All tagged eucharist
There has been some kerfuffle since the Archbishops called for churches to close, but whether or not priests are saying masses in their parish churches, most other people will not be receiving communion for a while. This has led to increase talk of “spiritual communion”. Fr Jonathan Jong provides some background to this idea.
Yesterday, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a statement about the necessity of suspending the administration of the chalice. This gave Fr Jonathan Jong an opportunity to write about the doctrine of concomitance and the utraquitist controversy in the 15th century.
Like all good catchphrases, ‘laborare est orare’ [‘to work is to pray’] is a mis-rendering. Just as S. Francis probably didn’t use the words, ‘preach the Gospel at all times, use words if necessary’, so ‘laborare est orare’ is a popular mis-rendering of the Benedictine, ‘ora et labora’ [‘prayer and work’].
The sacraments, as Fr Ken Leech put it, are not “freak events” in a world which otherwise “runs on quite different rules.” They are a foretaste of God’s new creation, showing us what the world has been made for, and what it will ultimately be. The time of the Church’s sacramental life falls between that of Christ’s decisive victory over sin and death and the time in which the whole creation will enter into the fruits of that victory - when the powers of death are finally destroyed and he is “all in all” […]
When I think of my time at theological college, it’s fair to say that I was not well behaved. I came having studied theology for the previous six years, and was exempt from much of what was prescribed for most others. This left me, and a friend in a similar position, with too much time on our hands, never a good thing for those with a certain amount of growing up to do. One of the first bits of trouble we stirred up was an unsuccessful campaign to persuade the powers that be that the Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in the chapel. […]
The Eucharist is the Christian story acted out in miniature. The offering of the sinless Son of God for the sinful children of men is not a past event, if by past we mean something over and gone. The incarnate humanity of Christ, offered, sacrificed, risen and ascended, is always part of the Godhead. It is real humanity drawn up into God and eternally representing humanity to God. [...]
