Eucharist, Pt. 1 The Third Sacrament of Initiation

Catholic Thought

“Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist & the Eucharist, in

turn, confirms our way of thinking.”

St. Irenaeus

The Tradition of the Sacrifice

…Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito so be it. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion…

The Tradition of the Sacrifice

…And this food is called among us Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone.”

Various Names

Eucharist: thanksgiving

Breaking of Bread: Passover allusion

Synaxis: assembly, communal

Memorial

Holy Sacrifice

Holy & Divine Liturgy

Most Blessed Sacrament

Holy Communion

The Holy Things: communion of the Saints

Bread of Angels

Bread from Heaven

Medicine of Immortality

Final Sacrament of Initiation

BAPTISM:

Re-birth; raised to dignity

CONFIRMATION:

Onus to grow; conformed to Christ

EUCHARIST:

Food to grow; participate in Christ’s work

Christ-as-food St. Hilary:

Since he receives Christ’s veritable flesh, the Savior must be reckoned to abide in Him with the Father. He is thus enabled to live here below the divine live which Christ came from

heaven to give him.

Jesus Christ:

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believe in me will never thirst…I tell

you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you will not have life in you…For my flesh is real food and my blood is real

drink.” John 6

St. Ambrose:

Forasmuch as one and the same Lord Jesus Christ possesses Godhead and a

human body, you who receive His Flesh are made to participate through

that nourishment in His divine substance.

Food to Grow into what?

Union with other Communicants, forming the One Holy Catholic &

Apostolic Church, the Bride of Christ

Food to Grow into what?

Union with other Communicants, forming the One Holy Catholic &

Apostolic Church, the Bride of Christ,

The Mystical Body

Food to Grow into what?

Union with the Body of Jesus Christ,

becoming more securely His members.

Sacraments of Initiation: U-N-I-O-N with J-E-S-U-S

Baptism commences a journey toward conformity. Confirmation strengthens us to conform through the journey. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of that journey:

“The essence of communion is the uniting of the communicants with Christ, and so with one another…the union is complete and eliminates all separation…we feed on Him at Whom angels gaze with trembling…We are mingled with Him and become one body and one flesh with Christ.” St. John Chrysostom

Food to Grow into what?

Specifically, to be unified with the Person of Jesus

Christ, crucified and died on the Cross. So that we can be united within the Trinitarian Life and be one with the

Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

The Perpetuation of the Sacrifice

The Holy Eucharist was instituted to perpetuate

the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until he should

come again.

CCC 1362

The Perpetuity of the Sacrifice

Who? Inserts us as central characters (inserts all the

Faithful, like the Passover)

Where? Translocates the work to each alter, and joins all

across space, with Christ wholly present.

What? Joins the Liturgy of Heaven with the Liturgy of the Eucharist on earth at any given moment in a vertical collapse.

When? Joins all The Faithful before, now, and then together in a collapse of horizontal time.

Singularity of the Sacrifice

The Divine Life: True Sacrifice, True Vulnerability

“A true sacrifice is whatever work is accomplished with the object of establishing our holy union with God.” St. Augustine

“The Eucharist is the chief instrument of the Christian’s divination.” St. Theodore of Mopsuestia

The Divine Life we seek to be unified with calls for complete self-surrender. The singularity of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist gives us a

view of what life is like in Heaven– total purgation of self to be completely fulfilled by the love of another. We give that we may

receive. This is how the Trinity is sustained and functions perpetually.

Mechanics & Physics

Mechanics MATTER: unleavened bread & grape-based wine; the particulars matter, as does the conjunction. This is a Passover sacrifice (body & blood of lamb mattered), the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the and matters for the intention of institution, not the moment of efficacy.

FORM: Words of Institution

MINISTER: ordained priest

INSTITUTION: Last Supper

Becoming Body & Blood

Bread is a figure, or likeness of the Body; a symbol or type. Origen

“He did not say, ‘This is the symbol of my body,’ and ‘this is the symbol of my blood,’ but ‘this is my body and my blood.’” St. Theodore of Mopsuestia

NOT Becoming Body & Blood

Eucharist

Real Presence

Real Change in Nature Mediated Change

Symbolic

Origen: believed the bread was a figure of the Body; a type or likeness; not real.

Becoming LIKE Body & Blood

Eucharist

Real Presence

Real Change in Nature Qualified Change

Symbolic

Theodoret of Antioch: did not change the nature of bread and wine, but added a grace to their nature which permits the nature of bread and wine to mediate the nature of body and blood; essentially creates a dyophysite theory.

Becoming Body & Blood

Eucharist

Real Presence

Real Change in Nature Mediated Change

Symbolic

TRANSFORMS: through: transelementation (St. John Chrysostom); transmutation (St. Cyril of Alexandria); by: the Word (St. Athanasius & St. Gregory of Nazianzus); the Holy Spirit (St. Cyril of Alexandria & St. John Chrysostom); to: a Person (St. Ambrose, Nestorius, & St. Gregory of Nyssa)

Aristotelian Physics

THING

Act

Substance Accidents

Potency

Aristotelian Physics: Act & Potency

Act: how a thing exists in a particular moment

Potency: what a thing is capable of existing as

Substance: the is-ness of a thing; essence; what makes

it a particular species

Accidents: the appearance of a thing; incident

qualities.

Thing

A thing exists in ACT and is changing over time, moving toward its happy fulfillment, its POTENTIAL.

Aristotelian Physics: Substance & Potency

Act: how a thing exists in a particular moment

Potency: what a thing is capable of existing as

Substance: the is-ness of a thing; essence; what makes

it a particular species

Accidents: the appearance of a thing; incident

qualities.

Thing

A substance is the fundamental subject contained within a thing that is closely related to the potency of the thing. For an ‘acorn,’ the potency is ‘an oak,’ the substance, ‘oakness.’

Aristotelian Physics: Substance & Accidents

Act: how a thing exists in a particular moment

Potency: what a thing is capable of existing as

Substance: the is-ness of a thing; essence; what makes

it a particular species

Accidents: the appearance of a thing; incident

qualities.

Thing

A thing has incidental qualities called accidents that are supported by the underlying substance (the self-sufficiency) of the thing. Accidents can change without the substance changing; if substance changes, almost always accidents change, too. Substance of duck, accidents of duck. See accidents, therefore, know substance, even though reality is vice-versa.

Aristotelian Physics: Act & Accidents

Act: how a thing exists in a particular moment

Potency: what a thing is capable of existing as

Substance: the is-ness of a thing; essence; what makes

it a particular species

Accidents: the appearance of a thing; incident

qualities.

Thing

As a thing exists in act, it is in a particular, observable state. These observable characteristics are the thing’s accidents.

Aristotelian Physics: Interconnectivity

Act: how a thing exists in a particular moment

Potency: what a thing is capable of existing as

Substance: the is-ness of a thing; essence; what makes

it a particular species

Accidents: the appearance of a thing; incident

qualities.

Thing

Aristotelian Physics of Bread

Act: wafer Potency: food (usually

gauge by highest human utility)

Substance: breadness Accidents: flat, round,

white, unleavened, bland, &c.

Bread

Aristotelian Physics of Bread

Act: wafer Potency: food (usually

gauge by highest human utility)

Substance: breadness Accidents: flat, round,

white, unleavened, bland, &c.

Bread