9 LESSONS & CAROLS AT ALL SAINTS' BENHILTON

 

Dr John Macquarrie on Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

Outdoor Benediction - at the May 2016 National Pilgrimage 

to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham 

Originally ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, the Scottish theologian and philosopher John Macquarrie (1919-2007) became an Anglican in 1962. He is best known as a key existential theologian. Among his many works are Principles of Christian Theology (1966), Jesus Christ in Modern Thought (1991) and Mary for All Christians (1991). Macquarrie was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, and a Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.

In this paragraph Macquarrie tells of a time when his world was falling apart and he discovered the little service of Benediction (which, in the Anglican tradition usually follows Evensong):

I was serving in the British army and had received notice of posting overseas. On the Sunday evening before we sailed, I was wandering through the streets of a sprawling suburban area near to where we were stationed. I came to an Anglican Church. The bell was summoning the people, and I went in. The first part of the service was familiar to me, for it was Evensong. But then followed something new to me - the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This new service meant a great deal to me. I did not know what lay ahead of me or when I might come back to these shores again, but I had been assured of our Lord’s presence and had received his sacramental blessing. I was reminded of Jacob, when he was far from home at Bethel and he heard the divine voice: 'Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.'

Subsequently, in a pamphlet on Benediction, Macquarrie writes:

Benediction is a beautiful word. It means a blessing, a greeting, and expression of kindness and love. Benediction is also a beautiful service of the Church. It is a service that makes real to us in an impressive way the fact that God is always reaching out to us, to bless, to strengthen, to assure us of his loving kindness toward us. 

The greatest blessing that God could ever bestow upon mankind was the sending of his Son. That was like the beginning of a new day for the human race, like a new sunrise bringing light and hope. And it is a day that will never end, a sun that will never set, for the Eternal Son has promised to be with us until the end of the world. 

He is no longer with us in the physical body that was his in Palestine many centuries ago, but we believe that he is really present among us in the Sacrament which he appointed. 'This is my Body', he said over the bread at the Last Supper with his disciples. The same words are said over the bread at every Eucharist, that it may be to us the Body of the Lord, so that he may come again among us today as he came at his first appearing in Palestine. And just as that first appearing was like the rising of the the sun over a darkened world, so today when the Host is lifted up either in the Mass itself or in Benediction, it is like the rising of the sun upon us and we receive the radiance and warmth of God's blessing through him whom he has sent. 

Many people have the idea that Benediction has become out of date in the course of the liturgical renewal of the past few years. It is true that Benediction has now less prominence than it once had in Catholic worship, but it would be sad indeed if this service were to be undervalued for it is a very helpful item in our spiritual heritage and it has special contributions to make toward building up the life of prayer and devotion in these busy noisy times in which we live. 

Let me now say something about the meaning of Benediction. 1 shall do this by developing more fully the thought that the blessing conveyed to us in this service today is simply the vivid renewal of that great blessing of God in the sending of Jesus Christ. Just as men in ancient times were waiting for the Lord, eager for a glimmer of light through the gloom, so those who come to Benediction come with waiting, expectant hearts. 

Benediction is a popular service, that is to say, a people's service. The clever and sophisticated do not come much to Benediction, but the simple, the poor, those who acknowledge an emptiness in their lives that only God can fill. Even those who might not come to Holy Communion will sometimes come to Benediction where God reaches out to them though they think they are only on the fringes. I think of some of those with whom I have knelt at Benediction: harassed city-dwellers in New York, working- class people from the back streets of Dublin, soldiers serving in the deserts of North Africa, Indian Christians living as a tiny minority in a great Hindu city . . . They have all had the grace of humility - a quality which, alas, is not greatly encouraged in our new liturgies. But those who seek a blessing come with empty hands. 'How blessed are those who know their need of God' ' (Matthew 5:3 NEB). God cannot give a blessing to the proud, the self- sufficient, the superior, those who secretly despise the simple devotion of their brethren. So we can only come to Benediction waiting and expectant. As we sing the hymns and look upon the Host, we open our hearts to God, knowing that he who sent the blessing of his Son to lighten the darkness of the world still sends through the same Son his blessing to us. 

