Justin Appel

Friends,

Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke 22:14-23 tells how Jesus instituted the Eucharist in the context of his last Passover meal with the disciples.

What strikes one here is the seemingly mundane quality of the description: it is a normal Passover meal with the regular blessing of cup and of bread—but now the internal form and logic of the meal has been transformed.

Jesus bluntly states that his own body and blood is the true fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice, and he reinforces this notion with the command to future generations: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

The early Church described the repetition of this sacramental meal with the term “anamnesis,” which indicated a kind of linguistic/temporal gymnastics. Not only do we recall Jesus’ Paschal sacrifice, but we understand the reality of that sacrifice to move forward into the present moment, even transcending the present by extending into the future.

For us, then, the Eucharist is not simply a memorial action, but a ritual action of cosmic importance, involving both heaven and earth—both of which, as Isaiah’s vision attested, “are full of the majesty of thy glory.”

God’s glory, and his robe, “filled the temple,” while the seraphim, angelic creatures with many wings, cry out “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”

The Cherubic Hymn from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, sung as the elements are carried in procession to the altar, captures this cosmic dimension, and reminds one that we celebrate the sacramental mystery in the presence of heavenly beings:

We who mystically represent the Cherubim,
and who sing to the Life-Giving Trinity the thrice-holy hymn,
let us now lay aside all earthly cares,
that we may receive the King of all,
escorted invisibly by the angelic orders.
Alleluia.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin