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Christifying Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving Table Blessing

The celebration of Thanksgiving naturally lends itself to being understood by Christians through a Christocentric, or, more to it, Eucharistic lens. The reason for this stems from the straightforward linguistic connection, the English eucharist having its roots in the Greek eucharisteó, meaning to be thankful for or give thanks. For the Christian, then, the celebration of Thanksgiving ought to immediately prompt an intuitive connection with the celebration of the Eucharist. The aesthetics alone get us much of the way there, the entire celebration revolving around the joyful preparation and consumption of food, in the presence of those we love most. The connections between the celebration of Thanksgiving today and that of the first Eucharist by Our Lord and his closest disciples is readily apparent. The disciples we are told had sought the Master’s directions for where to procure the appropriate accommodations and prepare the Passover meal (Mt. 26:16). When the moment was right, Our Lord took what had already been a liturgical meal and elevated it even further; fulfilling what had been foreshadowed by the Passover by giving Himself to His disciples under the appearances of bread and wine. Because of this the best thing we can do to celebrate Thanksgiving is, of course, go to Mass. In this way the celebration in the home is transfigured beforehand, as it were, if we consciously approach the rest of our day in a liturgical frame of mind.

That said, the Church does give us the tools to make the connection more overt and robust so that, in a certain way, as the Passover foreshadowed the Eucharist, our Thanksgiving celebrations might reflect and lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning of the gift given to us in the Eucharist. I am here making reference to the “Extended Thanksgiving Table Blessing” that appears in the USCCB’s Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers. As a side note, this text is a veritable treasure trove of riches that the Church has provided for us in order to facilitate the exercise of our participation in the priestly office bestowed upon us at Baptism within our homes and so transform the lives of our families into the domestic church’s called for by the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium, 11). The text provides a shorter form of the blessing that could be used as a prayer before meals, but the longer version is structured as a small liturgical celebration, focused as are many of the blessings contained in the text on the Liturgy of the Word.

The scriptural passage given in the text comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (3:12-17). Careful attention to this text has the potential to Christify our Thanksgiving celebrations and in this way make them more Eucharistic. The most straightforward reason for the selection of the text comes from the author’s various uses of the language of thanksgiving. For instance, in verse 15 appears the straightforward admonishment: “And be thankful,” serving as a sort of marker just after the midway point of the passage of what the main thrust of the passage is. The main message, then, appears in the concluding verse (v. 17), which reads: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” There are two important elements to draw out here, the first providing the scriptural basis for the second liturgical one. First, it is important to note that the words “thankful” and “giving thanks” are rooted in the same Greek word mentioned at the outset, eucharisteó. This is also the basis of the word used by Paul to describe the action of Our Lord at the Last Supper. There Paul writes that Jesus “took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks (eucharistēsas), he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (1 Cor 11:24). The initial scriptural basis, then, makes an immediate connection to the Eucharist and therefore when we read this passage this connection ought to come to mind. However, we can go a step further to make the liturgical connection even more robust. In the last line of the passage noted above, Paul exhorts his readers to do everything that they do “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Upon hitting our ears these words ought to prompt our recollection of the Concluding Doxology of the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass, which is itself very closely connected to Colossians 1:17-20: “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever.”

To this we respond, Amen, so be it, it is true! Of course, later on as we receive the Eucharist, the priest elevates the sacred species before us once again and we will give the same response to the words, “the Body of Christ,” Amen, I believe, it is true! On first thought we may consider that our Amen is an acknowledgement of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and rightly so. But in the early 5th century, Augustine reminded his parishioners that their, and our, Amen has an additional significance. He told them, “It is to what you are that you reply Amen, and by so replying you express your assent. What you hear, you see, is The body of Christ, and you answer, Amen. So be a member of the body of Christ, in order to make that Amen true” (Sermon 272). Augustine’s message here is one which the Church has never ceased to remind us of down through the ages, that when we receive the Eucharist a sort of reverse digestion takes place, it is not we who consume Christ, but it is Christ who consumes us in order to permeate the whole of our life and so conform us completely to Him.

