Fr Mark Schultz

Dear Friend,

At my sponsoring parish in New York, it was the custom to celebrate the Eucharist facing liturgical east, facing the altar and the crucifix. Now this is seen by some as radically retrograde (it’s a very old way of celebrating, though perhaps not the most ancient), by others as simply rude (why is the priest’s back toward the people?). But I remember the moment when, to me, it made complete sense to celebrate in this way. Granted, I was already intellectually convinced by the argument that the priest doesn’t in fact have her back to the people, but is, instead, leading the people’s prayers with everyone facing the same direction: the direction of the sun’s rising, the direction from which tradition says Our Lord will return. I recall, though, assisting at a noon day Eucharist in the church’s Lady Chapel, and during the Eucharistic prayer, after the priest pronounced the words of institution over the cup (“this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins”), he genuflected in worship, stood again, and raised the chalice filled with the Precious Blood. And I rang the bell and looked up.

And it was wonderful: I saw the church reflected in the chalice. Literally. I saw the face of the priest, the faces of the parishioners, I saw my own face. There we all were, the church, Christ’s Body, gathered together, held together by the Precious Blood, reflected in the surface of the cup. And I thought to myself—this must be what it means to discern the Body.

Well…come to find out, it’s a lot more than that. Believing and knowing that Jesus Christ is truly and really present in the Blessed Sacrament is important—that’s certainly a way of understanding what it means to discern the Body. Recognizing that we’re meant to see the church in the broken Bread and poured out Cup is meaningful and is moving in the right direction when it comes to discerning the Body. Seeing these realities as comprehensive and interpenetrating is certainly terrific and definitely also getting there.

But even that’s not quite enough.

When Paul writes in our reading from I Corinthians this morning that some have become weak and ill and some have died because the Body has not been discerned, I don’t think he’s just speaking of those who participate in the Holy Eucharist without believing in the Real Presence, as if he intends to upbraid the Corinthians for lacking a proper apprehension of true doctrine. Believing a doctrine is virtually meaningless if we don’t allow it to be a window onto the Grace that can actually transform our lives. No: Paul’s speaking here of those who, regardless of what they claim to believe, do not see their neighbor’s body as God’s body, their neighbor’s life as God’s life, and therefore do not truly discern the body because they will not nurse their neighbor when they are sick, they will not visit their neighbor when they are ill, and are willing to let their neighbor die…because they do not discern the Body in them and them in the Body.

Discerning the Body means a changed life, a changed heart. Discerning the Body means actually living, actually being what we discern. It means action. It means transformation. It means discipleship. It means love.

Today is Maundy Thursday. In following the Lord’s command to love and to serve, in beholding and receiving the Eucharist on this very holy day, may we, as Saint Augustine bids us, behold what we are and become what we receive.

Under the Mercy,
Fr Mark+

NB: The Maundy Thursday liturgy this evening begins at 7pm. The Holy Triduum (the three great and sacred days before Easter) continues tomorrow, Friday, at noon with the Good Friday liturgy (including the Passion Gospel, the Solemn Collects, the Veneration of the True Cross, the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified). On Holy Saturday, there is Morning Prayer in the Columbarium Garden at 8:30am and the Holy Triduum concludes with the Great Vigil of Easter, the kindling of the New Fire, the lighting of the Paschal Candle, proclamation of Easter, and the first Mass of Easter. Please join us for this profound pilgrimage to the upper room, Gethsemane, Calvary, the darkened tomb, and the first light of Easter!