Rising of Christ (the Paschal Mystery); the renewal of our Baptism; the ceelbration of the New Covenant; the offering of ourselves in the One Sacrifice of Christ; and the Real Presence of the Risen Christ’s Body and Blood.

 

Therefore, I will deal with Holy Communion in the Mass in several parts over the next few weeks.

First, let us look at the ritual actions which occur after the Sign of Peace and the Breaking of the Bread:

 

The Priest genuflects at the Altar, takes a portion of the Consecrated Host and, holding it slightly raised above the paten or above the chalice, while facing the people, and says aloud:

 

"Behold the Lamb of God,

behold him who takes away the sins of the world.

Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb."

 

(There is a reference here to Revelation 19:6-9 See HERE. The Church is the Bride of Christ and the Eucharist is being compared here to a wedding feast, a celebration of union and communion)

 

And together with the people pray:

 

"Lord, I am not worthy

that you should enter under my roof,

but only say the word

and my soul shall be healed."

 

(This is another Scriptural reference from Matthew 8:8 HERE; we are not worthy to receive Christ by our own merits, but by his grace he gives himself to us to dwell "under our roof," i.e. within us. This is not to sya we are worthless but to recognize that  Communion with Christ is a gift not based on worthiness or its lack)

 

The Priest, facing the altar, says quietly:

 

"May the Body of Christ

keep me safe for eternal life."

 

 And he reverently consumes the Body of Christ.

 

Then he takes the chalice and says quietly:

 

"May the Blood of Christ

keep me safe for eternal life."

 

And he reverently consumes the Blood of Christ.

 

After this, he takes the paten or ciborium and approaches the ministers who will help with distribution of Holy Communion (the Deacon, if present, and the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. See note HERE). The Priest raises a host slightly and shows it to each of the ministers, who in the United States show reverence by a bow of the head, and the Priest says:

 

"The Body of Christ."

 

The minister replies:

 

"Amen."

 

(recall that "Amen" means "it is true." Our "Amen" is a profession of our faith that it is the Body of Christ in truth that we receive.)

 

And the minister receives the host. In the United States one receives standing. Commnicants may receive in the hand or on the tongue.

 

The Priest or Deacon then gives the Chalice to each saying:

 

"The Blood of Christ."

 

The minister bows his or her head says "Amen" and receives the Chalice and drinks.

 

The ministers with the Priest then take the Body and Blood of Christ to the Assembly. The Assembly forms a Procession to the various Communion stations, receiving the Body of Christ and they may receive the Blood of Christ from the Chalice if they wish.

 

 

(This act of processing expresses our journey together as the Body of Christ, the Church, to receive the Eucharistic Body of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. Communicants receive both the Body and Blood of Christ in each element, since they are receiving the Whole Christ in either element. The sacramental sign is more complete by receiving both the Host and the Chalice; but it is the Communicants' choice as to whether to receive from the Chalice or not)

 

While the Priest is receiving the Body of Christ, the Communion Chant begins. This accompanies thePprocession until all receive Communion who are able.

 

(The singing of the Communion song with one voice signifies our communion togetehr, our unity in Christ. The Church desires us to sing this song)

 

When the distribution of Communion is over, the Priest or a Deacon or an acolyte purifies the paten over the chalice and also the chalice itself.

 

Any remaining Hosts are reserved in the Tabernacle. Chalices used for Holy Communioncan be purified after Mass as permitted.

 

The Priest returns to his chair. If appropriate, a sacred silence may be observed for a while, or a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may be sung.

 

Then, standing at the altar or at his chair and facing the People the Priest says:

 

"Let us pray."

 

All pray in silence with the Priest for a while, unless silence has just been observed.

 

Then the Priest, with hands extended, says the Prayer after Communion, at the end of which the people acclaim:

 

 "Amen."

 

Next week: Understanding the Meaning of Holy Communion

 

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