Our transformation into other Christs, i.e., Christians, demands that we allow every facet of our existence to be transfigured so that St. Paul’s statement might become our own: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:19-20). For the Fathers of the Church down through St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the principal ways we do this is through the cultivation of the virtues, which denotes participation in the life of Christ, the virtue and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), their several instantiations manifesting the life of Christ within us to the world.

This is precisely what Aquinas exegetes from the passage included in the “Thanksgiving Table Blessing.” The opening words of this passage, “put on,” prompt Aquinas to make a ready connection to Romans chapter 13. Both passages speak of leaving the life of sin behind for the life of grace in Jesus Christ (see Col 3:1-11). And thus Aquinas writes that here we are being told by Paul to put on the very same things he had written about in his Letter to the Romans, i.e., the armor of light (Rom 13:12). Said differently, to clothe ourselves with the One Who is the Light of the world, Jesus Christ (Jn. 8:12). Aquinas writes that we put on the armor of light “when our exterior actions are made pleasing by the virtues” (Commentary on Colossians, Ch. 3, L 3.158). He then goes on to comment on the several virtues named in the passage, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness (Col 3:12-13). The passage then exhorts us above all, to “put on love, that is, the bond of perfection” and to “let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one Body” before calling us the first time to “be thankful” (Col 3:14-15). Within Aquinas’s system this couldn’t make more sense, for it is the virtues that perfect the powers of the soul, allowing them to act in peaceful concert with one another and so overcome the chaos and warring cause by vice and sin in the soul. Moreover, the perfection of the virtues comes from the gift of divine love which unites us to God. Thus, Aquinas writes that Paul exhorts us to above all put on love because while “all the virtues perfect man…love unites them to each other and makes them permanent; and this is why it is said to bind. Or, it is said to bind because it is the bond of its very nature, for love unties the beloved to the lover: I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love (Hos 11:4)” (Commentary on Colossians, Ch. 3, L 3.163).

With the help of Aquinas we can see, then, that by making the eucharistic terminology used in 1 Corinthians central to the passage and surrounding it with the language of virtue, what Paul is doing in Colossians is analogous to what is done by John in his Gospel. John’s Gospel is the only one of the four to not include the institution narrative at the Last Supper. Instead, what we find in John’s Gospel is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples (Jn 13:1-20), modeling, as it were, what ought to be the effect of being consumed by Him in the Eucharist, i.e., a life of self-sacrificing love characterized by the imitation of his virtues. The “Thanksgiving Table Blessing” parallels this movement which we also experience at the celebration of the Mass. After the reading a prayer is offered, and next those gathered are asked to offer their prayers of thanksgiving, paralleling the prayers of the faithful. Finally, the concluding prayer reads: “For all that we have spoken and for all that we keep in our hearts, accept our thanksgiving on this day. Keep us ever mindful of those who lack the necessities of life and make us generous in sharing all that we have. We pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In this blessing, we are therefore likewise sent out as at the end of Mass to proclaim the Gospel by our lives, first and foremost caring for those in need. And in this way, the “Thanksgiving Table Blessing” parallels John’s Gospel, for here we do not receive the Eucharist, but are as to become Eucharist for the life of the world in Thanksgiving for all that we have received from our God.

Your servant in Christ,

Tony

N. B. For those who do not have a copy of Catholic Household Blessings and Prayer, the “Extended Thanksgiving Table Blessing” can be found here.

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FRESH Exemplars

FRESH Exemplars: St. Leo the Great

November 10

Happy Memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church!

What does it mean to be great? St. Leo, whom the Church celebrates today, was the first Pope to receive the attribution of “the Great.” When we think of what it means to be great perhaps our minds turn to those whom our society most admires, for example, professional athletes, musicians, actors and actresses, and business moguls. Who we admire, who we think of as great, is important for a society, as it is precisely those who we develop a desire to imitate, for, as Aristotle taught, the human being is “the most imitative creature in the world, and learns at first by imitation” (Poetics, 1444B). It is then worth asking what it was that made St. Leo “the great” as this will shed light on what it means, from a Christian perspective, to be great.

