to the best of his ability

This famous passage from the First Apology of St. Justin Martyr reflects the way the Eucharist was celebrated in Rome about 150 AD, only about 55 years after the last New Testament books. It makes clear several important things:

1) the Eucharist was interpreted in a very realistic way in the early church

2) it was the principal, weekly worship celebration of the Christian Church

3) it took place on Sunday, not on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath

4) the meaning of the Eucharist and manner of its celebration was handed down by the apostles.

Monsignor Smith

No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true, unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the principles given us by Christ.

We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Savior became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.

The apostles, in their recollections, which are called gospels, handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do. They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup, he gave thanks and said: This is my blood. The Lord gave this command to them alone. Ever since then we have constantly reminded one another of these things. The rich among us help the poor and we are always united. For all that we receive we praise the Creator of the universe through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members, whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time. When the reader has finished, the president of the assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we all stand up together and pray.

On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give assent by saying, “Amen”. The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who are absent.

The wealthy, if they wish, may make a contribution, and they themselves decide the amount. The collection is placed in the custody of the president, who uses it to help the orphans and widows and all who for any reason are in distress, whether because they are sick, in prison, or away from home. In a word, he takes care of all who are in need.

We hold our common assembly on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the day on which God put darkness and chaos to flight and created the world, and because on that same day our savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For he was crucified on Friday and on Sunday he appeared to his to his apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we have passed on for your consideration.

Aliens no longer

One frequently finds articles and stories online about how hard it is for poor kids who have been admitted to Ivy League or other high-end, prestigious universities.  Despite the financial assistance they receive, it is not enough to afford them everything they need, much less make it possible for them to keep up materially and experientially with those kids from affluent families.  The universities, confronted with their discomfiture, promise to do even more.

Personally, I was more fortunate.  My parents had the means and the willingness to pay my tuition and fees.  I had to work to pay my other living and recreational expenses.  Even so, I could not dream of doing or having what the affluent kids at my school enjoyed.  My dad came from no financial means at all.  He worked and earned everything it took all the way through a dozen years of grad school, by the end of which he had a wife, a house, and three kids.  Even then, it was nonetheless an example of not being able to afford everything you need.

In hindsight, I do not consider myself deprived, though at the time there may have been some lament.  Everybody notices what others have that they do not.  When I hear stories of college students’ suffering, I recall my own experience, which makes me want to holler at them:  Of course you don’t have everything you want or need!  Of course you resent those who do have it!   Of course this causes friction in your relationships and disappointment in your lot!

Not only material things cause this friction and disappointment.  The same effect comes from the inevitable human shortfall in physical appearance and ability; social skills, friends, and relationships; academic and leadership ability; and even families – especially if there be a lack of loving parents who are still married to one another.  Aware of what we lack, we see or presume that others have it.  The result is a separation among people, a perceived distance of experience and expectation that leads to resentment and envy.  

It is a short and logical step from experiencing this universal insufficiency and disappointment to thinking that one is being willfully or programmatically deprived.  The groaning students contrive, or are instructed by reporters, politicians, or professors, that this grief and sadness is somebody’s fault, an intentional privation, a contrived and imposed privation, perhaps on the basis of disability, ethnicity, sex, or some other such identity.  Friction develops into accusation and conflict.

But this alienation is characteristic, even symptomatic of the human experience; the wealthy, handsome, and successful themselves do not escape it.  It is the result and evidence of original sin; we all experience it.  No program or payment can level this playing field or equalize this balance.  No human effort can eliminate the distance and disappointment that grows between souls. 

There is only one place where such alienation is itself completely alien, and that is the inmost being of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Nothing is withheld, everything is offered, all is received and gratitude returned.  This is perfect love, lived, offered, and sustained.  This is what we lack.

Everything that the Father has is mine, says the Lord to His disciples in the course of His farewell.  In withdrawing, He promises the coming of the Spirit, who will take from what is mine and declare it to you; that is, nothing that belongs to God will be withheld from them.  It is all theirs – ours – for the receiving.  

The unspeakable mystery of the Holy Trinity is no arcane point of theology, but the ground of our being, and its goal.  God alone withholds nothing.  To allow the Spirit of Truth (to) guide (us) to all truth is be rescued from our alienation from God, from our true selves, and from one another.

Monsignor Smith

Pentecostal parish

Tongues, as of fire

It moves around so much, it has no fixed position in our lives.  It invariably comes at a busy time of our year and of our lives, when the seasons are changing and our schedules are changing.  Pentecost is hard to lay holt of.

But Pentecost, the fiery, windy, wordy work of the Holy Spirit unleashed and poured out as promised is both reminder and renewal.  The moment the Apostles went from cowering in their chambers and in their fear, to confronting and converting the same populace that had crucified the Lord is a historical moment of beginning.  It is also an initiation and indication of the work He will do through, with, and in us by the same power He displayed then.

The Spirit of God is poured into His Church and into us to animate us.  Anima is the same word as spirit and soul.  Our Spirit is filled with and conformed to the Spirit of God, immortal, eternal, and active in the world.  No wonder our cup overflows!

The Spirit inspires (you see it in that word?  In-spire?) the Church to be the Church, that is the presence of Christ Jesus on earth, and the activity of that same Jesus on earth and in our time.  What the Apostles did that day – speak to the crowds of Jesus and bring about repentance and belief – is exactly what Jesus by the agency of His Church will do thenceforth and for all time.  They who were afraid have no more fear.  They will cure the sick, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead as signs of the Divine life that they both enjoy and offer.  By this does Christ reach and change the world.

This is what we commemorate, and this is also what we anticipate.  This is the alternative to fear, the remedy for both inaction and activism, and the confidence that comes of acting in concert with One who never fails.  Veni sancte spiritus!

This divine action that informs and inflames our identity as the Holy Church of God is named and claimed as a mystery commemorated in the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The third of the Glorious Mysteries, it is scheduled at least every Wednesday and Sunday and comes whenever that triumphant cycle from Resurrection to Coronation is invoked.  

Since the weather has improved, and the daylit hours lengthened, I have been taking more walks, and longer.   The burble of the creek by the path is enhanced by the rhythmic rumble of the rosary prayed as aerobic and spiritual exercise.  Why stop after just one cycle, when the path winds on ahead and the earbuds offer only enclosure?

Some of the decades go to occasional dedications, to needs of the moment or the day.  Some others are recurring, frequent flyers if you will: the Pope, my mother, priests in difficulty.  One of these invariable offerings is the Third Glorious, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost, and without deviation I offer that for the intentions of you, this parish.  You didn’t think I thought it all depended on me, did you?

Fire, wind, and even sometimes rain from heaven are all similes for the same saving Spirit not only falling but also landing, not only being poured but also filling, not just being given but being welcomed and received.  All could bring destruction, but instead bring life, help, and strength.  This is my prayer for you, for us in this place where we huddle together, not for fear but for nourishment.  

Not only the festival, but also the Spirit Himself is always moving.  This day and every day may the same Spirit of God be the heat and light in our lives, and the refreshment we both require and offer.  Come Holy Ghost!

Monsignor Smith