Some people seem to have the odd idea that the Christian Faith has very little to do with one’s ordinary life, and that what one does in church on Sundays is completely separate from what one does outside church on weekdays.
No one could say that of the Eucharist, for the Eucharist has everything to do with our everyday life. We have already seen that at the Offertory the bread and wine represent our life and work, what we are and what we do. When the bread and wine on the altar are offered to God, we also offer ourselves, what we are and what we do and all our life of the week that is to come. Then, at the Consecration – the very centre of the Eucharist – we offer our Saviour himself, veiled beneath the form of that same Bread and Wine. And Our Saviour in his own Person brings us to his Father and presents us with him in his own glorious, sinless Self as his People for whom he was born and whom he died to save. And in the Communion he gives himself to us completely in the Blessed Sacrament to renew us in his own likeness. And finally God sends us back from his Throne into the world to be his faithful soldiers and servants.
For at the Sunday Eucharist we step out of our daily life and come with Our Lord before the very Throne of God himself, into the innermost citadel of his Kingdom in Heaven. And then, when the Eucharist is over, we go back again to serve in our own particular outpost of God’s Kingdom in this world.
Special intentions
At the Eucharist, then, when we offer ourselves and Our Lord to God, we can also offer our work, our games and friendships, in fact everything except what is wrong and sinful.
Besides that, we can offer our special prayers and thanksgivings for the people and things in which we are interested. It may be our prayers for a relation who has died, or for an examination we are going to take; or our thanks for the recovery of a sick friend, or for our birthday. These special prayers and thanksgivings are called ‘special intentions’. It is impossible to say for how many objects or in how many different circumstances the Eucharist has been offered through the centuries. We will take just two examples. First, the Coronation of the Queen.
Coronation of the Queen
The crowning of the Queen in Westminster Abbey was not a separate service but took place during the Eucharist. And amid all the splendour and pageantry of the State trumpeters and the gorgeous robes and uniforms, bread and wine were offered to God and with them the nation’s prayers.
After she had been crowned, the Queen came down from her throne and went and knelt at the altar. She offered the bread and wine with her own hands on behalf of everyone and the Offertory prayer included these words: “Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, these thy gifts, and sanctify them unto this use, that by them we may be made partakers of the Body and Blood of thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, and fed unto everlasting life of soul and body: And that thy servant Queen ELIZABETH may be enabled to the discharge of her weighty office, whereunto of thy great goodness thou hast called and appointed her”. (1) And at the Communion, the Queen received Our Lord’s Heavenly Body in the Blessed Sacrament.
With that we may compare a very different Eucharist held, during one of the persecutions in the Early Church.
In a time of persecution
This Eucharist was held in the dungeons of the prison at Antioch. There a priest called Lucian and some of his fellow Christians were all fastened with their feet in the stocks. And there, in the darkness, Lucian celebrated their last Eucharist with the bread and wine resting on his chest, and passed the Blessed Sacrament round to them so that they could make their Communion before they died for Our Lord and the Faith. (2)
The Reserved Sacrament
It has been the custom since the early days of the Christian Faith to keep the Blessed Sacrament in a safe in the church, chiefly so that the Sacrament can be taken to people who are ill and so cannot get to church to make their Communion there. Only the consecrated Bread is kept in this way, and it is put in a ciborium, which is a cup that looks like a chalice only it has a lid.
Tabernacle and aumbry
When the safe is on the altar it is called a tabernacle; when it is in the wall near the altar it is called an aumbry. You can always tell where the Blessed Sacrament is kept, or reserved as we say, because a little white light burns near the place. We are very near to Heaven there because, as you know, where the Blessed Sacrament is there is Jesus himself in his Risen and Ascended Body. And so we should try and come into the church during the week to adore Jesus in his Holy Sacrament and pray to him and offer ourselves to him.
Benediction
There is a special service, called Benediction, in which we honour and adore Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. The ciborium containing the Sacrament is placed on the altar, surrounded by many lighted candles, and hymns and prayers are offered to Jesus there present. Then Jesus’ own blessing is given with the Sacrament. The priest holds up the ciborium and with it makes the sign of the Cross over the people. Often, instead of a ciborium, a monstrance is used. This has a glass front through which the Host can be seen.
Importance of reverence
We should always show reverence and love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by going down on one knee (genuflecting) whenever we pass in front of where the Sacrament is kept.
SUMMARY
1. At the Eucharist we should offer our own special prayers and thanksgivings for the people or things in which we are interested.
2. A white light in church shows that the Blessed Sacrament is kept nearby, and we should try and come to say our prayers there to Jesus during the week. We are very close to Heaven there.
3. We should show our reverence and love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by genuflecting (going down on one knee) whenever we pass in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
4. In the service of Benediction we adore Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament and receive his blessing.
Note
It is sometimes suggested that the Blessed Sacrament was not instituted in order to be adored. That is true. It is also true that the Bible was not written to be reverenced. But just as we reverence the Bible because it is the Word of God, so we adore the Blessed Sacrament because that Sacrament is the Word made Flesh who dwells among us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
References
1. Oremus (2002) The Form and Order of Service that is to be performed and the Ceremonies that are to be observed in the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster, on Tuesday, the second day of June, 1953. On-line version prepared by Simon Kershaw. Available from:
http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/coronation/cor1953b.html (Accessed 25 August 2010) (Internet).
2. Dix, G. (1945) The shape of the liturgy, Westminster: Dacre Press.