On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (9). The Summon

P: Pray my Brothers and Sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the almighty Father.

R: (i) May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hand (ii) for the praise and glory of His name (iii) for our good and the good of all His Holy Church.

After the offertory, we stand on the precipice of a seemingly endless spiral stair, like the scroll which no human can open (Rev 5: 4) and unto the floors which leads to the clouds of unknowing.

‘May the Lord accept the sacrifice…’

A wasted gentile that I am, I discovered this Eucharistic journey as that within the summit of a history of works and sacrifices, of which neither me nor my ancestors have done much to build. 

The culmination of the toils of the Patriarchs, from Abel, to Abraham, to Jacob, to every Israelite great and small, is that which I have found myself, as its unworthy beneficiary in time, where everything happens because of me, simply and fast, as lightning (Mt 24:27), until we lose its sense of its awe.

Much reverenced and dreaded are the non-Christian rituals, because they are more adept at manifesting their potency; but a dying bull kicks the hardest, an empty barrel makes the most sound. Gravity may bully, but it is the weakest of the 4 universal forces. The real God’s strength is foolishness, because it manifests in simplicity and humility Its potency is as gentle as silence. 

‘For the Praise and glory of His name…’

The Kingdom of God is not ‘till thy kingdom come’. It is a praise and glory which happens in time. The Lord does always accept the sacrifice from His People, but we little know what we have come unto (Heb 12: 22-24). 

What goes around comes around, the praise and glory of His name that we pray for adds nothing unto Him. The Lord’s motive for acceptance of the sacrifice, of the praise and glory of His name, lies in the fact ‘that we may see! (Lk 18:41)’. Awe is the pedestal of the spiral stair leading to the cloud of unknowing!

‘…Our good and the good of all His Holy Church'

A Priest sacrifices God for a people and mirrors the privileged site and scene that supersedes where we have ever been, what we have ever seen and what we have ever done. 

As I stood by the door leading to the endless spiral stair, I did not see God, I did not see Christ, I only saw Father (So and so) who represents a materialism that fades further into the spirit, the farther that I climb the stairs in response to his summon. 

No man is an island, the further we would go with the Priest along this stair, the clearer we shall see that ‘ I am we’ , ‘you are us’ and only the Church is real!

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (8). Offertory, and the Biddings of the Faithful.

When Creed becomes real in us, charity grows, even to the point of selling all for a treasure worth our life (Mt13:44). 

In the Eucharist, the fellowship of His sufferings lies within the contributory works of mercy arising from bidding prayers and offertory(Phil3:10). 

It is therefore proper that this gestures of Spiritual and Corporal Charity (works of mercy) follow that of the Creed, where we make our mustard contribution to the great Eucharistic miracle of mercy.

Our Christmas is as good as our Advent; Our Easter is as good as our Lent, and our Eucharistic benefit is as good as the humility in our Kyrie, the faith in our Credo, and the love within our bidding prayers and Offertory.

Who has never faced struggled regarding how much to drop into the offertory bag? When we are tempted to be calculative about offertory, or callous with bidding prayers,did we give in?

The clarity of our Credo determines the bounty of our Offertory and the gesture of our offertory is a reflection of quality of our faith. Creed is our faith, Offering is our love (2Cor9:6). Only a Faith animated by charity leads us into the heavenly realm of the Eucharist. 

From a clear Creed is born the awareness that, money may belong to Caesar, but Caesar belongs to God (Mk12:17). Letting go of money is a great reflection about the extent we can sacrifice self (Lk14:33). The more we let go of mammon, the more we understand the treasures within the Eucharistic realm, until we find the pearl of great price (Mt13:46). 

Even thus knowing, forcing an act of generosity on another is a devilish act , often making the last state worse than the first in the person (Lk 11:26). Gentle admonition is what provokes conversion and spontaneous giving, not harsh cajoling .

Our giving at offertory is work, work (with Faith) is what creates, and this work also manifests in the entire liturgical actions of sound responses, audible songs and participatory services during Mass. These are the greatest works we may ever do on earth (Jn 6:27).

Our toils and sweats are what our money represent , and a collegial giving of these finds an ultimate unity in the one bread of the Eucharist, for it is from money that the wheat for the Eucharistic bread and fruit of the Eucharistic wine, which are offered to God, are procured, which then becomes the constituent of our Lord and savior: the Bread of Life (Jn6:35). 

It’s myopic to be stingy at Mass; what goes around comes around. The strength of the Eucharist is in the love with which we offer ourselves in our money. The pure love we give becomes infinitely less  than the mercy that we receive. An exchange we can never regret. 