We do not wait on God in vain. Lifting up the Host in a monstrance (sometimes in a ciborium) the Those quiet opening moments of Benediction are very precious indeed. We take time to compose ourselves, to put ourselves together, as it were. These may be only a few minutes, but they have something of the quality of eternity. We put aside our own busy plans, policies, activities, and remain passive before God so that his voice may be heard and his grace received. This brief time of quiet alone is of inestimable value in that crazy hurried world in which we all have to live nowdays. officiating priest makes the sign of the cross in blessing over the worshippers. Christ, the Light of the world, shines upon us, and my comparison with the rising sun was appropriate because the monstrance is usually fashioned to resemble the sun's disc, with rays streaming out in all directions. Through Christ, God bestows his blessing upon us and all who are willing to receive it, just as the sun shines on all, bringing light and health. 

The seekers, the pilgrims, the weary are assured of the blessing of God in Christ, and every time Christ comes to men and women it is with the promise of a new life of hope and freedom. 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined' (Isaiah 9:2). 

Then a very remarkable thing happens. For we find ourselves saying the words of the Divine Praises: 'Blessed be God', 'Blessed be his holy Name' We came seeking God's blessing, and now we find that we are blessing God! This belongs so naturally to what might be called the spiritual logic of Benediction. A benediction is not something that we can selfishly keep for ourselves. It makes us too want to give a benediction. 'We love, because he first loved us' (1 John 4:19). We begin by coming in our need to God, seeking his blessing. He gives us that blessing, and our response is to bless and adore him. This is indeed the goal of all our worshipping - that we may come to love God better. And we cannot love God without loving our neighbours who are God's children, so that in seeking God's blessing, we are praying that in blessing us he will make us a blessing to others. This is how it has been since the very beginning of the people of God, when the Lord said to Abraham, 'I will bless you, so that you will be a blessing . . .' (Genesis 12:3). 

These, then, are some of the meanings contained in the service of Benediction and some of the reasons for prizing it. Let us not miss this time of precious quiet while we wait upon God in humility. Let us not miss the blessing he bestows through the Christ who conies into our midst. For in such acts of devotion we learn to love him better, and he can make us a benediction to all whom we meet.

Benediction at S. Luke's Kingston, April 2015

25 years ago today - My Induction at All Saints', Wickham Terrace, Brisbane

All Saints' Wickham Terrace, from Ann Street

The older we are, the more anniversaries we must acknowledge. I felt it would not be right to let this 31st May go by without mention, because it was on this day in 1995 (25 years ago) that I became Rector of the historic city church of All Saints’ Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, a parish family I had the privilege to serve for ten years. Of course, we faced all sorts of difficulties, and for those at the heart of parish life it was hard work! The parish and I remain grateful to the then Archbishop Peter Hollingworth for reaching an agreement with us about episcopal ministry within the parish that enabled me in good conscience to accept the appointment. During our ten years together so many people of different faith backgrounds and none found their way to us and were touched by what Pope S. John Paul II called 'the New Evangelization.' They are now scattered across the Christian traditions, and around the world! Many read this blog. I pray for you all, all the time. Please pray for me! 

The following is from the All Saints’ Gazette of July 1995:

All Saints’ was packed for the Induction of Father David Chislett SSC by the Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Rev’d Peter Hollingworth, on the evening of Wednesday 31st May, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The large number of clergy present included visitors from Sydney, Mittagong, Melbourne and Ballarat.

The Institution and Induction, in which the Archbishop gave Father David his Licence, took place at the very beginning of the service. Then Father David and the people of All Saints’ committed themselves to supporting each other, and the Archbishop led Father David to the High Altar, saying, 'My brother, I set you in your place among the people of this Parish.' 

Father David’s first act as Rector of All Saints’ was to sing Evensong. Ancient plainsong chants were used for the Psalms and Canticles, with glorious faux-bourdons. The First Lesson was read by John Cranley, Chairman of the Trustees of All Saints’. The Second Lesson was read by Archdeacon David Farrer, Vicar of S. Peter’s Eastern Hill, Melbourne [later to become Bishop of Wangaratta]. The Anthem was Ave Maria (Arcadelt), and the notices were given by Churchwarden Ms Lorraine Hines.

All Saints’ has had a historic kinship with Christ Church S. Laurence in Sydney and S. Peter’s Eastern Hill in Melbourne, so it was fitting for the Parish Priests of both churches to participate in the service. Father Austin Day, Rector of Christ Church, and one of Father David’s mentors, was the preacher. His sermon included the following:

'... I feel sure that the priorities of All Saints’ will be GOD and his worship in the beauty of holiness, and PEOPLE and their care and support; a parish church where all is reverent and full of love and where no-one is pushed behind a pillar because they are ragged or poor or disturbed, a house of prayer ever open, where the dear Lord’s Supper is always on the altar to be adored as at Benediction here tonight, and waiting to be given to his people, that they may be joined intimately together as brothers and sisters in the one family of the Body of Christ.

