William Barry & communion
My last post about communion reminded me of something I had read in one of Jesuit William A Barry's books, Discernment in Prayer: Paying Attention to God. Here's how chapter 12 starts ....
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Imagine this scene: Pope John XXV has just visited the Cathedral of Canterbury and concelebrated the Eucharist with the Archbishop of Canterbury. This event was a surprise to all, but word of its occurrence quickly spread as the media converged on the scene. Only two members of the Roman Curia, close confidants of the Pope, knew what he intended. The rest of the curial cardinals are aghast and some are quite angry. Pope John returns to Rome and meets with the cardinals in a closed-door session. They rather testily ask him to explain himself. He says: "A week ago I was praying, and I had a vision in which I was offered communion by an Anglican bishop. I started to refuse, but heard a voice say, 'This is my body; take and eat.' It happened three times. Right after that I got a phone call from the Archbishop of Canterbury who told me that while he was praying he heard a voice tell him, 'Invite the Pope to concelebrate at Canterbury.' So I consulted with my two closest confidants , and I went. During the liturgy the Archbishop and I and those around us felt the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit."
I leave it to my readers to imagine the reactions of the cardinals. I have another purpose in mind. As mind boggling as this scenario may seem, something like it seems to have happened in the early church (cf. Acts 10-11) [where Peter decides, thanks to a vision in prayer, that Christianity is for Gentiles as well as Jews] ......
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Imagine this scene: Pope John XXV has just visited the Cathedral of Canterbury and concelebrated the Eucharist with the Archbishop of Canterbury. This event was a surprise to all, but word of its occurrence quickly spread as the media converged on the scene. Only two members of the Roman Curia, close confidants of the Pope, knew what he intended. The rest of the curial cardinals are aghast and some are quite angry. Pope John returns to Rome and meets with the cardinals in a closed-door session. They rather testily ask him to explain himself. He says: "A week ago I was praying, and I had a vision in which I was offered communion by an Anglican bishop. I started to refuse, but heard a voice say, 'This is my body; take and eat.' It happened three times. Right after that I got a phone call from the Archbishop of Canterbury who told me that while he was praying he heard a voice tell him, 'Invite the Pope to concelebrate at Canterbury.' So I consulted with my two closest confidants , and I went. During the liturgy the Archbishop and I and those around us felt the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit."
I leave it to my readers to imagine the reactions of the cardinals. I have another purpose in mind. As mind boggling as this scenario may seem, something like it seems to have happened in the early church (cf. Acts 10-11) [where Peter decides, thanks to a vision in prayer, that Christianity is for Gentiles as well as Jews] ......
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posted by crystal | 10:59 PM
3 Comments:
It sad, and it's unfortunate, but how can we concelebrate with people like Ben Witherington, who wrote the following?
And then of course there is the profound problem with the whole notions of transubstantiation and consubstantiation from an historical viewpoint. Jesus' earliest followers were all Jews. He spoke to them in Aramaic at that last meal using some of the elements of the Passover meal which clearly was a symbolic meal (i.e. the herbs represent the bitterness of bondage). Had Jesus said anything remotely like "This is transformed into my body" they would have run out of the room screaming-- it would have sounded like cannibalism to them.
If we're such pagans, who misinterpret the clear words of scripture so badly, why would anyone want to concelebrate with us anyway?
They wouldn't. And they don't. Put the blame where it belongs.
I don't really understand about the eucharist. I have to read more about it. I did see something about Karl Rahner on it somewhere .... if I can find it, I might post about it.
It's inevitable that Catholics and Protestants will find stuff they disagree on but maybe Fr. Barry meant that the Holy Spirit is with both?
Okay, okay... I'll try to be better. ;-)
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