And henceforth in the room, the baton of the journey lies entirely within the control of the Spirit...

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (7). The Apostles’ and Nicene Creed

Moving through with and in the spirit of the Word, we arrive at what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard and what has not entered the heart of man (1Cor 2:9) by faith, so we pray the Apostles or Nicene Creed. 

The Eucharistic room has got many doors, but the one huge gateway that leads to the other doors of the final phase of our journey is the Creed. 

On Easter Sunday we renewed our vows, but instead of saying the Creed we recant the devil and affirm the Divine, rhythmically and rhetorically responding ‘I do’ to the questions from the Priest. 

As in marriage, so also of faith: from a callous 'I do' runs the danger non-realisation of the basis upon which our entire destiny depends. How, many ‘I dos’ have suffered from a 

non-realisation of the consequences of non-compliance. Faithful vows are at an all-time low in history!

The temptation surrounding the Creed comes from a recitation by rote. Without grasping the potency and protection behind a faith that is not abstract but real (Heb 11:1), the door leading into the Eucharistic channel where heaven resides may be left shut.

The Creed constitutes the profound mystery surrounding our faith. It is the summary of mercy which is the covenant of our eternal salvation, it is the pass-code which justifies and allows us access into the serene realm and destination of our journey (Rm 5:1). 

Mean what you say in the Creed, and the devil gnashes and howls, but flies away in anger from you. Do not mean what you say and you become its sport and it tears you into pieces through the vicissitudes of life. Say it not at all and you are given a fake cuddle which neither gives peace but keeps you eternally fighting on the side of the big liar.

The Creed is potent and it makes us strong, it bestows on us power and grace. When we are tempted to fear, let us pray the Creed. When we feel the dreadful force of evil, let us recite the creed. The Creed protects against the evil one. Let us say it, mean it, believe it, live it and be part of this winning exodus to the Promised Land.

The Creed is a profession of a reality from timelessness, through timeliness, into the thankfulness of a merciful journey and a positive destiny. Let us recite the Creed, not callously or carelessly, but carefully and ceaselessly until we reach the fruitful abode of mercy, I do not say only in eternity, but even in time at the Eucharist!

Faith without work is dead. The Creed is eternally potent, yet very impotent without the energy of the mystery of what comes next (Jm 2: 26): The gestures of a collegial prayer and an offering made from a cheerful and free heart.

Happy Easter!

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (6). The Word Liturgy .

Eternity is so very far away. To arrive at eternity, we need an infinity. But eternity is reachable, for it takes a Word to get there. I do not say only in the after-life, but even here in time.

How lofty this Word is, so potent to move us to eternity, so soothing, so healing, so enlightening. A force greater than anything. Born, not created, and yet the source of all creation. The same Word which is simply read and chanted from the lectern, that soundly pronounced and proclaimed from the pulpit: Christ, who was, is, will be, which flows with life, as the water trickling from the southern side of the temple (Ez 47: 1 -12); the same water begging to fill in the Samaritan woman (Jn 4: 5 -42), is, for our sake, also begging to blossom and be incarnated in us. This Word doesn’t die (Mt 24: 35), we do if we do not believe.

This Word, spoken from the pulpit, is that Spirit and Life (Jn 6:63), sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb 4: 12), which still journeys from creation, in time, finding us in scriptural characters -from Adam to Abraham, from Moses to David-, seeking to revive and enlighten the eyes of our minds, to sharpen the reason of our intellect, to strengthen the might of our will and to purify the scope of our memory; until we are incarnated in his supreme manhood and godhead, Christ the Lord.

The Word still works, for love is a verb. And this Love is what we lack, or we shall see how possible and easy it is to incarnate every possible idea and to journey from life to life.

The infinity we need, to create, is the love of one who is infinite. And who can attain infinite love, but Christ? Our love may be an impediment to freedom, but our faith in him would be an alibi; a faith leveraged on his love, so much so, that a mustard of it is capable to move mountains (Mt: 17: 20). How better measure a mustard faith, if not in the capability of a humility derived from Mary?

The Eucharist is a journey of eternity and I discovered I had to move on, and I wondered where to? Discovering the treasures surrounding the Word Liturgy makes us want to stay. No wonder many a holy gathering stop short at this. And what would be discovered next is about what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard and that which has not entered the heart of man… (1Cor 2:9)

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (5). The 3 Most Ignored Dialogues The Collect. Prayer over Offerings. Prayer after Communion.

