Christmas is the reason for our Eucharist

At the celebration of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, million upon million of Christians around the world will attend the Eucharistic services. I think we must pause and ask ourselves why celebrating the Eucharist (the 'Mass' in Christ-Mas) at Christmas? Can we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ without the Eucharist?

To answer this question, we must first understand what we call “Eucharist”.

According to Dom Gregory Dix, Eucharist is an action –‘do this’ –with a particular meaning given to it by our Lord Himself—‘for the anamnesis of Me’ (Dom G. Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, p.238). This means that the Eucharist is an act of remembrance. We do what Jesus did and asked us to do. It is a command that originates in the love the Father has for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”(John 3:16).

Christmas and Eucharist are facts

Christmas, first of all, is a fact of history. In a point of time and at a definable place the God of heaven and earth was born of a woman, and came to live among us as man. It is a fact that the infinite God became, unexplainably, a finite creature. It is a fact to which historians attest but which we know is no mere statistic of history; it is, rather, a fact planned by God from all eternity. This is the fact of Christmas: the Word actually became Flesh.

The Eucharist is Christmas prolonged, because faith tells us that once God became man, He decided to remain man.

The Eucharist is a two-ways love: God loves us by ‘giving’ us Jesus. We respond to that love by an act of thanksgiving. At Christmas, we receive the love of God in celebrating the word that became flesh and dwelt among us; and we “give thanks” to God for His great love for us.

That’s the meaning of these word that we say in the Eucharistic prayer:

“And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.”

Christmas and Eucharist are mysteries

But Christmas and the Eucharist are not only facts, they are also mysteries. What is the mystery of Christmas? The mystery is the humanly incredible reality of why God became man. He did not have to. God did not even have to make the world, and within the world, He did not have to make us. Except for the love of God, we are all empty unoccupied spaces on earth. But, having decided to make the world and to make us, God also decided that once man had sinned, He would redeem man. God might have redeemed man by an act of His divine Will; He chose not to do so. He chose, rather, to become man, so that as man He might not only, by some fiat of His human freedom redeem us, but might have a mortal flesh and a soul capable of suffering. In a word, the mystery of Christmas is the mystery of God's love that chose to take on our human form in order to show His love for us by suffering.

I will be with you alway.

Darwell Stone rightly views the Eucharist as a mystery in which the Church remembers Christ, His Incarnation, His Passion, and His Resurrection, and, in remembering Him, makes the memorial of Him to the Father (Darwell Stone, Holy Communion, p.42). The first mystery of the love of God here is undeniably the Incarnation in which the word of God became flesh. That’s the reason of our Eucharist.

In the Eucharist, we confess the Real Presence. Jesus is the Real Presence to the whole world. Eucharist is therefore Christmas. Believing in His Real Presence, we have the responsibility to cooperate with His grace not only for ourselves, but for the whole world, so that His coming into the world will not, for any soul, have been in vain. 

Peace and blessings!

Fr. Thierry

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay”(Habakkuk 2:3).

ADVENT IV: Recognition of the Word and Rejoicing in His Coming.

This week is the fourth and final week in Advent and we offer some quotes of Robert Crouse and and P.M. Scott for your meditation.

"The Advent season is multi-dimensional. It looks backward in time to the coming of the Son of God as the Infant of Bethlehem two thousand years ago; it looks forward to the end of time, to the consummation of history in the coming of the Son of God as Judge. But there is yet another dimension of the most vital importance for our spiritual life: Advent is about God’s coming now, and our Advent lessons encourage our hope and expectation of his presence in our life here and now. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Prologue of his commentary on Isaiah, speaks of these three dimensions of Advent: the coming of the Son of God in carne: in the flesh, historically; his coming in mente: in our souls, now by grace; and ad judicium: at the judgement, at the end and as the end of history. Paramount in our Advent lessons is that second dimension: Christ’s Advent in mente, the present coming of the Word of God in our souls by grace. If you were to look at the lessons from that standpoint, you would notice how in each case the Epistle lesson underlines the present reference of the Gospel lesson.~ Dr. R. Crouse

S. John 1. 19
THIS is the record of John, when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that Prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that Prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not: he it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

"That Christ alone can prepare us for His Advent is strikingly illustrated by the testimony of the great herald of the first Advent. S. John Baptist confesses his own inferiority, and seeks to lead his hearers to Christ.

A. His Inferiority in Dignity.

In three humble negatives S. John Baptist disclaims all distinction. With the greatest emphasis he repudiates the very thought that he himself was the Messiah for whose Advent he was sent to make preparation. No words can be stronger—"He confessed and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.”