'You remember what Jesus himself said at the Last Supper: "How I have longed to eat this Passover with you before my death, for I tell you, never again shall I eat it until the time when it finds its fulfilment in the Kingdom of God."'(Luke 22:16).

'But of course Jesus has brought in that Kingdom of God, proclaimed it, and actualised and established it, by his precious death and burial, by his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and by the sending forth of his Holy Spirit upon the Church at Pentecost.

'So he now eats that Passover new with us in the Lord’s Supper, in the Holy Mass every Sunday in all our parish churches (and every weekday, too, at All Saints’) when we follow the command of Jesus to "do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

'... Now I know that you at All Saints’ surround the public presentation of the Eucharist with the pomp and circumstance of great beauty and dignity, with wonderful music and incense. Long may all that continue in our great Anglican tradition. But as I well know after thirty years as a priest in the city opposite Central Railway in Sydney, there are dozens and dozens of people who pass into the warm inside of our city churches, with all their difficulties, trials and sorrows. As the Psalmist says, they are going up to the temple of the Lord, up to All Saints’ on this hill where there is love and the light of Christ. Are you one of those tired bits of humanity who slide slowly in here for private prayer? If not, you are failing to catch a glimpse of some of the glory of Anglican tradition wherein we just quietly spend time with Christ alone.

'... So now, what lies ahead for you as priest and people of All Saints in this inner city area as you seek to serve the people of Brisbane? ... perhaps a fruitful growth of personal lay ministry in this part of Brisbane where inner city high-rise apartment-living is on the increase ... ‘APART-ment’, box-type, insulated, half a million dollars living can often mean great loneliness and separation from others.

'... Are we there for others, giving a sense of comfort and support, the wonder of love and the reassurance of touch, perhaps even whispering a prayer, saying a Psalm, humming a hymn tune, murmuring that we love them ...

'So, may Blessed Mary and All Saints pray for you, and the Holy Angels protect you and lead you forth to fresh insights and new adventure in the worship of GOD, in private prayer, in the spiritual life and in the service of love and care for men and women wherever their needs may be.'

Following the sermon there was a procession to honour Our Lady, during which Father David sprinkled the congregation with water taken from the Holy Well at Walsingham, ‘England’s Nazareth’.

The liturgy concluded with Benediction. After making the sign of the cross over the people with the Blessed Sacrament in the customary way, Father David and the servers processed out of the church, and Benediction was given over the City of Brisbane. (At that moment the heavens opened and much needed rain fell, leading a parishioner to suggest afterwards that Father David and the Monstrance do a tour of the drought stricken west!)

Supper followed in the All Saints’ Centre, and the speeches were chaired by Archdeacon Booth. Father Trevor Bulled of Holy Trinity, Fortitude Valley welcomed Father David on behalf of the clergy of the Inner City Deanery, and Miss Bartz Schultz did so on behalf of parishioners.

In response, Father David thanked everyone for their support. He was especially grateful to the Archbishop for demonstrating that there was still a place for Anglicans of our conviction in the Diocese of Brisbane. He went on to commit himself to praying, living and proclaiming the full Catholic Faith with the people of All Saints, for the glory of God and for the sake of the bruised and battered world around us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(CLICK on the photos to enlarge them)

The Institution and Induction (1)

The Institution and Induction (2)

All Saints' (from Wickham Terrace)

Benediction over the City of Brisbane

With Archdeacon David Farrer (L) and Father Austin Day (R)

My first Sunday was Pentecost. 

Here are the clergy and servers at the end of High Mass

The Sanctuary, seen through the Lady Chapel.

Brisbane - a beautiful city!

.

Bishop Jonathan Baker on the Risen Christ coming to his people

So many people have said how much they have appreciated the meditations given throughout this Holy Week by Bishop Jonathan Baker. This one helps us to understand how powerfully the risen Lord comes to us in the Blessed Sacrament, so that we know him as did the disciples at Emmaus 'in the breaking of the Bread'. Bishop Jonathan ends with Benediction.

Christ is Risen. Alleluia!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

An invitation for you to join us if you can!

Corpus Christi meditation on Benediction (John Macquarrie)

Dr John Macquarrie (1919-2007) was a Scottish theologian and philosopher. He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and became an Anglican in 1962. He is best known as a key existential theologian. Among his many works are Principles of Christian Theology (1966), Jesus Christ in Modern Thought (1991) and Mary for All Christians (1991) Macquarrie was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, and a Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.


