Communion Doing and Receiving

The daily newscast or the printed word of the newspaper is not the most reflective place to do theology. Good place or not, the theology enterprise of the Roman Catholic Church in America is once again being attempted in the public forum. We read the headlines or hear the issues on the evening news about the very politicized question about which politicians should or should not have access to Holy Communion within the celebration of the Eucharist.

After reading some articles in the religious press, which is perhaps a bit better place to read and discuss this very intimate issue in the life of the Church, in the far distant recesses of my brain springs the phrase that was part of my training in the seminary. Each lecture on the Sacrament of Penance began with the very largely written words of Saint Augustine: “Pax et communio ecclesiae dimittit peccata.” The priest-professor wisely drew a quick and constant connection with his translation: “The peace and communion of the Church forgives sin.”

In that series of lectures on Penance or Reconciliation the discussion was rooted not in sin and absolution, but in the reality of the Eucharist itself. The “Pax” was more than the greeting which was exchanged before approaching communion, but was the very gathering of the Church itself in Christ. It was the fellowship of the saints having been called and received by the Lord himself. It was the Church gathered. The “communio” was, indeed the reception of the Sacrament, but it was the reality of the way of the life of the People who were called forth to communion fellowship. The Church was they who not only received the Body of Christ, but were the Church, and this Church was transformed into the Body of Christ.

In the celebration of the Eucharist they were and became the Body of Christ for the world. The Word celebrated was a word of invitation. It was a word of forgiveness. The Word which was, in reality, Christ himself, challenged the faithful to be broken and divided for the nourishment and forgiveness of all believers and for all men and women in our world. Communion in this sense was something which is both received and enacted.

Word and Table

In the Second Vatican Council, the liturgical renewal once again asserted the unity of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The gathered community was seen as the first presence of Christ among his people. They were a people called and invited. As they came together, the Word was more intensified: Christ was present in the Word proclaimed and celebrated. The scriptural Word was renewed and emphasized. The homily was to relate our everyday life to the Word just heard.

In the current Roman Rite, the greeting of peace has moved as a ritual of the communion rite. Immediately before the breaking of the bread, the “Pax” is exchanged within the assembled community. The rootedness of that peace is in

Christ himself. In the popular perception of the rite, the Greeting of Peace is seen as a neighborly welcome. Rather, the peace rite is a prayer of blessing in which believers proclaim to one another and impart to one another that peace which is Christ himself. In short, in this preparatory rite the Assembly express a communion founded in Christ himself.

Eucharist: First Reconciliation

Historically the Eucharist was the first place for reconciliation. It was there, with the bishop presiding, that the Church celebrated its oneness and unity in Christ. The Eucharistic celebration was the ordinary way and continues to be the ordinary way to be reconciled in Christ. For this reason, to be separated from the Church was to be “ex-communicated”, not only from Holy Communion, but from the very fellowship of the believers itself. In the days of public penance, those in the Order of Penitents were physically divided from the community. The reason for their separation was that they would be healed and reconciled at an appropriate moment. It was as Father Aidan Kavanagh named the experience, “conversion therapy”. They were separated to be healed.

With time, more private forms of Penance replaced public penance. Following the example of the Irish monks in the fifth and sixth centuries, our present form of confession came to be. The penitent confessed to a confessor, who imposed a suitable penance and, through absolution, reconciled the sinner to the Church. A more private and compassionate form of doing penance came to be normative.

Eating with Sinners

Under our liturgical practices is the healing and reconciling ministry of the Lord himself. In the scriptures we constantly hear of the Lord’s preference for sinful and broken people. He ate and he drank with them. Luke’s gospel, which we are currently reading, speaks of the universality of the Kingdom for all people, especially the poor and the sinful.

In our believing fellowship we celebrate being a Kingdom People. We are called from our sinfulness to forgiveness. The Word proclaimed is a statement of the forgiving action of the Father in Christ. We eat and we drink in memory of the Lord’s saving death and rising. In keeping his memory, which we do not do lightly, we become by the action of the Spirit the Body of Christ which we share at the Lord’s Table.

Come to the Mystery

We are blessed with an invitation to come to that mystery which is Christ. We are invited to a way of Wisdom. “And wisdom has built herself a house....she has prepared a Table.” In our sinfulness all of us are called as the disciples in John’s gospel: “Come and see”. We are worthy only by the call of grace, by the reconciling Word, and the action of the Spirit. “Happy are those who are called to his supper”. Can we be happy at the universal call to the Kingdom Table in Christ?

CDH