Corpus Christi
Jun. 12, 2009 by hweidner
The post title is the old name of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ that was celebated in some countries this past Thursday and in the US and France to be celebrated Sunday. During Holy Week I met an evangelical Protestant who for some reason right off the bat insisted on telling me that in his church they did not believe that Christ was present in the bread and grape juice used to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. I said, “You mean that Christ is absent?” And he said, “Yes.” That is the first time I ever met a Protestant of any kind who believed that Christ was ABSENT in his church’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Of course, he must have been taken off guard by my question because he would have had to have said that Christ is present whenever Christians gather and, in fact, Christ is present in many different circumstances. It is the presence of Christ that unites Christians and is the basis of dialogue. In this case, the emphasis on a difference led to something quite unintended, if not actually absurd.
I hope this feast day brings us to realize that the other side (Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Christian, Roman) can sometimes scandalize and lead to misinterpretations also. Christ is SACRAMENTALLY and really present in the Eucharist but not physically present. It is a real presence and his Body and Blood are present sacramentally and really. It seems strange to say a Body is present without talking of physically present but to do otherwise is to involve us in cannibalism and miss the point of sacramentality. And of course, under the appearances of bread and wine, Christ is present in each species whole and entire as he is NOW so that circumstances that might prevail so that either cup or host cannot be received, still the whole Christ is received. It is just more faithful to the intentions of the Lord to receive under both forms, but not absolutely necessary and certainly not in order to receive the whole Christ. All this is in the Baltimore Catechism but word is slow getting around!
