Coming to the Lord's table - #12

Those responsible for preparing liturgical prayer - priests, deacons, musicians, planning groups - often find it helpful to have a checklist. The checklist has three columns: (1) things we want to do, (2) things we resist doing, (3) things we just are not aware of. For example, every parish makes a point to purchase hosts and altar wine for mass. But some parishes resist using bread that appears, feels, and tastes truly and substantially like bread. There are many reasons given for resistance. Here are some I've heard from priests. The people are used to hosts and would not like baked bread. They don't like it. They will complain (directly or indirectly). I don't want to put contemplative nuns out of business since they support themselves by making and selling hosts. It's too impractical and I cannot figure how to reserve the Eucharist for the sick. Whew! Similarly, some parishes do not offer the cup to the baptized, an action that is their birthright in faith. The resistance is verbalized in this way. They don't want it. I won't be able to get people to minister cups. It's too hard to figure out where ministers of the cup would position themselves. It costs too much to give the cup to everyone. Suppose there is too much left over after communion. Whew! And the beat goes on!

Sometimes things don't get implemented because otherwise responsible people are not aware, are not informed. Part two (The qualities of Signs and Symbols in the Communion Rite) of Service at the Table of the Lord is a good memory jogger. "Great care must be taken in preparing the bread and wine for through the power of the Holy Spirit these gifts will become the body and blood of Christ. It is important that these essential elements be able to satisfy our natural hunger and thirst just as they nourish our spiritual hunger with the life of Christ at the same time. It not only points to Christ but helps us to really encounter the Lord in the sacrament (p 10-11)." When the signs of faith, bread and wine, are as authentic as possible, when they are ample and sufficient, they help point us to Christ. They lead us into a profound faith-filled encounter with the passion of the Lord. "The gifts offered become Christ for us and through our sharing in the one bread and one cup we become the body of Christ. We receive the blood of the lord and we become a people willing to shed our blood, give our lives, and expend our energy in witness to Christ crucified.

"From ancient tradition, the bread for eucharist is to be made from wheat flour and water and the wine from grapes. The bread must be made only from wheat and...been baked recently: according to the long standing tradition of the Latin Church, it must be unleavened. The wine...must be from the fruit of the vine, natural and pure, that is not mixed with any foreign substance. Care must be taken that the elements are kept in good condition: that the wine does not turn to vinegar or the bread spoil or become too hard to be broken easily (p11)."