Word to the Wise
Monday, September 18, 2006 - ST. JUAN MACIAS (Dominican who was a contemporary of St. Martin de Porres and St. Rose of Lima)
[1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33 and Luke 7:1-10]For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes!
Those words should be familiar to most of us since we occasionally recite them after the consecration at Eucharist as one of the "proclamations." St. Paul uses them as part of a "scolding" that he gives the Corinthians on the way they behave at the celebration of the Eucharist. He makes a number of points that are good reminders for us all. First of all, there is no social distinction to be made at Eucharist. No one is more important than another. Each may have a different role to play, but those roles are not based on wealth or social class. Secondly, the celebration of the Eucharist is a sacred event and not a picnic! St. Paul recites the "tradition" that was taught to him about how the Eucharist is to be celebrated. Since this letter was written not much more than 20-25 years after the death of Jesus, it is clear that the community had already begun to "formalize" the gathering to break the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Jesus! In our own time (or at least in MINE), I have seen the celebration of the Eucharist go from an extremely formal and rigidly structured action by a priest who did everything, to a less formal (but still structured!) celebration which allows for a much fuller participation of all who attend. Some lament loudly that we have lost our sense of the sacredness of the event because of "the changes". I personally believe that when the Eucharist is properly celebrated, no matter where it is celebrated, it will carry with it the sense of the sacred. I also admit that on a few occasions I have had to appeal to the folks in the pew in the same way St. Paul did to remember the nature of the event and behave accordingly. Perhaps seeing as we do in today's scripture that some of the challenges we experience in realizing the full meaning of the Eucharist in its liturgical expression are very old challenges may help us to renew our own efforts to celebrate with dignity and without stiff formality. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
65 ms
4
