7 (of 7) AVATAR Apr. 8, 1987 at 18:15 Eastern (15518 characters) LESSON SIX THE DIVINE LITURGY: COMMUNION TO DISMISSAL It's odd, in a way, that at this point there is so little that can be said. The Eucharist is the point at which, I think, true Christians, followers of Christ, find unnecessary the words of explanation, since the magnitude of the mystery will always elude explanations comprehensible to human intellect, and on the other hand those hearts already attuned to oneness with Christ will no longer need explanations. Analogous, in a way, to the young man in California who once wondered how he'd know when a major earthquake was under way. "You'll know," someone said. "You'll know." So far, during the Liturgy, we have, with the grace of God and the guidance of the Church, purged our hearts and cleansed our souls of impurities and uncleanness; we have, again through the grace of God and the guidance of the Church, begun to fill our minds with the Word of God, through the Epistles the Gospels (and, when appropriate, the homilies); We have, through the ceremonies of preparation, begun to prepare our souls to receive the Coming of the Incarnate Word of God, in much the same way as the People of God were to have prepared themselves for the Coming of the Redeemer. At the Little Entrance, we had presented to us the Divine Redeemer, as he had left Nazareth and begun His public ministry, and with Him presented His Word, His Teaching, His Good News/Gospel. With the Great Entrance we began to prepare for that Grand Sacrifice of Calvary, wherein Christ offered the perpetual sacrifice of Himself....and we prepared to join ourselves to that offering in offering ourselves alongside Him, symbolically placing ourselves complete and in our entirety upon the paten raised to us as the priest turns around during the Great Entrance and holds it out to us....we offered ourselves, our joys, our pleasures, our abilities, our weaknesses, our sufferings, our sins, our virtues - literally *everything* that made us who and what we were, so that all of that could be transformed in Christ, made one with Him, and offered by Him as part of His Mystical Body to His Father in perpetual adoration, glorification and reparation for the sins of all mankind. So far, during the Liturgy, God has come to man in Jesus Christ, and man has gone to God in Jesus Christ - and now, God is once again about to come to man in Jesus Christ.....but in a staggeringly powerful way. "Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you cannot have life within you," He said. "He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has life eternal." Time and time again, he harped upon the theme. The Bread and Wine offered at the Consecration have been turned by the power of almighty God Himself into the living Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Divine Son - but it was not alone the bread and wine that were converted. It was *everything* that was offered along with it. Those of us who placed ourselves alongside those Gifts have been also subsumed into Christ and become One with Him - in a way much more than symbolic. There is a reality subsisting below the appearances of things which is far more substantial than the existence of matter itself, which is, as every good physicist knows, an ephemeral substance, since "matter" (in the sense we ordinarily think of it, something different from and separate from, energy) does not exist as such. It exists, of course, but only as a manifestation of something deeper and even more fundamental - and invisible.) In the same way, it is foolish to deal with the appearances of things here. The appearances reflect only in the simplest and scantiest way what is actually occurring. It requires the eyes of Faith at this point to grasp - and even then the 'explanations' pale into insignificance. Those whose hearts are one with Christ's will know - and the rest will only wonder. Those whose hearts are one will stand in wonderment. And between the two there is a gulf there is no crossing without the bridge of Faith. Understanding does not lead to faith. It is Faith that leads to understanding. The Gifts have been consecrated. The Bread is no longer bread, the wine no longer wine. We who have placed ourselves alongside the gifts to be transformed into Christ are no longer ourselves. We are no longer single entities, standing alone; we are now, quite literally, "one in Christ," and "standing alone" is an irrelevant concept. Christ is there, adoring His Father, and preparing for His Sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. We are there, not alongside Him any longer, nor even at His Feet - but one WITH Him....preparing to offer in and with Him the same sacrifice, the sacrifice of self for the love of all mankind and for its salvation. The Sacrifice is offered and accepted. Christ (and we) has risen again, symbolized in the Elevation of the Gifts. The tombs have been