Though in very truth the Elias which was for to come (Mal. iv. 5), he dare not advance for himself so high a claim. Though named by our Lord “a prophet and more than a prophet,” he can see in himself no resemblance whatever to the prophet foretold (Deut. xviii. 15), and often interpreted as a forerunner of the Christ. Such humility is a true mark of those best fitted to prepare others for Christ; they stand by and let Him pass. If He alone can do this work, they must of necessity be humble.

B. His Inferiority in Office.

He does not think of himself as a speaker, but as a voice; not as a messenger, but as a message. He regards his baptism of water as merely preparatory, a confession of the need of more perfect cleansing. He looks upon himself as unworthy to perform the office of a slave to the coming Master. His work was the humble duty of preparation, and the need for even that had passed away, for the Christ was standing among them though they knew it not, and his own final message was about to be delivered— “Behold the Lamb of God.”

"Christ standeth among us"—this is the last message of the Church before the great day of His coming. By His unseen Presence alone can we be prepared to celebrate His first Advent or to welcome the second Advent. All personal effort, all use of the means of grace provided in the Church, are only effectual in so far as we cling to the personal Saviour. P. M. Scott

Christian Compassion Vs National Security

With the recent attacks perpetrated by ISIS and Al Qaeda and their affiliates around the world (Russian plane, Paris, Nigeria, and Mali, etc.), it is appropriate to initiate a discussion on how to find a balance between Christian compassion and national security with the regard to the so called Syrian Refugees.

Compassion or security? This is the question every American, especially every Christian should have in their mind. We must ask ourselves how Jesus would answer this question and how therefore He would love to see us answer this question.

As Christian, we have the obligation to fulfil the Great Commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). To do that we must keep in in the words of Jesus Christ how he said: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

We are sent to make disciples by bringing to Jesus all people of every nation, race, languages, and cultural background. This includes the Syrians fleeing their country and even ISIS. We are sent to minister to them.

But we are also Second Amendment believing citizens who must NOT give away the right to protect ourselves. So question facing every American Christian is how to balance compassion with safety or even national security.

First of all we must not forget that the One who sent us knew what we were going to face. He faced the same thing and he died on the cross because of human cruelty. He knew that we would experience the same kind of hatred he dealt with. That’s why He gave us this warning:

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles." (Matthew 10: 16-18)

We also know that our Lord Himself had to flee the massacre of Herod and had to live many years in Egypt as an immigrant and refugee (Matthew 2:13). But He did pose any threat to the land of Egypt where He lived. There are many others examples in the Bible about God’s people who lived in foreign countries without causing any security problem. This is not true about the so called Syrian Refugees that Obama with his head-in-the-sand policy vowed to bring to America.

Surprisingly, the majority of these Syrians are young men who can fight against ISIS and take back their country. It had been proven that some of the terrorists who attacked Paris had a Syrian passport. American Border Patrols have arrested a couple of Syrians trying to cross our Southern border.

All this indicates how crucial it is to properly vet everyone that comes to our borders before we they them in. Anyone that is found in connection with a terrorist group must be sent back. As individual Christians, we are called to show compassion and love to those in need, applying the lesson of the Good Samaritan to our daily life. However, we need to let our elected officials know that it is their responsibility to protect our country. And this starts with securing the borders. Our duty of compassion doesn’t mean that we expose ourselves to those who have an evil intention to come and destroy our lives. As individual Christians, we can pray and get involved in the relief programs around world; we can forgive and reach out to the needy. But it is the responsibility of our government to secure the country.

There is no shame in building the walls to protect our country. We often read in the Bible of gated cities or cities with walls. The books of Deuteronomy and Joshua present Canaanite cities as fortified and walled (e.g., Nu 13:28, Dt 1:28, 3:5, 28:52; Jos 2:15, 6:5, 6:20, 7:5, 8:29, etc.). God’s plan is that men and women live secure within their land. In Acts 17: 26 we read, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation".

It is God that sets the boundaries of the nations and it’s the job of the elected officials to secure those boundaries and assure the safety of the inhabitants.

Make no mistake, we are to love and show compassion, but NOT be naïve!

We are to care for those in need, but NOT to expose ourselves to the evildoers!

Compassion and security are not contradictory. Self-defense is not only legal, it’s biblical: Psalm 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked

Proverbs 24:11 Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

Ezekiel 33 "... 6 'But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand.'

