Once I saw an ink-drawn icon of Christ in vestments holding the bread and chalice.
It was at once familiar and so strikingly new. It just seemed right. Indeed, in the liturgy this is actually what the priest's role in the Eucharist is: to be a sort of vicarious Christ (and a vicarious church).
But seeing Christ as priest--more, Great High Priest--made the Eucharist so much like a gift. It reminded me of some thoughts I had a few weeks ago about the mystery of the Eucharist. I was walking in the park, and, as I am wont to do pondering such things, I was struck by the paradoxes and complex beauty of all that happens and is happening in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the culmination of Christian worship.
It is seen. It is smelled. It is touched. It is heard. It is tasted. It is bodily and spiritual. It is mystical and tangible.
It is past. It is present. It is future all at once.
It is receiving and responding.
It is a sacred mystery, unlike any other, yet it is so present and real.
In it we commune with Christ and we commune in Christ. It is the memorial of Christ's giving himself for us and it is the experience of Christ giving himself to us.
That's what this icon was getting at. In the Eucharist, Christ gives himself to us anew. He is the bread of life (John 6), and only he can sustain us. If we do not eat his flesh, we have no part in him.
It was at once familiar and so strikingly new. It just seemed right. Indeed, in the liturgy this is actually what the priest's role in the Eucharist is: to be a sort of vicarious Christ (and a vicarious church).
But seeing Christ as priest--more, Great High Priest--made the Eucharist so much like a gift. It reminded me of some thoughts I had a few weeks ago about the mystery of the Eucharist. I was walking in the park, and, as I am wont to do pondering such things, I was struck by the paradoxes and complex beauty of all that happens and is happening in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the culmination of Christian worship.
It is seen. It is smelled. It is touched. It is heard. It is tasted. It is bodily and spiritual. It is mystical and tangible.
It is past. It is present. It is future all at once.
It is receiving and responding.
It is a sacred mystery, unlike any other, yet it is so present and real.
In it we commune with Christ and we commune in Christ. It is the memorial of Christ's giving himself for us and it is the experience of Christ giving himself to us.
That's what this icon was getting at. In the Eucharist, Christ gives himself to us anew. He is the bread of life (John 6), and only he can sustain us. If we do not eat his flesh, we have no part in him.