In Heaven Already

To Receive the Eucharist is To Be In Heaven Already

by Catherine Doherty

Do you ever stop to think of the immensity of the gift that God has given to us in the Holy Eucharist? Have you ever stopped to think what it is to be in communion with God—that is, to communicate of the most holy Body and Blood of Christ? This is a communion that is incredible, impossible to understand! That is wrapped up in a mystery beyond all mysteries: that God, the second person of the most holy Trinity, should give himself to us, as bread and wine. Approach it as if you hear the words: “Take off your shoes; the place is holy.”

A Nuptial Event

To me, Communion is a nuptial event. To me, receiving Communion is already being in heaven, because Christ is heaven, and he is in me. Are there any words in this world that could convey what happens when I go and receive a piece of consecrated Bread, with the Wine or without, as the case may be? I don’t think so. It is eternally new; it is eternally incredible; it is a moment when I truly know who I am. I am the beloved of Christ, for he comes to me in person. My faith transcends the apparent bread and wine; my faith receives him, and so it is a nuptial mystery. For all through the Old Testament and all through the New Testament God calls upon the Hebrews, as if he were a bridegroom and they were his bride.

In the sacrament of the Eucharist there is an ecstasy—that’s a powerful word, but it’s a word that we have to get used to; there is an ecstasy in the Communion of the liturgy. When I receive our Lord, I realize also the nuptial mystery: man and God. For God really has come. God, calling Israel, says: ‘Even if you have prostituted yourself under every bush with a stranger, come to me, my beloved, and I shall make you whiter than snow.’ God the Father makes love to Israel, his chosen people. The theme of love goes through all this, and because we’re human and simple and ordinary, God has chosen the image of marriage—for himself and for his Son.

The great miracle at Cana’s wedding feast, the changing of the water into wine, was, of course, the prefiguration of the Eucharist. Each Communion is our wedding feast with Christ and it is also the wedding feast of the whole Church because we are the Church. How joyous can be our daily (or weekly) ‘wedding day’ with God. If only we understood his love and lived by his love, every day for us would be a honeymoon with God!

I have been married twice. I know the ecstasy of union of bodies and minds and souls between a man and woman united in the holy sacrament of Matrimony and in love with one another. But I do not hesitate one second to tell you that this blessed, holy, and wondrous union is but a pale shadow of what happens at Communion when the Lord of Hosts becomes one with my soul and yours, and even one with our bodies for a time. Truly this moment of union of ourselves with God is the most incredible grace, the greatest sign that God can give us of his love and his longing for us and for our love.

My heart stops beating while I really think of what is happening during the holy liturgy. The Eucharist is a reality that you can touch, that you can hold, that you can taste, that you can feel on your palate.

Christ offers himself: sacrament and sacrifice

The mystery of the liturgy is so very simple. Christ offering himself, sacrament and sacrifice, for you and for me. Here he is, hanging on the cross, dying for us all, obedient unto death to his Father’s will. I personally wouldn’t obey anybody if it wasn’t for Christ. He was obedient to his Father’s will to the last ounce.

He died. He lifted up all the sins of the world. Can you imagine that? All the sins of the world, as it were, on his shoulder. He lifted all these, and in our place he died for them, an absolute, totally unselfish, totally loving, totally complete gift of himself to the Father for us. When you attend the most holy liturgy and hear the words, “This is my body; this is my blood,” from that very moment, you know the infinite, incredible love of God for you. He invites us every day to come to the oasis of his heart and be refreshed by the wine of his compassion and love.

You also are the sacrifice!

When you are there, you offer the sacrifice. But you see, there is a deeper mystery. You also are the sacrifice! I barely dare to touch on this. You are aware that a drop of water, or a little bit of water, goes into the chalice with the wine. What is that water? Who is that water? Why does the water go in there? It represents us. So we are in the chalice. If we are the Mystical Body and the Body is offered, then in a mystical way, we are offered. Put yourself on the paten.Give God your day, your whole day—that little time between two Masses.

