Thankful on/for a Friday

This time next week I'll be 56. It's hard to believe. I read something recently that pointed out that as many years have passed from 1980 to 2021 and as passed between 1939 and 1980. Forty-one years, to be exact. As I suppose it was intended to do, it kind of put things into perspective. Just wow!

So, it is November, which kicks off with the liturgical festival of All Saints/All Souls. I guess most of us are predisposed to having some kind of affinity with our birth months. My favorite seasons of the year are the transitional seasons: Spring and Fall. I also realize that without Winter and Summer the transitional seasons would be impossible. October here along the Wasatch Front was lovely. November, so far, has been nice too.

Yesterday I read through the draft of the USCCB's much-discussed document on the Eucharist. Given the focus and content, I am still not sure why such a document is necessary. In the beginning, the focus seems to be the importance of participation in the Eucharistic celebration. This is a theme worthy of being developed. Sadly, it isn't developed very much.

I love the Eucharist. I love Mass. Grasping the centrality of the Eucharist, which is the font from which the Church and all her activities should flow, is important. It bears repeating and reinforcing in creative and imaginative ways, attending to the audience and the context.

While the document does cite the Second Vatican Council, including its call for full, active, and conscious participation in the Mass, when discussing Christ's Real Presence, the document does not invoke what I take to be one of central sections of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy [Sacrosanctum Concilium], section 7:

To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross", but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20) .

Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father.

Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.

From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.

Instead, the document focuses on Christ present in the consecrated elements, making use of the language of substance, which, while not surprising, kind of misses the boat for a lot of people, especially since most people don't "have" a metaphysics of substance- everyone has a metaphysics, an idea about how creation and even reality work. It would be refreshing at some point to recognize that perhaps the only convincing "proof" that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ are lives of those who partake of it. This can be done without completely sacrificing the old ex opere operato nature of the sacrament (i.e., the bread and wine become Christ's body and blood whether you believe it or not). Of course, faith must be operative if participation in the Eucharist is to give the life of a Christian shape and form.

Given the language and overall presentation, I am unclear to whom this document is addressed. But, then, not being a bishop, I will defer to their collective judgment about what is pastorally required in the present moment. I think, given the rather anodyne nature of the document, I am quite certain it will pass with the required 2/3rds majority. For those who might be interested, here is a link to the draft document. Here is a link to Msgr. Kevin Irwin's take on the draft. Finally, theologian Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt's reponse to Msgr. Irwin's article.

Because I am a sucker for a choir and because today is a beautiful day that finds me feeling rather upbeat, our Friday traditio is a very cool choral version of The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love."