That there may not be a repeat of same sentiments later, these 3 most ignored dialogues - occurring at various stages of the Eucharist- have been grouped as a single thought herein.

The devil is in the details. The devil’s strength at preventing the potency of the Eucharistic value lies in distractions to the details of these 3 short, precise and potent prayers: The Collect, Prayer over Offerings and Prayer after Communion.

Who is it that has not had his mind distracted out from these interludes, book read prayers that act as fulcrums and milestones, signalling the next phase of our Eucharistic journey, where faith brings the future to the present for the few discerning and listening minds?

Who, like an ‘O yes’ Member, has not thoughtlessly responded ‘amen’ to these discourses out of which only the sages know the efficacy of such mustard prayers, said within the one true holy, catholic and apostolic church, Christ’s body on earth?

Perhaps we are distracted because we regard these prayers as either not contemporaneous or detailed enough to reflect the pressing motives of our modern longings. But it is here, where dialogues in time opens the heart of eternity.

The potency of these short discourses lie in their collegiality and universality; here, eternity communes with time and speaks of a positive destiny for he who is able to grasp them.

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (4). Gloria!

Happy is he whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered Ps 32:1.

This is what happens when atrocities are undeservedly forgiven: Happiness!

Having purged ourselves within the threshold of Signum Crucis, and having passed through the Confiteor’s door, we enter the Gloria room where we behold an interlock of heavenly spirits and a first foretaste of the joy and activity of heaven.

We become absorbed in the Trinity, and with all heavenly hosts we sing praises to God in worship, thanksgiving and adoration. Gloria is what they do in heaven. The Divine dance, Gloria is a waltz with God. How the trumpet should blast, and the bell should ring, and the drum should roll at every Mass in which the Gloria is sung!

How tepid our hearts are, how tepid. We see nothing and feel nothing of this unison of the abode of glory. While some display only an external gesture, leaving one to wonder if anything is left of a deep awe which this reality should provoke; Others remain nonchalant, with neither movement nor singing -as if bored, and awaiting the period to sit- aloof from the wonder which we all struggle to catch.

Gloria is an experience of the heart. We see and feel it deeply in the recess of our being. It is a worship in spirit and in truth (Jn 4: 24). It is heaven, it is salvation, it is happiness, it is what takes place within the household of God. Our hearts should dance more than our body, for this is entirely a spiritual scene.

We enter heaven and we experience something more than a banquet, something akin to a jamboree, but a jamboree of the heart where we are awed by the Trinitarian Person of God.

It is no wonder why the Church has paused the Gloria in favour of a long Confiteor during Lent, to show that it is ‘not yet Uhuru’, and that within the great Lent of this age, we can catch a glimpse of His glory in the great Gloria at Easter.

And I soon experienced this at Mass: For I thought Gloria was the summit, until I realised the house I entered had become a journey, and I had to move on.

On the Eucharist: Thoughts from the Pew (3). Confiteor

From the threshold of the Sign of the Cross we enter through into the straight door of the Confiteor.

How laden with danger and judgement the whole Eucharistic journey is without a proper and truthful individual Confiteor, and yet how distracted and unengaged we become against this responsibility at Mass.

Not him, not her, not anyone, but through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!

Our ‘Mea Culpa’ becomes otherwise perilous and nothing but a vain service - with neither remorse nor transgressional disdain - when we do not live the spirit and truth of this act of contrition.

While we are spared the embarrassment of public penitence, we should not lessen the necessity to complement our sincere confession to the Father with that to our Brothers and Sisters at Mass. We are, after all a society of sinners.

Responsibility of our sinfulness is the gateway to the fruitfulness of the Eucharist. What perilous path that we expose ourselves without this truth!

How extremely beneficial the office of the Blessed Virgin is in mastering this science of our sinfulness and disproportion in the face of the loftiness of the Eucharistic journey. The Blessed Virgin reveals the truth of our nothingness, littleness and lowliness. The way up is down, and Mary is that down personified.

There are two sides to the love and truth of the Eucharist: It is that of Judgement and of Mercy. Morality cannot be our escape, our alibi is in cultivating a proper attitude, where we can look at our rottenness with courage, and without denial or despair, by the Confiteor’s gate.

The Sacrament of Penance should be multiplied. It is an efficacious act of exorcism. It’s got two big children at Mass: The Confiteor and the Agnus Dei.

It is at Penance that we learn to live and not to shy away from the Paradox within which we are saved.