Eucharist - Tumblr Posts
The Last Supper
There was a day last year when I was baking a loaf of bread which was a particularly enchanting sort of moment.
I don’t know if y’all have baked bread before, but a freshly baked loaf is really a thrill to the senses. You’ll experience its intoxicating fragrance first while it’s still in the oven. Then you’ll notice the the color, the gradient of pale to golden brown to even an almost caramelized ear if the scoring went well. Then you’ll notice the tactile crisp exterior that still has some give to it (as well as being very hot). If it’s quiet, you can even hear it crackling like Rice Krispy Treats. And finally you get to experience the rich flavor with a mix of fluffy interior and crusty exterior.
I was taking in all of that and said to myself, “this is truly a marvelous sort of thing to experience.”
And a few seconds later, my next thought was…
“I’ve never marveled at the Eucharist like this. Not anywhere close.”
It was a humbling sort of realization. The bread I made seemed like a miracle more than the Miracle we witness at every Mass. I try to think about that bread every time I receive our Lord to remind myself to foster that same sense wonder and amazement at the Bread of Angels.
Today we celebrate Corpus Christi - the Body & Blood of Christ. At every Mass, our Lord becomes really present on the altar under the appearance of mere bread & wine. We approach that altar worthily to receive Him into our body and to be received into His. I think the real significance and gravity of that can be forgotten sometimes.
Let’s give thanks for that daily, supersubstantial Bread which has been given to us, and grow in wonder & love for it. Happy Corpus Christi :)
"Here, in the Sacrament of the Altar, Thou art wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus; where also the fruit of eternal salvation is plentifully reaped, as often as Thou art worthily and devoutly received.
And to this we are not drawn by any levity, curiosity, or sensuality; but by a firm faith, a devout hope, and a sincere charity.
O God, the invisible Maker of the world, how wonderfully dost Thou deal with us! How sweetly and graciously dost Thou order all things in favor of Thine elect, to whom Thou offerest Thyself to be received in this Sacrament!
For this exceeds all understanding of man; this in a particular manner engages the hearts of the devout, and enkindles their love.
For Thy true faithful, who dispose their whole life to amendment, by this most worthy Sacrament, frequently receive a great grace of devotion and love of virtue."
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
"Stand fast, brethren, in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in His love, in His passion, and in His resurrection. Do ye all come together in common, and individually, through grace, in one faith of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ His only-begotten Son, and "the first-born of every creature," but of the seed of David according to the flesh, being under the guidance of the Comforter, in obedience to the bishop and the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which prevents us from dying, but a cleansing remedy driving away evil, [which causes] that we should live in God through Jesus Christ."
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians
"The most devout King David danced before the ark of God with all his might (2 Kings 6:14), commemorating the benefits bestowed in times past on the fathers. He made musical instruments of sundry kinds; he published psalms, and appointed them to be sung with joy; he himself likewise often sang them, playing upon his harp, inspired with the grace of the Holy Ghost. He taught the people of Israel to praise God with their whole heart, and to join their voices in blessing and magnifying Him every day.
If such great devotion was then used, and such remembrance of the praise of God before the Ark of the Covenant, how great ought to be the reverence and devotion which I and all Christian people should have in the presence of this Sacrament, and in receiving the most excellent Body of Christ!"
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
"Thou commandest me to approach to Thee with confidence if I would have part with Thee; and to receive the food of immortality if I desire to obtain life and glory everlasting.
"Come," sayest Thou to me, "all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." (Matt 11:28)
O sweet and amiable word in the ear of a sinner, that Thou, O Lord my God, shouldst invite the poor and needy to the Communion of Thy most sacred Body!"
"In this Sacrament [of Holy Eucharist] is conferred spiritual grace; lost virtue is repaired in the soul; and beauty disfigured by sin returns again.
And so great sometimes is this grace that from the abundance of the devotion that is bestowed, not only the mind, but the frail body also feels a great increase of strength.
Yet it is so much to be lamented and pitied that we should be so lukewarm and negligent as not to be drawn with greater affection to the receiving of Christ, in whom consists all the hope and merit of those that shall be saved.
For he is our sanctification and our redemption; He is our comfort in our pilgrimage, and the eternal beatitude of the saints.
It is therefore much to be lamented that many esteem so lightly this saving mystery which rejoices Heaven and preserves the whole world."
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
"Thanks be to Thee, O good Jesus, our eternal Shepherd, Who hast vouchsafed to feed us poor exiles with Thy precious Body and Blood, and to invite us to the receiving these mysteries with the very words of Thine Own mouth, saying "Come to me all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you." (Matt 11:28)
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
"A wonderful thing it is, and worthy of faith, and exceeding all human understanding, that Thou, O Lord my God, true God, and true man, art contained whole & entire under a small form of bread & wine, and without being consumed, art eaten by the receiver.
Thou the Lord of all things, Who standest in need of no one, hast been pleased by this Sacrament to dwell in us.
Preserve my heart and my body without stain, that with a joyful and clean conscience I may be able often to celebrate Thy sacred mysteries, and to receive for my eternal salvation what Thou hast principally ordained and instituted for Thine honor and perpetual remembrance.
Rejoice, O my soul, and give thanks to thy God for so noble a gift, and so singular a comfort left to thee in this vale of tears.
For as often as thou repeatest this mystery, and receivest the Body of Christ, so often dost thou celebrate the work of thy redemption, and art made partaker of all the merits of Christ.
For the charity of Christ is never diminished, and the greatness of His propitiation is never exhausted.
Therefore oughtest thou to dispose thyself for this, by perpetually renewing the vigor of thy mind, and to weigh with attentive consideration this great mystery of thy salvation.
