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Conventional Catholic Theology promulgates the doctrine that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, leaves us with a renewable and everlasting gift in the form of the Eucharist, the actual body of Christ (God). A gift to be renewed and given to mankind over and over during the 'Liturgy' of the Mass.
The word 'liturgy' (Leitourgia) stems from the Greek, literally meaning a publicaly witnessed action.
It merits pause to consider the reason that Christ may have instituted this most indelible and everlasting gift, the giving of his very body, as the communal act which now serves as the focal point of the Catholic Church (and to some extent, most of Protestant Churches.) Christ, via the Eucharist, chose to appeal specifically to one of the human senses, that of Taste, and uses primarily this human element as the liturgical centerpiece to the Mass.
Although the other senses of touch, hearing, smell and sight may be tangentially involved in the Catholic Celebration, it is nonetheless curious that this singular human sense is the one which Christ predominantly embraces as a special vehicle for communing with mankind.
Ostensibly, he chose the very distinct channel of Taste and Consumption, by which to serve as that conduit for infusing his actual persona and spirit into the human body. He could possibly have selected as easily an alternative ritual, appealing to the any of the other senses, to institute this new sacrament to his disciples, at some other venue other than the Last Supper.
Consider the sense of touch. Christ could have readily chose and instituted, as example, the clasping of hands or of hugging a certain way and then stating to all "The Lord's Love Touches All..Do this in memory of me." An act which would then become the liturgy and focal point of the Mass, rather than the act of eating Bread and Wine.
Likewise, he could have as easily produced a certain sound by ringing a small bell before the disciples, appealing to their sense of hearing, and thereby likewise insituting a new sacrament that would bind all together at a similar form of repeated liturgical celebration. He could have augmented this act by uttering some other directive such as "Do this in memory of me... for all to 'Hear' the truth..."
He could have even perhaps chosen the olfactory sense of smell, and the communal act of possibly smelling a fresh rose or fragrant spices from a shared gold vial and saying "The Goodness of the Lord is Sweet.. do this in memory of me" as that supernatural act that would forever bind mankind to his spirit.
However, ultimately, he chose taste and food as that binding factor to be the focal point and quintessent expression of the Catholic liturgy, an act which would be re-enacted for all time during the mass.
In his infinate wisdom, however, Christ chose this specific human sense by which mankind is intrinsically bound, via the communal act of human consumption nutrition to sustain the Soul as well as Body, "Take and eat this all of you, for this is my Body."
Genius...pure genius that only God could institute.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on 7/20/2006 10:15:11 PM. View other articles written byMichael Angelo Massa, J.D.(479)
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