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January 27, 2006
> 11:40 AM
deus caritas est > eucharistic union Yes, I too have been reading the Pope's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love). I've been pulling quotes out as I go to ponder more deeply, ones that hit me. Good stuff so far. Great subject matter for a first "letter to the whole church." Here's my quote for the day and a few thoughts... part 1:13 The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving. The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realized in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood. The sacramental "mysticism", grounded in God's condescension towards us, operates at a radically different level and lifts us to far greater heights than anything that any human mystical elevation could ever accomplish.This bit about the Eucharist jumped out at me. I'm sure it will for many who have a deeper view of "Communion" or who are coming into a new sense of what the Eucharist is and how it effects us. It seems like this is happening all over the emerging church, as well as other areas of Christianity that haven't been traditionally Sacramental. There is a renewal of - well, not really a "renewal" - something would have had to be there for it to be renewed. It's more like an awakening - a Eucharistic awakening. "This is my Body" is beginning to mean something to people to whom it formerly meant only a fond memory twice a year. "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" What Paul said there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is becoming real. Time to wake up! Are we not participating in the Body and Blood of the Real Christ, and in a particular way, of the Divine Nature, when we drink and eat the Sacrament? We are! We step, as I heard it said recently, outside time into the eternal realm, into the death and resurrection of Jesus, and He into us - when we participate in the Eucharist. We're not playing mind games or simply fiddling with our emotions. It's a mystical reality and if we come to Him with faith and say the "amen," what we receive is Life, Grace, Himself as Gift - Strength, Forgiveness, Healing. A little more of us becomes Real as we participate in the eternal Real. Wake up O sleeper! technorati tags > deus caritas est, encyclical, catholic, eucharist, communion, emerging church, sacraments, mystical, theology 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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