Today’s question is a philosophical or theological one. My question is this: What is faith? What do we mean when we pledge faithfulness to one another? Perhaps, another word for faith is trust. Trust within a relationship means: I will never harm you. Yet, trust goes beyond doing no harm. Faith and trust mean: I will always have your best interest as my own, major interest. Faith is knowing that something will happen, because the one you trust says it will happen.
Today’s readings are about faith. In our first reading, the Israelites said they saw only violence and misery in life. But the Lord God responded through the words of Habakkuk, the prophet, that they must focus on the vision, on what they have been promised to see in the future, on the vision that will be fulfilled. Have faith. Trust in the word of the Lord God and have life. That is the message.
In the second reading, Paul in his letter to Timothy reminds him that Timothy’s faith, his trust, would be strengthened by the action of the Holy Spirit who dwells within him.
The apostles, too, were concerned about faith, about their trust in their relationship with their master. In today’s Gospel Reading, they asked, like many of us, they asked their master to increase their faith. It seems that they wanted a greater ability or, perhaps, greater reasons to trust him.
Jesus gave them a strange answer. He said: you don’t need more faith. You have enough faith no matter how little you may think you have. If you used what you perceive is your “limited” faith, you could, in fact, up-root trees merely by speaking to them. All you need to do, he said, is to do what is expected of you, what your duty calls you to do. He seems to be saying: trust in the relationship you already have with the master who has your welfare in mind. You already have sufficient faith to accomplish all that is required of you.
And what is required? We know the basic requirement, the fundamental law: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. We also know the core of our faith, of our trust in our own relationship with Christ, the core, the heart, which proclaims: he died for us. He is risen. He will come again. We re-affirm this faith, this trust in his words, at each and every celebration of the Eucharist. As Catholic Christians, we’ve been doing this for two-thousand years.
Over the centuries, the fundamental way in which we have done this, has not changed. We have gathered to hear the word of God in holy scripture. We have gathered in a fellowship meal where the elder, the presbyter, the priest prays to God the Father to send down the Holy Spirit to consecrate, to make holy, the bread and the wine to become the body and blood of Christ.
Over the centuries, the words and actions have changed with time, place and culture; but the fundamentals of this faithful relationship have remained constant, unchanged. Forty years ago, a generation ago, the bishops of the world, the direct successors of the apostles, met in Vatican City to revise some of the externals which had changed dramatically since the time of the apostles, themselves.
Many Catholic Christians throughout the world, and particularly in the United States, were disturbed by the changes. Many others equally embraced the changes. Most seemed happy to be able to understand the words now spoken in English, rather than in Latin. Some were uncomfortable with the idea that we are to be a worshiping community and not a collection of individuals praying to God at the same time.
Yes, there were many changes. Sometimes, it seemed that the changes were made merely for the sake of making changes rather than returning the liturgy, our public gathering, to the simplicity of those first, Christian liturgical celebrations. In some instances, there seemed to be a loss in the perception of a basic truth: namely, that in our communion with God, we consume not bread and wine but the actual body & blood of Christ.
In order to prevent the loss of this basic truth, the Vatican has recently issued a new set of changes to re-enforce our perception that we consume the body and blood of Christ, himself. These changes are not just for the diocese of Galveston-Houston, but are for the world-wide Catholic church.
Some may wonder why we need to change here at Christ the Good Shepherd. They function under the view: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. However, the rules are for everyone in the universal church. They have been structured to focus on the Eucharist, itself. These changes began with a recent papal encyclical on the Eucharist. They’re being implemented by a new Vatican document with the long title: “On Certain Matters to be Observed or to be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist.” The final implementation of this document is to be done throughout the entire Roman Catholic church by the First Sunday of Advent, the last weekend in November.
Here at Good Shepherd we will be making these changes over the next several weeks in order to have them in place by the beginning of Advent; and yet take into consideration the physical limitations of our own environment. So what we do here at Good Shepherd, may not be exactly what you see done at other parishes.