In this paragraph Macquarrie tells of a time when his world was falling apart and he discovered the little service of Benediction (which, in the Anglican tradition usually follows Evensong):

I was serving in the British army and had received notice of posting overseas. On the Sunday evening before we sailed, I was wandering through the streets of a sprawling suburban area near to where we were stationed. I came to an Anglican Church. The bell was summoning the people, and I went in. The first part of the service was familiar to me, for it was Evensong. But then followed something new to me - the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This new service meant a great deal to me. I did not know what lay ahead of me or when I might come back to these shores again, but I had been assured of our Lord’s presence and had received his sacramental blessing. I was reminded of Jacob, when he was far from home at Bethel and he heard the divine voice: ”Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.”

Subsequently, in a pamphlet on Benediction, Macquarrie writes:

Benediction is a beautiful word. It means a blessing, a greeting, and expression of kindness and love. Benedict- ion is also a beautiful service of the Church. It is a service that makes real to us in an impressive way the fact that God is always reaching out to us, to bless, to strengthen, to assure us of his loving kindness toward us. 

The greatest blessing that God could ever bestow upon mankind was the sending of his Son. That was like the beginning of a new day for the human race, like a new sunrise bringing light and hope. And it is a day that will never end, a sun that will never set, for the Eternal Son has promised to be with us until the end of the world. 

He is no longer with us in the physical body that was his in Palestine many centuries ago, but we believe that he is really present among us in the Sacrament which he appointed. 'This is my Body', he said over the bread at the Last Supper with his disciples. The same words are said over the bread at every Eucharist, that it may be to us the Body of the Lord, so that he may come again among us today as he came at his first appearing in Palestine. And just as that first appearing was like the rising of the the sun over a darkened world, so today when the Host is lifted up either in the Mass itself or in Benediction, it is like the rising of the sun upon us and we receive the radiance and warmth of God's blessing through him whom he has sent. 

Many people have the idea that Benediction has become out of date in the course of the liturgical renewal of the past few years. It is true that Benediction has now less prominence than it once had in Catholic worship, but it would be sad indeed if this service were to be undervalued for it is a very helpful item in our spiritual heritage and it has special contributions to make toward building up the life of prayer and devotion in these busy noisy times in which we live. 

Let me now say something about the meaning of Benediction. 1 shall do this by developing more fully the thought that the blessing conveyed to us in this service today is simply the vivid renewal of that great blessing of God in the sending of Jesus Christ. Just as men in ancient times were waiting for the Lord, eager for a glimmer of light through the gloom, so those who come to Benediction come with waiting, expectant hearts. 

Benediction is a popular service, that is to say, a people's service. The clever and sophisticated do not come much to Benediction, but the simple, the poor, those who acknowledge an emptiness in their lives that only God can fill. Even those who might not come to Holy Communion will sometimes come to Benediction where God reaches out to them though they think they are only on the fringes. I think of some of those with whom I have knelt at Benediction: harassed city-dwellers in New York, working- class people from the back streets of Dublin, soldiers serving in the deserts of North Africa, Indian Christians living as a tiny minority in a great Hindu city . . . They have all had the grace of humility - a quality which, alas, is not greatly encouraged in our new liturgies. But those who seek a blessing come with empty hands. 'How blessed are those who know their need of God' ' (Matthew 5:3 NEB). God cannot give a blessing to the proud, the self- sufficient, the superior, those who secretly despise the simple devotion of their brethren. So we can only come to Benediction waiting and expectant. As we sing the hymns and look upon the Host, we open our hearts to God, knowing that he who sent the blessing of his Son to lighten the darkness of the world still sends through the same Son his blessing to us. 

We do not wait on God in vain. Lifting up the Host in a monstrance (sometimes in a ciborium) the Those quiet opening moments of Benediction are very precious indeed. We take time to compose ourselves, to put ourselves together, as it were. These may be only a few minutes, but they have something of the quality of eternity. We put aside our own busy plans, policies, activities, and remain passive before God so that his voice may be heard and his grace received. This brief time of quiet alone is of inestimable value in that crazy hurried world in which we all have to live nowdays. officiating priest makes the sign of the cross in blessing over the worshippers. Christ, the Light of the world, shines upon us, and my comparison with the rising sun was appropriate because the monstrance is usually fashioned to resemble the sun's disc, with rays streaming out in all directions. Through Christ, God bestows his blessing upon us and all who are willing to receive it, just as the sun shines on all, bringing light and health. 