Around the year 400 AD, Leo was born to a Roman aristocratic family. “In about the year 430 A.D., he became a deacon of the Church of Rome,” in which Pope Benedict XVI tells us, “he acquired over time a very important position” (General Audience, March 5, 2008). Ten years later, in September 440 AD, Leo was consecrated as Bishop of Rome, succeeding Pope Sixtus III. Benedict XVI goes on to add that his papacy, which lasted more than 21 years “was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church’s history” (ibid.). St. Leo’s papacy took place during a very tumultuous time in the life of the Church, threatened as she was by division within and violence from without. Examining the manner in which Leo responded to these difficult times will simultaneously shed light on why Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI believes St. Leo’s papacy to have been one of the most important in the Church’s history and just what it was that made him great.

The first element of St. Leo’s life to consider is the contribution he made to the theology and doctrine of the Church, which is perhaps his most lasting heritage. Leo’s time as the Bishop of Rome took place amid the most pivotal Christological debates in the Church’s history. Responding to the main heretical positions of Nestorian, who held the human and divine natures in Christ to be completely separate, and Eutyches, who taught that the Person of Christ was a tertium quid, i.e. some third thing that was a combination of human and divine natures, in June of 449 Leo penned his famous Tome to Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople. In it, Leo asserted that in the Incarnation of Christ, “the distinctness of both natures and substances”, i.e., human and divine, “is preserved, and both meet in one Person…” (Tome of Leo, 3). Two years later, the Council of Chalcedon followed Leo’s lead and pronounced the doctrine of the hypostatic union, teaching that in the Person of Christ, human and divine natures had been united “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.”

While this may seem uselessly abstract, this doctrine forms the very core of the Christian faith, and has a very practical implication for how we understand our day to day lives as Christians. The reason for this is that the doctrine asserts that human and divine natures do not exist in competition with one another, but rather, human nature becomes most fully itself when in perfect unity with the divine nature. The practical implication for the Christian life is twofold. First, it forms the very basis of our understanding of the Church. In one of his sermons, Leo explains this unity in this way:

There is no doubt therefore, dearly beloved, that man’s nature has been received by the Son of God into such a union that not only in that Man Who is the first-begotten of all creatures, but also in all His saints there is one and the self-same Christ, and as the Head cannot be separated from the members, so the members cannot be separated from the Head. For although it is not in this life, but in eternity that God is to be all in all, yet even now He is the inseparable Inhabitant of His temple, which is the Church (Sermon 63.3).

The second practical application, then, is that this corporate unity means that a great exchange has taken place between humanity and divinity, such that by passing through the waters of baptism, we partake of the divine nature. Thus, in another sermon, Leo exhorts his listeners and us: “Christian, acknowledge your dignity, and becoming a partner in the Divine nature, refuse to return to the old baseness by degenerate conduct…Recollect that you were rescued from the power of darkness and brought out into God’s light and kingdom” (Sermon 21.3). During the difficult times in which he lived, Leo saw it as absolutely imperative that Christians actually live out what they believe. The reason for this is that the life of a Christian has an evangelical force about it, to such an extent that Leo taught that two things, the Eucharist and the exemplarity of the Christian life, prove the reality of the Incarnation of the Son of God (Sermon 91.3).