We need a real commander in chief. And for that let’s pray:

O LORD our Governor, whose glory is in all the world; We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness; and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in thy fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Peace and blessings!
Fr. Thierry

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay"(Habakkuk 2:3).

 

 

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Why do we pray with saints?

In this post, we discuss the question of prayer in reference to the saints. Why do we pray to the saints?  As I travel, I come across several misconceptions that have nothing to do with our relationship to the saints.

These misconceptions rise in part from the loss of understanding of the phrase “communion of saints” which is very important article of the Apostles Creed. What we see in these objections of asking the prayers of saints is an uninformed view of what heaven is all about. Discussing the question of afterlife in his book "Theology and Sanity," Frank Sheed argues that sanity depends on an accurate appreciation of reality, and includes an accurate appreciation of what heaven is really like, and once known, the place of asking the prayers of saints follows.

It is important to discuss the biblical foundation of prayer to the saints before examining the historical understanding of the practice. We take up the misconception that the saints are only those who died and are now in heaven.

"... golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints.”

The Bible teaches us that the Saints in heaven continually offer prayers on our behalf.  Revelation 5: 8 indicates that “…when He [the Lamb] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” This plainly means that the saints in heaven are aware of our prayers and they intercede for us. We, the saints on earth, are asking them to collect our supplications and prayers in “golden bowls” and offer them to the Lamb, our Lord and Savior.

Likewise, the saints on earth intercede for one another. In 1 Timothy 2: 5, Paul says this: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men”.

In his epistles to the saints, Paul asked them to pray for him: (Rom.15:30–32, Eph. 6:18–20, Col. 4:3, 1 Thess. 5:25, 2 Thess. 3:1) He also assured them of his continual prayers (2 Thess. 1:11).

Most importantly, Jesus asks us to pray for others, even for our enemies (Matthew 5: 44). Also, He does not ignore the prayers made by people on behalf of others. He uses the faithful prayer of one person to act on another person (Matt. 8:13, 15:28, 17:15–18, Mark 9:17–29, Luke 8:49–55).

There are many other passages in the Bible that suggest that saints should pray for one another. The bible does not limit us to the material but speaks to both the visible and invisible.

Let us now address the misconception that saints being dead and gone makes communication (not to be confused with Biblical edicts against necromancy for by very proximity to God saints in heaven logically must be holy) quite impossible and therefore believing them to hear invocations and petition is a vain thing fondly held.  This idea, that saints are unconscious and incapable of hearing petitions of those in flesh, is unbiblical and quite unknown to the Apostles and early Church.  It's an idea of the Enlightenment not a doctrine of the Bible.  Jesus admonished the Sadducees ( Matt. 22:29-32) that the description of God in the book of Exodus (3:6) as the God of those who had departed this life was a sign that they were alive and conscious. See also Isa. 14 9-10; Isa. 1 & Eze 2 (conscious disembodied souls); Eze. 31:16-17; Heb. 12;1; Luke 23:43; Luke 16:19-31.

Yet another misconception is that people believe our ability to address God through His Son negates any need for additional mediation.   Do you see the false dilemma?  The allegation here is that some people see asking the saints for their intercession as violation of the mediatorship of Christ and therefore must be off limits.  But God never says either or!  1 Tim 2: 5 is employed as a proof text where in Paul says “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus".  But used in this manner the verse does violence to the scriptures cited above by assuming it is the body (dies) and not the soul (eternal) that is operative in interseccion.  This is the same abuse of empiricism atheists use to question faith, and as stated earlier, a presupposition stemming from the Enlightenment.

The early and undivided Church (guidance by the Holy Ghost John 14:16;18;26) strongly encouraged the practice of asking the saints to pray for us. It would be useful to mention a couple of them.

Cyprian of Carthage

"Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides [of death] always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy" (Letters 56[60]:5 [A.D. 253]).

Gregory of Nyssa

"[Ephraim], you who are standing at the divine altar [in heaven] . . . bear us all in remembrance, petitioning for us the remission of sins, and the fruition of an everlasting kingdom" (Sermon on Ephraim the Syrian [A.D. 380]).

Jerome

"You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. . . . But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought to still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?" (Against Vigilantius 6 [A.D. 406]).

These examples show the importance of prayer within the body of Christ. We are in communion with each other, both here and in heaven. Our liturgy uses the term, “whole state of Christ Church” to signify that the prayer is not only made for those who are within the Anglican Church but also everywhere, always, and for all.

Peace and blessings!

Contributing:
Fr. Thierry
John Dixon

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3).