The seekers, the pilgrims, the weary are assured of the blessing of God in Christ, and every time Christ comes to men and women it is with the promise of a new life of hope and freedom. 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined' (Isaiah 9:2). 

Then a very remarkable thing happens. For we find ourselves saying the words of the Divine Praises: 'Blessed be God' Blessed be his holy Name' We came seeking God's blessing, and now we find that we are blessing God! This belongs so naturally to what might be called the spiritual logic of Benediction. A benediction is not something that we can selfishly keep for ourselves. It makes us too want to give a benediction. 'We love, because he first loved us' (1 John 4:19). We begin by coming in our need to God, seeking his blessing. He gives us that blessing, and our response is to bless and adore him. This is indeed the goal of all our worshipping - that we may come to love God better. And we cannot love God without loving our neighbours who are God's children, so that in seeking God's blessing, we are praying that in blessing us he will make us a blessing to others. This is how it has been since the very beginning of the people of God, when the Lord said to Abraham, 'I will bless you, so that you will be a blessing . . .' (Genesis 12:3). 

These, then, are some of the meanings contained in the service of Benediction and some of the reasons for prizing it. Let us not miss this time of precious quiet while we wait upon God in humility. Let us not miss the blessing he bestows through the Christ who conies into our midst. For in such acts of devotion we learn to love him better, and he can make us a benediction to all whom we meet.

Jesus truly present . . . where should the Tabernacle be?

  

Devotion to Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, is common enough among Anglicans these days. Over many years, however, I have observed that this devotion tends not to exist among “rank and file” worshippers where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved out of sight in a side chapel. Indeed, in that scenario, prayer to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament becomes the habit of the devout few rather than of the many.

On his excellent blog, Father John Hunwicke reminds us of Eric Mascall’s disquiet over the same phenomenon. He quotes from Mascall’s Corpus Christi: Essays on the Church and the Eucharist (1965 ed). Thankfully, after much experimentation – and even architectural vandalism - there is a movement in Anglican and Roman Catholic circles to restore the centrality of the tabernacle. If any readers have doubts about this, I urge you to think about the passage from Dr Mascall:   

The fundamental facts about the Blessed Sacrament are its publicity and its centrality. It is not a secret treasure, hidden away in a corner to be the object of devotion of the abnormally pious; it is the gift of God to his body the Church. The method of reservation which is advocated by many - though fortunately a diminishing number - of our [Anglican] bishops . . . whereby the Consecrated Elements are placed in a safe in the church wall and removed from association with the altar, seems calculated to encourage almost every wrong view of the reserved Sacrament that is conceivable. Could anything be more likely to detach the reserved Sacrament from its organic connection with the Church’s Liturgy than the provision that the place of reservation ‘shall not be immediately behind or above a Holy Table’?. . . It is therefore, I would suggest, most desirable that the Blessed Sacrament should normally be reserved in as central a place as possible, upon the high altar of the church, and that regularly some form of public devotion to the Eucharistic Presence should be held, if possible when the main body of the congregation is assembled. 

Eucharistic Devotions (from Anglican and other sources)

EUCHARISTIC DEVOTIONS in traditional English Now that the people of God are encouraged back to Mass and Holy Communion, I am sharing with you a selection of Eucharistic devotions, mostly in traditional English. I hope they are a blessing to you. Before Mass (Bishop Thomas Ken) Before Mass (William Vickers) Before Mass ("Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Angels") Before Mass ("Lord, come to me that thou mayest cleanse me") Before Mass (". . . incline thy merciful ears to our prayers") Before Mass ("Cleanse our consciences, we beseech thee O Lord") Before Mass ("As watchmen look for the morning") Before Mass (Desiderius Erasmus) Before Mass (From the Non-Jurors' Liturgy of 1718) Before Mass ("Like as the hart . . .") Before Mass (From the Diocese of Bathurst "Red Book") Before Mass (May this offering avail . . .) Before Mass (St Thomas Aquinas) Before Mass (Bishop Lancelot Andrewes) Before Mass (Bishop Thomas Ken) Before Mass (Bishop John Cosin) Before Mass (Thomas Comber) Oblation (From the liturgy of the Catholic Apostolic Church)  Uniting Heaven and Earth (Bishop Jeremy Taylor) Encountering Jesus (Eric Milner-White) The Holy Sacrifice (William Jervois) The Holy Sacrifice (Charles Wesley) Ave verum corpus (Attributed to Pope Innocent VI) To Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament Acclamation ("O Sacrament most holy . . .") The Holy Sacrifice (William Bright) To Jesus, the Risen Lord (i) (Brian Moore, adapted) To Jesus, the Risen Lord (ii) (Brian Moore, adapted) Drawing Near (From the liturgy of the Catholic Apostolic Church) To Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament To Jesus, the Lamb of God (Charlotte Elliott) Act of Spiritual Communion  Gratitude (St Richard of Chichester) Communion (From the liturgy of the Catholic Apostolic Church) To Whom shall we go? After Communion (Bishop Thomas Ken) After Mass (Bishop Jeremy Taylor) After Mass (Cardinal John Henry Newman) After Mass (St Basil the Great) Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament To Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament Litany of Christ, our Eucharistic King Adoration in the Christmas Season Desiring Jesus (Father Ignatius of Llanthony) Adoro Te (St Thomas Aquinas)