So what will you see here, at Christ the Good Shepherd? First of all, trays with individual cups will be brought to the altar when the gifts of bread and wine are brought forward. The wine will be poured at this time. The new document expresses a concern that in the pouring of any liquid, some might be spilled. It is one thing to spill wine; it is entirely another matter to spill the Precious Blood.
And this is what we believe. Once the wine has been consecrated, it is no longer wine, but it is now the body and blood of Christ. And so, the wine is to be poured before it is consecrated, before it becomes the Precious Blood.
There is also a concern that the cups containing the Precious Blood might be broken, not necessarily at CGS, but remember, these changes are for every Catholic parish in the world. So to preclude the possibility of breakage, the cups can no longer be glass, crystal or pottery. They must be of silver, gold or pewter: metals that cannot rust nor corrode, that do not break. We will also change from glass to metal bowls for the distribution of the consecrated hosts.
To focus on the Eucharist, itself, you will also see other changes at the time when the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar. For instance, these gifts of bread and wine will be brought forward before the collection of funds has been completed. The large basket with the combined collection will no longer be brought forward and placed by the altar.
Many of you bring gifts of food and other products for the poor. We want to encourage you, and others, to continue this generous practice. However, the location for your gifts will be changed. They should not be placed directly in the sanctuary around the altar, but they should be placed in and around the baskets which will be at the front of the main aisle. So if your children bring up these gifts, please instruct them about the new location for these gifts.
There are also certain aspects of receiving the body and blood of Christ that you should be aware of. It has always been the case that the consecrated host and the precious blood are both the body and blood of Christ, even though the priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of holy communion, when offering the consecrated host would say: “the body of Christ” and with the consecrated wine, “the blood of Christ.”
The reason for reminding you of this, is because of another factor. The new rules encourage that only enough hosts be consecrated for use at a particular mass, with a few held for distribution to the sick. This practice emphasizes the relationship of the consecration, itself, to the body of Christ you receive during communion. So if for some wild reason, we have an insufficient number of consecrated hosts, we want you to realize that the consecrated wine is both the Precious Blood and the Body of Christ and can be received by itself, without previously consuming the consecrated host.
Finally, a couple of other reminders about receiving communion. If you follow the instruction: “take and eat,” you’re encouraged not to reach out and grab the host. But rather, you should hold out your hands, with one below the other, depending on whether you’re right- or left-handed, so that the priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of holy communion can place the body of Christ in one hand and you, yourself, can transfer it to your mouth with your other hand.
You should consume the host immediately; and not walk away with it in your hand. To show your reverence for the body of Christ, or for the Precious Blood, you should bow your head immediately before receiving the host or the cup and say “Amen” in response to the words “the body of Christ” and “the blood of Christ” … remembering that the Hebrew word “Amen” means “I believe.”
Finally, some may want to use the old method of intinction, that is, inserting the host into the cup and consuming the consecrated host and Precious Blood at the same time. If you wish to receive in this manner, the new rules say you must give the host to the priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of holy communion, who will intinct the host and place it directly on your tongue. You are not to intinct the host yourself.
If I may, there is also a comment for those who wish to receive the body of Christ directly on the tongue, the way it was done when I was a child. Back then, the good sisters and the priests gave us the firm instruction that this is the time, the only time, when we should stick out our tongue! It was not enough just to open our mouths, no matter how wide we opened them. The priest had to place the host on my tongue easily, without searching for it!
Over the coming weeks, there may be other changes as well. For example, when to stand or knell. (Use hand motions to demonstrate.) So yes, be prepared to experience several changes in how we celebrate the mass, beginning now, in October, the month John Paul II has dedicated for the opening of a special “Year of the Eucharist.”
But with time, these new actions will become part of our lives and this is still what our actions and our faith are really all about: becoming an intimate part of our Christian lives. I began by speaking about faith and trust. This is still my focus: faith and trust that in my communion, I receive the true body and blood of Christ, who is with me always, so that I may continue in a faithful, trusting relationship with him, forever. Amen!
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time; October 3, 2004
Habakkuk 1:2-3;2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14; Luke 17:5-10