opened, and mankind is once again heir to the Kingdom of God; and those who were created a little lower than the angels now will sit, one day, on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel - a figure of literature for all those to whom the Kingdom was promised - i.e., mankind itself. And now, we prepare for the Communion. The word derives from the Latin "com - unio," "oneness together," or "together as one." In the Eastern Churches it is commonly called The Eucharist, rather than Communion - the term derives from the Greek "Eucharisto," "I Thank You." The Eucharist is the great act of gratitude - and oddly in a way, as you will see. The Great Prayer of Preparation for the Eucharist (Etaisis, as it is called) is so important that the Church makes us recite it TWICE: once before the Consecration, to prepare for the Coming of Christ upon the Holy Altar, and once more at this point, to prepare us for His Coming into Our Hearts and souls in the Sacrament. The Etaisis itself is followed by the classic prayer, the prayer given us by Christ Himself, the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father. It is used here because of the propriety of its sentiments - praise and glorification of the Father, the wish for the Coming of His Kingdom, for the fulfillment of His Will - and the request that we be granted the gift of Heavenly Bread, the Flesh of Christ. And the prayer which follows is very revealing. It reads, in part: "...Do Thou, then, O Master, give out these offerings to all of us for our good, according to the needs of each one; THROUGH THE GRACE, THE MERCY AND THE LOVE FOR MEN OF THINE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON...." The Prayer of the Elevation, where Holy things are given to the holy: "Look down, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, from Thy holy dwelling place, from the throne of the glory of Thy Kingdom, and come to sanctify us, O Thou who dost sit on high with the Father, and art here invisibly present with us; grant that from Thine Almighty hand there be given to us Thy spotless Body and precious Blood, and, through us, to all the people." Even at the Elevation, we are already looking forward to sharing in that glorious feast. Finally, there follows the Eucharist itself, where we ARE given the Bread of Life and ARE washed in the Blood of Salvation. The priest receives first at the altar, and after having received, he offers this prayer of thanksgiving: "We thank Thee, O loving master of men, benefactor of our souls, for having deigned to have given us this day Thy heavenly and immortal mysteries: make straight our way, strengthen us in the fear of Thee, guard our life, guide our steps, through the prayers and supplications of the Glorious Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary." It may seem odd to some that at this juncture the Blessed Virgin is even mentioned - but one ought to remember, here, the constant tradition of the Church, even from the earliest times, that where one finds Christ, one finds His Mother, never far away, and always sharing in His Mission, always caring for her other children, those for whom her Son became man, died, rose, and ascended into Heaven. And the injunction to "Approach with the fear of God, with faith, and with love!" It is the Body of Christ, Christ in person, and in His Mystical Body, which issues this invitation, not the priest. He is only its voice. The King is here, in person, with all his heavenly court, surrounded by all the angels of heaven, worshiping in adoration, the six- winged Seraphim, the many-eyed Cherubim, hovering around Him, covering their eyes, their feet, and fluttering with the other two wings. Symbolic, of course. But majestic in the symbolism. The *presence* of those angels, however, is *anything* but symbolic. All those already enjoying the Beatific Vision are also there, worshiping with us - and we are about to beme one with them as well, in and through Jesus Christ. Communion is distributed - but consider now what is received. What was once bread is now the Flesh and Blood, Body and Soul, Humanity and Divinity of Christ. What was once no more than a tangled mass of mangled human intentions, weaknesses, virtues, vices (all those things which we offered at the Great Entrance alongside the bread and wine) has *also* been transformed into Christ. What we are now given for our sustenance and nourishment is all of that, transformed. In math class I was taught that "if A is equal to B and C is equal to B, then A is equal to C." A sound mathematical theorem, if ever there was one. We speak often about "unity in Christ," and do so glibly. But I doubt we ever really seriously consider the depth of the statement. It is NOT a figurative one. It is as substantive a statement as to say "the earth exists." "Reality IS." "I am *real*." If, as I have said above, all this has been transformed into Christ and become one with Him, and in His infinite