Christ the King - a beautiful Litany

Lord Jesus Christ,
reigning in the glory of heaven,
living in the hearts of your people,
and truly present before us in this Blessed Sacrament,
we come before you in adoration and love.
We thank you for making us your people
and drawing us into your love.
We thank you for all the blessings
and the strength you give us
as we make our pilgrim way through this world
to the heavenly country.

v. Lord Jesus, our Eternal King,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, most Merciful King,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who came among us in great humility,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who offers us healing and new life,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who rose glorious from the dead,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, our Eucharistic King,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, the King foretold by the prophets,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, King of Heaven and earth,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, in whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we are one,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, whose Kingdom is not from this world,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who will come upon the clouds of Heaven with Power and Great Glory,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, whose Throne of Grace we are to approach with confidence,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who, hanging on the cross, gave your Mother, Mary, to be our Mother also,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who heals us of division and disunity,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, wounded by our indifference,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, who sends the Holy Angels to protect us,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, before whom every knee shall bow,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, whose reign will never end,
R. Reign in our hearts.

v. Lord Jesus, whose kindness toward us is steadfast, and whose faithfulness endures forever,
R. Reign in our hearts. ​

Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of the living God,
we hail you as our King. ​
Through you all things came to be;
in you all things will reach their destiny. 
You are the image of your Father,
the richness of his grace,
his free gift to us of life and love. ​
You love us with an everlasting love.
You share with us your mission
to bring the Good News to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
to set the downtrodden free. ​
Lord Jesus Christ,
we hail you as our King;
use us to bring your life, your love,
and the glorious freedom of the children of God
to all with whom we share our lives;
for you live and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Corpus Christi - the SOMEWHERE of his Presence

Liturgical calendars being what they are today, some readers would have kept Corpus Christi last Thursday, and other yesterday. What a wonderful solemnity! Go HERE, HERE, and HERE for previous Corpus Christi posts. Today, I share with you a sermon I preached in 2001 at St Mary of the Angels, Hollywood, CA., USA

EVERYWHERE AND SOMEWHERE - 1

I can remember how as a typical Aussie schoolboy I would join with those who started small fires in the school playground by concentrating the sun’s rays with a magnifying glass onto my brown paper lunch bag. The sun was everywhere; it lit up as far as we could see; it gave us warmth on cold winter days; and yet it was possible to focus the light and energy of the sun very powerfully on one particular spot SOMEWHERE to great effect. 

EVERYWHERE AND SOMEWHERE - 2 

I heard of a woman who spoke of her painstaking journey from aggressive atheism to the fulness of the Catholic Faith. She looked into many non-Christian and Christian religions. Then, having come to think it more logical to believe in God than not to, she asked an evangelical pastor to help her find God. The best he could do was to say that ‘God is everywhere.’ The poor man thought he was being helpful! But what he said just made the woman angry. She said it was no use telling her that God was everywhere; she wanted to find him SOMEWHERE. 

Eventually she discovered Catholic Christianity - the kind that goes right back to Jesus and the apostles - with its Eucharistic worship and its proclamation that under the appearances of bread and wine, the God of glory lies hidden, to be worshipped and adored and lovingly received in Holy Communion. She found the Blessed Sacrament of the altar to be the SOMEWHERE of God’s encounter with us.