And as often as thou sayest or hearest Mass, it ought to seem to thee as great, new, and delightful as if Christ that same day, first descending into the Virgin's womb, had been made man; or hanging on the cross, was suffering and dying for the salvation of mankind."
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
True Peace
The Sign of Jonah: Christ’s Death at Sea
By Eli Kittim
Jonah is the English form of the Hebrew name Yona, which is rendered as Ionas in the Greek. The Ionians were the ancient Greeks (see Josephus Antiquities I, 6). So Ionia means Greece, and an ancient citizen of Ion was called Ionas. So Jonah (Ionas), who is a type of Christ, is depicted as a Greek figure. Let us not forget that Jonah was going to Tarshish, which has been identified as Ancient Greece (see the undermentioned article).
What is more, it seems as if the sign of Jonah is a typological metaphor for Christ’s death and resurrection that is employed by the evangelists in order to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah. But, as I will show, it also represents an event in prophetic history, although this has not as yet taken place. In the gospel narrative, Matthew connects Jesus’ death to that of Jonah, after the latter’s body was cast into the sea. Matthew 12:39-40 (NASB) reads thusly:
“An evil and adulterous generation craves a
sign; and so no sign will be given to it except
the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as
Jonah was in the stomach of the sea
monster for three days and three nights, so
will the Son of Man be in the heart of the
earth for three days and three nights.”
We find analogous parallels and motifs in the Psalms as well. For example, Psalm 69:1-2 reads:
“Save me, God, For the waters have
threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mud,
and there is no foothold; I have come into
deep waters, and a flood overflows me.”
Similarly, Psalm 18:16 says:
“He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.”
Ephesians 4:9 says that Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth.” That is, he descended to the ocean floor. The average depth of the ocean floor is approximately 12,000 feet. So, Matthew is drawing comparative conclusions between Jonah’s and Jesus's death at sea. Let’s see what happened to Jonah. Jonah 1:15-17 says:
“So they picked up Jonah and hurled him
into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
… And the Lord designated a great fish to
swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the
stomach of the fish for three days and three
nights.”
The typological sign of the resurrection is suggested in Jonah 2:10:
“Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it
vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.”
This, then, is the sign of Jonah——which says in effect that God literally “drew … [him] out of many waters”——that Matthew applies to Jesus (cf. Isaiah 43:2)! This is reminiscent of another messianic type who was named “Moses” by Pharaoh's daughter “because … [she] drew him out of the water” (Exod. 2:10). It is also the sign of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I will not focus on the phrase “three days and three nights” because it will divert us from the topic at hand. Suffice it to say that it need not refer to a literal three-day period. It seems to be a figure of speech that may signify the three-year great tribulation period.
At any rate, the so-called “sign of Jonah” is not simply a metaphor or a unique sign that would establish the deity of Christ, but it is also a factual event! And although I agree with C.S. Lewis who held that Jonah is ahistorical, nevertheless, I believe that the sign of Jonah, as a type, represents the literal, actual death of its antitype: the Messiah! We know that Jonah did not survive. The Book of Jonah 2:2-6 explicitly says that Jonah, after being hurled into the sea, cried out to God “from the depth of Sheol”:
“I called out of my distress to the Lord, And
He answered me. I called for help from the
depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. For You
threw me into the deep, Into the heart of the
seas, And the current flowed around me. All
Your breakers and waves passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your
sight.’ … Water encompassed me to the
point of death. The deep flowed around me,
Seaweed was wrapped around my head. …
But You have brought up my life from the
pit, Lord my God.”
It’s important to note that the terms “pit” and “Sheol,” in the Hebrew Bible, are references to the realm of the dead (see e.g. Job 7:9; Ps. 49:14-15; 89:48). The resurrection is depicted in Jonah’s own words: “You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.”
So it appears as if the sign of Jonah is also the sign of Christ’s death. Just as Tim Mackie (co-founder of the Bibleproject) explains in one of his sessions that there is a literary redundancy of the word “hurled” in the Jonah text, especially regarding its main character Jonah who is literally “hurled” into the water, I believe that Christ is similarly “hurled” into the water and eaten by a shark. Hence the symbolism of being born in a manger or a feeding trough. This, of course, is closely related to the last supper (i.e. the sacrament of the Eucharist), the idea that Jesus is literally consumed. There are also overtones of Noah's flood in this parallel (cf. Matthew 24:37), as well as of Osiris, who also drowned and whose coffin (like the Ark) floated in the sea (cf. the story of Perseus who was also cast into the sea in a wooden chest).
Another key point is that, according to the Hebrew text, Jonah's fish is not a whale but rather some kind of “great fish". Through special revelation, this appears to be a shark. And the term “swallow”——in the clause, “the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah”——is a euphemism for a great fish feasting on Jonah and consequently fatally injuring him. This, of course, ties in with the idea that we die and are reborn by going under water (Immersion baptism), a symbolic ritual that is unique to Christianity! Hence why Immersion baptism is not only tied to Jonah but is also symbolic of Christ’s death, being re-enacted in the New Testament through the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist!
This study of Jonah takes us back to the origin of the Christian fish symbol, the so-called “ichthys” (ἰχθύς), which is now known as the Jesus fish. And despite the acrostic use of this word: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour)—— nevertheless, the fish symbolism has a variety of other theological overtones in the New Testament, such as the Feeding of the 5,000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves, as well as the Feeding of the 4,000 with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, not to mention that Jesus calls his disciples "fishers of men." That is precisely why Immersion baptism in the early church signified a parallel between fish and converts (i.e. born again Christians). The early Christian theologian Tertullian explained it thusly:
“we, little fishes, after the image of our
Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water."