goodness Christ has come to feed us with this substance transformed into Himself, we share, not only in Christ's Own Life - BUT WE SHARE IN ONE ANOTHER. WE *ARE* ONE. We do not simply *seem* to be one. We ARE one! And, should we injure another, it is really ourselves we injure. It is really Christ we injure. Should we slander one another, it is ourselves we slander, it is Christ of whom we lie; if we degrade ourselves in fornication and adultery, it is others we degrade as well as ourselves, it is the Body of Christ which is degraded. If we become proud and arrogant, deceitful, harsh, bitter - it is the Body of Christ, unique and entire that we defile. No one here would consider for a moment desecrating a chalice or an icon. None of you would spit on either, urinate into a chalice or otherwise treat with disrespect those things dedicated to the worship and service of God. How is it, then, that we manage with such reckless and feckless abandon to abuse, defile and desecrate, not so much that and those for which Christ died, but the very Christ Himself, now dead and risen, and all those of us sanctified in and through oneness with Him in this sacrament? For if, in this sacrifice and sacrament of Love, it is God, it is Christ whom we love, it is also ourselves and each other whom we love - because at this point WE ARE ONE WITH HIM AND INSEPARABLE FROM HIM. Christ is ONE, whole, entire, without division, without separation, as is the Trinity. It is no different from that here. The ONLY thing that can separate us one from another or from Christ at this point is sin. And then we are no longer part of Christ. And no longer one with each other through or in Him. A lonely place to be indeed! So much more remains to be said here - and none of it will mean a thing without the eyes of Faith to see or the ears of Faith to hear. So I will pass on here, and leave the rest to your contemplations. The Litany of Thanksgiving, following the Eucharist, is given here in it's entirety because of its great beauty: Arise! Having received the divine, holy, pure, immortal, heavenly, life-giving and fearful mysteries of Christ, let us worthily thank the Lord." For the first time, any thanks we can offer the Lord are *worthy* - because they are no longer OURS, but Christ's. "Help, save, protect us, and have mercy on us, O God, by Thy Grace." A petition for his constant grace and support in the moments and hours to come. A plea not to depart when we fail. "Having prayed that this whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful and without sin, let us commend ourselves, one another, and our whole life to Christ our God." Note particularly the choice of expression..."ourselves, one another, and our whole life" - ourselves is plural, we now can commend others as well as ourselves, and the SINGULAR expression, *our whole life*. We now have, not different lives, not separate lives, but one life. A single life in and through Jesus Christ. We leave the liturgy, no longer separate and separated people as we were when we entered the church and began the liturgy - we leave a single entity, united in and through Jesus Christ, with only ONE life to live. His. The closing prayers of the liturgy are familiar to all those who have visited an Eastern liturgy - the Prayer of the Amvon: "O Christ our God, plenitude of the Law and of the Prophets, who didst fulfill all the Father's Plan, fill our hearts with joy and gladness at all times, now and ever and forevermore. Amen." The Prayer of Dismissal, the Final Blessing and here endeth the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Though the specific rubrics of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom differ from the Tridentine Liturgy of the Roman Rite, the Novus Ordo of the Latin Rite, from the Maronite, Armenian, Coptic, Abyssinian, Malankar, Malbar, Syrian, Chaldaean and other rites of the Church, from any of the other Eastern Liturgies such as that of the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great (though the differences there are not great) and of the Liturgy of Pope St. Gregory the Great, otherwise known as the Liturgy of the Presanctified (which is not a true liturgy, in the sense that it lacks a consecration - consecration is performed at a previous liturgy, hence the term "pre- sanctified"), still the WHATNESS of what has occurred and continues to occur is identical in every "mass" in every rite anywhere it is celebrated in the world, at whatever time, whatever place, whatever, condition, be it Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, Orthodox - anywhere there is a valid priesthood. The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is ONE, not repeated, not multiplied, not symbolic but real, not significatory but substantial, not memorial, but propitiatory, not "commemorative" but redemptive. And effective unto salvation. Next: The place of the Liturgy in Catholic Worship and in the Sacramental System.