SPIRITUAL INTENSITY 

Back in the 1970’s, the Roman Catholic Chaplain to Newcastle University in Australia, who had a deep interest in comparative religion, told me about the months he spent in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery exploring the common ground between Christian and Buddhist spirituality. Being a priest, he asked to have a small room in which to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, say the Divine Office, and celebrate his daily Mass. Early one morning, a senior monk sat on the floor just inside the doorway, and stayed there motionless while my friend said Mass. When it was over, the monk asked him how often Christians went through this particular ceremony. He was stunned when my friend said . . . ‘every day!’ The monk replied that he would not be able to cope with experiencing such spiritual intensity so often . . . that it was as if all that there was and all that there ever will be had converged and become focused at that point in time and space. What a wonderful testimony to the mystery and power of our Lord’s presence in the Eucharist!

I know there are people all around us who can accept that God is EVERYWHERE, but who cannot conceive of encountering him SOMEWHERE. Even some Christians think it is blasphemous to talk of the SOMEWHERE of his presence. We have a name for this. We call it the ‘scandal of particularity.’ Some Christians today even speak about the particularity of the Incarnation itself in hushed tones so as not to be ridiculed. ‘How odd of God to choose the Jews’ in whose tradition to become incarnate, taking to himself human flesh in a particular time, in a particular place, in a particular culture, born of a particular teenage Virgin. How incomprehensible that this God who is EVERYWHERE would come into our world SOMEWHERE IN PARTICULAR without destroying the EVERYWHERE of his presence.

‘THIS IS MY BODY’ 

Come with me to the upper room. To the last supper Jesus ate with his disciples, those who were to be the nucleus of his new humanity. To the occasion of his creating what would be the SOMEWHERE of his presence for those who love him from then until the end of time. In the beautiful words of the Italian mystic Luigi Santucci:

“At this point I see his eyes wandering around over the remains of the bread on the table-cloth, and then shining with an ineffable inspiration: this, this would be his hiding place. That’s where he would take refuge. That night they wouldn’t capture him in his entirety; they’d think they’d done so, they’d think they’d dragged him away from his companions, yet really they would scourge and crucify a ghost: he had hidden himself in that bread. Rather as in Galilee, when they wanted to seize him and kill him or make him king, he had the knack of hiding himself and disappearing from sight. So he stretched out his hand over the already broken bread, broke it into smaller bits and, raising it in the air, pronounced the words of the magic transition: ‘This is my body, it’s been given for you.’

“ . . . no, it wasn’t to escape the lance-thrusts. All his flesh - not a ghost - was there for the executioners to tear at within a few hours. But the hiding place was still valid, and by inventing it in that instant he really did leave to his followers a Christ that no-one could ferret out and wrench from their hands. Let them eat him. Let their breast become the hiding-place of a hiding-place. A little earlier Jesus had washed their feet, he’d besmirched himself with the muddiest part of their physical being. Now he wanted to do more: he wanted to go down their throats, mix himself with their mucous membranes to the point of transforming himself, and gradually melt into all the fibres of their body.

“The primary significance of the Eucharist isn’t mystical but physical, almost a clinging to the material being of his friends who would stay on and live. He said ‘This is my body’ with a tenderness that first and foremost exalted it itself. Not ‘This is my spirit’ or ‘This is generalised goodness or well-being’ - possibly they wouldn’t have known what to do with such things. It was necessary to them that he should remain with the only thing we really know and attach our hearts and memories to - the body; and that it should be a desirable, acceptable and homely body. That’s why he looked over that table-cloth for the easiest, most familiar and most concrete thing: bread. So as to quench hunger and give pleasure. Above all so as to stay. That evening Christ measured out for us all the millions of evenings before we’d see him face to face; he measured out the long separation. He knew that men forget things within a few days, that distance destroys things, that it’s useless for lovers to insert a lock of hair in letters that are going far across land and sea. If Peter himself, and John and Andrew and James would forget, then in order that their children and their grandchildren shouldn’t forget he had to throw between himself and me that never-ending bridge of bread . . .” (Luigi Santucci, Wrestling With Christ, p.155-157).

Isn’t that beautiful!

EVERYWHERE AND SOMEWHERE - 3 

The Mass is the centre of the Church’s life, because it is the SOMEWHERE of our encounter with the risen Jesus who, indeed, is EVERYWHERE, filling all things in heaven and earth with his presence and his love. In the Mass we are bound to one another by Jesus. We become part of his offering to the Father, and our union with him and with one another is deepened. Indeed, in a passage that fits nicely with the words I quoted from Santucci, Father William Johnston can say:

“As one assimilates the Eucharist, one is filled with the most tremendous energy - for . . . this is the bread of life (It) is medicinal, healing, leading to integration of the personality, pointing beyond the state of integrity to the resurrection, which is the state of glory.

