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Daily Scripture

+ 5th Week in Ordinary Time

It still has meaning.

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13 Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10 Mark 6:53-56

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple. There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel. [1 Kings 8:6, 8]
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In recent years there has been much discussion in liturgical circles about the proper location of the tabernacle in the worship space. The directives implementing the Constitution on the Liturgy by the Second Vatican Council prescribed that the tabernacle be located in prominent location in the church or chapel, preferably in a chapel dedicated to the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and appropriate for veneration. In any case, it was not to be located on the altar table used for the celebration of the Eucharist. As a result in many churches renovations, the tabernacle was moved to the ‘side altar’ previously used for the veneration of the Blessed Virgin or St. Joseph and in some churches, it was placed on the old altar previously used for Mass. In situations the old altar was replaced with a permanent pedestal on which the tabernacle was placed.

In liturgical matters, nothing is simple. Those of a more conservative disposition insisted that the location of the Tabernacle on the side altar reduced the status of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist thereby diminishing its meaning in the devotional life of the faithful. Others of a more liberal persuasion opined that in fact, the location in a separate chapel within the church assigned to the sacrament greater prominence thereby increasing the devotional aspect. Moreover, in as much as an emphasis of the ‘action’ of the Mass as the repetition of the “Lord’s Supper” was promoted by the Council, it seemed to liturgists that the location of the tabernacle in the main sanctuary behind the free standing Eucharist table would compete with the ‘action’ of the Mass as a sacred meal.

The most recent prescriptions in the United States provide that the tabernacle be located in the main sanctuary on suitably ornate pedestal. It is ironic that in the major basilicas including the basilica of St. Peter in Rome, the tabernacle is located on a side altar that is not very prominent.

Whatever the location, it should not be a bone of contention worthy of a liturgical battle. The public and private devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is rooted in the long tradition of the Church and should not be disparaged. In the same way in which the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments was symbolic of God’s presence in the temple, so too, the reservation of the Eucharist Bread has been one of the longest-standing practices of the devotional life of Catholics. It is intended to extend the meaning and the effects of the Eucharistic celebration into the life of the faithful who continue to spend time in prayerful meditation on the mysteries of the life of Jesus not the least of which is his faithfulness unto death on the cross for the salvation of the world. The two aspects of Eucharist need not be in competition. The ‘Mass’ continues to be considered a “sacrificial” meal. But we need to be clear that its connection with the passion and death of Christ even as the lamb of God is not to suggest that his death was mandated to satisfy and angry God. That in my opinion is not an appropriate application of Old Testament sacrifices. No, Jesus sacrificial death was the completion of his entire sacrificial life of unqualified and indiscriminate love in the same way as the sacrificial love of partners in marriage offer their sacrificial love to one another or in the manner that Mother Teresa offered her live in sacrificial service to victims of poverty in the streets of Calctta. It is in this sense that devotion to the Eucharist in the tabernacle takes its extended meaning.

During the celebration of the Eucharist, we become what we eat. Through our devotion to the Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle, we are reminded that the Eucharistic presence in our mind, heart and soul extends into all the good works of our lives with the hope that we too will always think and act with the same sacrificial love as did Jesus in his earthly life.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday July 26, 2009

There was more than enough to go around!

Have you ever been to a covered dish supper where the food ran out? There’s always more than enough to go around and still more food a doggie bag or two.

To help us to understand and to appreciate the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Church liturgists wisely placed the story of the miraculous feeding by Elisha as the introductory reading.

There is a pattern to the story of Elisha’s miracle:

1.The food is brought to the “man of God;”
2.The amount of the food is specific;
3.The quantity is inadequate;
4.The “man of God” ignores the objection of his assistant or servant;
5.Despite the deficiency, there is abundance and food left over.

This story is a ‘literary prototype’ of the gospel story of the multiplication of loaves that is more about meaning than magic. Through a wide use of metaphor and allegory, John seems to be making a clear connection between his description of the miraculous feed and the Eucharist. John’s Gospel contains no description of the Last Supper, as do the other gospel narratives. By the time he wrote his Gospel, the Sunday celebration of the ‘Lord’s Supper’ had become a common practice. John had no need to elaborate on the details.

Instead, John “theologized” on the meaning of the ritual celebration of the Eucharist presenting Jesus as “the Bread of Life.” The implication is that Jesus himself was and remains for all time the bread “blessed and broken” for the salvation of the world.

The pattern in John’s gospel expands on the pattern developed in the Elisha story. Very early in his gospel, John mentions the “signs” that Jesus was working—signs that drew large crowds. John’s gospel is referred to as the “Book of Signs,” signs meaning miracles but not magic. Jesus wasn’t a magician.

The first of these “signs” in John’s gospel was the dramatic story of the changing of water into wine during the wedding at Cana. Jesus is the water that becomes the new wine of which is placed not into old wine skins that burst but into new wineskins. In other words, it’s time to drop the old way of doing things. A new era has begun in Jesus.

As I mentioned earlier, the stories are highly dramatized with a wide use of metaphor and allegory. The miraculous multiplication of loaves, takes place on a mountain — not the mountain on which Moses received the law of God but the place where Jesus becomes the new Law, the living Law, the Word of God and the bread of life. “Not on bread alone do we live but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

John also states that Jesus multiplied the loaves near the feast of Passover, the feast on which the Jews were set free from the tyranny of Pharaoh. Jesus is the new Passover who frees us from the tyranny of sin. The food provided by the young boy is the food of the poor — barley bread and dried fish. Barley grain was used to make bread for the poor because it was cheap. Fish was symbolic of the end times. Jesus himself becomes bread for the poor, i.e., for the “poor in spirit” and for all who acknowledge their hunger before the Lord. He is also the sign that the time for the coming of the Messiah was fulfilled.

The grass is the pasture on which Jesus the “good shepherd” feeds his flock.

We continue to gather for the “breaking of the bread” every Sunday and many of us, every day at this our family table so that we may become bread blessed and broken for others. Thus the bread of Jesus life continues to multiply through the substance of our lives so that the hungers of humanity may be satisfied through the faith and good works of believers such as you and me. And everyone is welcome – saint and sinner. No exclusions. Sometimes it’s difficult if not impossible to distinguish between saints and sinners probably because there is a saint and sinner in every one of us.

Now more than ever we need to join hands around the Eucharist table. There will always be enough to go around and there are no exclusions.

This Eucharistic theology has several implications for liturgists and pastors. In recent years, the liturgy has been laden with precepts and prescriptions (rubrics) that have tended to lock out the deeper meaning of the mysteries we celebration turning it into a an act of worship detached from human experience.

Jesus continues to be the living word of God and the bread of life. There are many lessons to be learned at the table of God’s Word and this food has an everlasting quality whereby we become what we eat—the living Body of Christ given for humanity.

No reservations necessary. Come as you are!