Christ at Cookham

(Brings back memories of a personal visit a few years ago)

Spencer developed a naïve style, influenced in part by Giotto and the colourful primitivism of Paul Gauguin.

His most ambitious work was the consequence of his Great War travails: a cycle of 19 paintings for the Sandham Memorial Chapel , which took five years to complete.

Spencer's earthy Christian faith and his preoccupation with death and resurrection are evident in much of his work.

Many paintings such as The Resurrection, Cookham (1923–27), set biblical scenes in the village and depict actual villagers as Biblical characters. Today such works, in the rare event that they come up for auction, sell for immense sums.

During Spencer's lifetime it was his landscapes that were in demand. His dealer would press him to turn out more.Many of his best landscapes are views of his beloved Cookham.

[

    

Sunday Worship 
26/04/2009 

bbc radio 4

Celebrating the spirituality of painter Stanley Spencer. From Holy Trinity Church, Cookham

Sir Stanley Spencer (30 June 1891 – 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Much of his greatest work depicts Biblical scenes, from miracles to Crucifixion, happening not in the Holy Land, but in Cookham, the small village where he was born and spent most of his life; fellow-villagers frequently stand in for their Gospelcounterparts, lending on occasion Christian teachings an eerie immediacy. He referred to Cookham as "a village in Heaven."

The Lord gathers a people for himself

Lk 13:22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages,teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him,“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them,“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,then will you stand outside knocking and saying,‘Lord, open the door for us.’He will say to you in reply,‘I do not know where you are from.And you will say,‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’Then he will say to you,‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first,and some are first who will be last.”

Dulverton Sermon

Matthew is the gospel for the Jews. Luke is the gospel for the Gentiles. And it shows.
Matthew traces the ancestry of Jesus back to Abraham, Luke to Adam. Matthew quotes the Lord on people coming into the Kingdom from east and west but Luke strengthens it by adding from north and south. Luke addresses his gospel to Theophilus, a Gentile and he himself is a Gentile too.

A Jew asks Jesus "Will only a few be saved?" expecting the Lord to declare the Kingdom an exclusive club for Jews only and not even all Jews. He assumes there will be no place for Gentiles. Jesus will have none of this exclusivity. He extends the gospel invitation to all. The only exclusions will be self exclusions. He goes on to inform his questioner that entry is not dependent on race or privilege though all who aspire must strive to enter through the narrow door of righteousness. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. We are to follow him. Direction is more important than closeness. I am reminded of the inscription on the grave of an Alpine guide who died on his mountain - "He died climbing".

Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, has a book called "Luke for Everyone". Commenting on today's gospel he recalls waiting to board a flight from New York to Washington on which his seat reservation had been confirmed. He held back as it was a seat near the door and he didn't want to make the other passengers squeeze past him. However when he did try to board his way was blocked and he was refused admission because the flight capacity load had already been reached. Jesus warns that there will be surprises in the Kingdom concerning who is there and who isn't. Another story tells of the new arrival in heaven who had a fine home, many possessions, lots of respect on earth but is offered on a fringe home no bigger than a hut in heaven. When he complains he is told "Sorry but this is all we could manage from the building materials you sent on ahead". Jesus declares "Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last".

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah ch 66 illustrates an earlier vision of Judaism which Jesus is fulfilling more universal in its scope than the narrow exclusivity of the Jews of his own day: "From new moon to new moon, from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will bow down in my presence, says the Lord". In the Kingdom there is welcome for all who wish to be there. Hopefully there will be very few, if any, who exclude themselves. I feel sure the Lord does not want any of us to go through life or approach death worrying whether we are saved or not. If we have made the choice to walk in his way and wish to do his will we can rest serene and secure in the scripture assurance that "all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life".

What a joy and delight it will be to find ourselves among the many from east and west, north and south, who have been drawn by the same light and truth of the Lord.