Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 17, 2021 - Saturday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 12:37-42 and Matt 12:14-21]The children of Israel set out from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting the little ones. A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them, besides their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds. Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened, they baked it into unleavened loaves. They had rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunity even to prepare food for the journey. [Exodus]
I decided to do a bit of research in regard to unleavened bread and the liturgy and discovered the principal reason why the Latin rite of the Church, the one most of my readers belong to, and the Eastern Rites (there's a bunch of them and some of them DO use unleavened bread) differ on this subject. The separate traditions arise from separate understandings of the Eucharist. The Latin rite cites early church fathers in regard to the practice of using unleavened bread in remembrance of the Exodus. We celebrate this particular aspect on Holy Thursday. The Eastern rites (Byzantine, Ukrainian, Melkite, etc.) see the Eucharist principally as the celebration of a NEW covenant and so they celebrate the "new leavening" of Christ. However, it has to be emphasized that while each rite of the church has its own understanding of the broad significance of the Eucharist, all share the belief in the transformation (or "transubstantiation") of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Each rie strives to be faithful to its own Tradition and traditions. For Latin rite Catholics, this means unleavened wheat bread and grape wine. Gluten-free hosts are permissible, but not hosts made from rice flour, etc.. The questions could go on forever! One wonders what the Lord thinks of all of this, but we who continue the mission of preaching the gospel need to be faithful to our particular traditions while acknowledging the others with proper respect. AMEN