“. . . the Eucharist is a cosmic symbol. Through reception of this sacrament we are united not only with the individual Jesus but with the whole Christ. We are united with those who have gone before us, with those in the state of purification, with the poor, and the sick and the oppressed; for all are his members. Indeed, we are united with the whole human family each of whom is related to the risen Lord in a way that surpasses human understanding.” 

(William Johnston, The Wounded Stag, p. 111)

IS BENEDICTION OK? 

So far, so good. Most Christians, and nearly all Anglicans would agree with what has been said. But every now and then someone calls into question the little service we know as ‘Benediction’, usually held at the end of Evensong, when we pour out our love, our worship, and our adoration to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 

Mostly we come in joy, but sometimes in fear and trembling, perhaps aware of our sins, perhaps apprehensive about our future; and sometimes we come in sorrow, But we do come. We kneel, we gaze, we wonder, we adore, we love him. We allow the glory of the sacred presence of Jesus to shine upon us. We are warmed as the Sun of Righteousness is lifted up above us, for he is risen with healing in his wings. 

Is this right? Well, all I can say is that this little service answers to a really deep need, an instinct, that many of us feel in our hearts. In fact, to allay the fears of people from other traditions, Dr David Hope, when he was Archbishop of York, said that the only Christians who could possibly object to Benediction are those who definitely do not believe that the presence of Jesus is in any way connected with the bread of the Eucharist.

Or put a different way, wherever Jesus is, there he is to be worshipped and adored.

Now the Mass itself is properly an ACTIVITY of the people united with Jesus our great High Priest, in which we receive him in Holy Communion. The Mass has its own ancient structure, shape and dynamic, and to introduce protracted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament into it could well destroy the careful balance of the action and drama of the liturgy. 

A WONDERFUL MOVEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

But as far back as the thirteenth century, lay people in the West began to express their desire to gaze on the sacramental presence of Jesus with faith, love and devotion. They wanted to fix their eyes on the Eucharistic body of the risen Jesus, and exclaim with S. Thomas ‘My Lord and my God’. 

Fortunately, the bishops recognised this to be a real movement of the Holy Spirit among the people of God, and encouraged both the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament in the Mass and extended devotions that evolved into Benediction as we know it today. My brothers and sisters, I want to affirm the rightness of that development, that movement of the Holy Spirit, that outpouring of love to Jesus, in the face of so much shrunken thinking about Jesus and the Sacraments in the Church of our time.

Coming to Benediction to honour the Sacramental presence of Jesus, to gaze on the Sacred Host in wonder, love and praise, is to open ourselves to the healing and renewal that flows from him. It is also, when you think about it, one way of treating him as if he really is God. We kneel before him adoringly, there in the divinely appointed SOMEWHERE of his sacred presence. This kind of Catholic worship is one way of being made whole in our crazy world which has done its best to eradicate any sense of reverence, transcendence, awe and mystery.

And what we do in Benediction IS scriptural! We have always known that through the action of the Mass we participate in the worship of heaven. If we want to see what the heavenly worship is like, we turn to the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of S. John the Divine. There are two main pictures there. The first is the “marriage supper of the Lamb” . . . eating and drinking - banqueting - in the Kingdom, with Jesus (the heavenly Bridegroom) and with our brothers and sisters (the Church, which is his Bride). Since the earliest days of the Church we have known that in the Mass we participate even now in that eternal mystery. We don’t ‘imitate’ it. We are swept up into it! But the other theme, the other side of the coin, is that the heavenly worship DOES include the kind of thing we do in Benediction. For we read:

‘ . . . I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, I heard saying, Blessing, honour, glory and power be to him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped him who lives for ever and ever’ (Revelation 5:11-14).

EYES SHINING WITH UNUTTERABLE LOVE 

In preparing us all for prayer my final reading is a well-known passage from Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows, in its own way expressing so beautifully our instinct for worship, and the wonder of the encounter that takes place. It’s when Rat and Mole are rowing down the river and hear the sound of strange music. They follow the music to a place of ‘solemn stillness.’ Suddenly:

‘Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror - indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy - but it was an awe that smote and held him, and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very very near. He raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fullness and incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper . . . “Rat!” He found breath to whisper, shaking. “Are you afraid?” “Afraid?” murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. “Afraid! of Him O, never never! And yet and yet - O Mole, I am afraid!” Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.’  

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.