The second element that made Leo great was that he practiced what he preached. For Leo, the life of a Christian was exemplified and taught by Christ and characterized by the beatitudes, which he understood simply as virtues (Sermon 95.3 & 8). While we might look to the life of Leo as an example of any of the beatitudes, he is most well-known for exemplifying the seventh, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Mt 5:9). In 452 Attila, the chief of the Huns prepared to attack Rome, and Leo went out to meet him and eventually “dissuaded him from continuing the war of invasion by which he had already devastated the northeastern regions of Italy” (Benedict XVI, General Audience, March 5, 2008). Leo displayed the same courage and desire for peace when three years later in 455 Genseric, the king of the Vandals, prepared to invade Rome. Leo’s meeting was ultimately unable to dissuade Genseric completely, however he did convince him to refrain from burning Rome, “and assured that the Basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul and St. John, in which part of the terrified population sought refuge, were spared” (ibid.). Whence this courage, whence this desire for peace? Leo himself taught that the peacemakers referred to in Matthew’s Gospel were those who “are in mind always with God, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, never dissent from the eternal law, uttering that prayer of faith, Your will be done as in heaven so on earth” (Sermon 95.9). It is precisely those who live in such a manner, Leo taught, who were fit to be called the children of God.

Today, as we too face the threat of division within the Church and chaos and division in the world at large, Leo reminds us that to be truly great is nothing less than to be a child of God. More to it, he exemplifies that those who live in accord with their great dignity as Christians have the power to foster peace even in the face of the longest odds.

St. Leo, courageous exemplar of peace, pray for us that we might be graced with the courage to live out our dignity as children of God, so that we might draw all those we meet into the one lasting and loving bond of peace we were all created for, the loving embrace of our Triune God.

Your servant in Christ,

Tony

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Gospel Reflections

Mountain Climbing

Mountain ClimberTwenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time: 8-21-16

Peace be with You,

Last weekend, we heard the disquieting message that the road of discipleship is often one that is lonely as living a life in accordance with the gospel will lead us to live in a way that is not only much different than the rest of the world, but in many cases flies in the face of what the world teaches, leading to persecution of various degrees.  This weekend, we find a message that both continues the theme that discipleship is difficult, and offers comforting words of inclusion.

Our first reading from Isaiah presents us with a hopeful message of inclusion.  Therein, we find the prophet relating the message that God will come to ‘gather all nations and tongues to come and worship on His holy mountain,’ a similar message to that which we find expressed by Jesus in today’s gospel (cf. Is. 66:18 & 20, Luke 13:29).  That this is a message hope is quite obvious given our day in age where hardly a day goes by where we don’t hear of some act of violence being committed by one people against another, quite often claiming that it is their religious ideology that calls them to act in such a fashion.  This being the state of world affairs it is at one and the same time difficult to imagine a situation where all peoples could come together to worship their Creator in peace, but a message that we would like to hope in as well.  However, this message of hope does not end here.  For, it is not just the restoration of peace that the prophet speaks of, but rather, it is the restoration of the human family to its rightful relationship to our God.

From the beginning of salvation history in Genesis to its culmination on Calvary, it has been the intention of our God that we might live in perfect harmony with Him and with one another.  Perfect harmony with our God entails that we offer Him right praise, i.e. that we commit the whole of our lives and all that we have been given as a complete offering to Him in love.  For this reason, whenever we find that right praise is not being offered to God (e.g. the offering of Cain), that the human family has taken steps to pursue its own designs as opposed to that of the purpose for which they have been created (e.g. at Babel), or that people are being prevented from the worship of their God (e.g. Exodus), God intervenes in order that this situation might be remedied.  The culmination of this intervention takes place on Calvary, where having bridged the chasm between heaven and earth with His total gift of self on behalf of the human family, the Only Begotten Son of God breathes his last saying, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

What we find here are the actions of a lover on behalf of His beloved, a beloved so cherished that the lover will do everything in His power to eliminate all that separates them.  That being said, as with any true love, the Lover will not force the beloved to choose Him.  For, although He is willing to do all that He can to make this unity possible, He knows that no loving relationship can exist if not freely chosen.

We may ask, if this is really the case, then why the ominous words of Jesus in the gospel today where we find Him telling us that ‘many will not enter through the narrow gate,’ forced to stand outside the Father’s house essentially disowned by Him (cf. Luke 13:24 & 27).  After all, if God really wants to be with us so badly, why does it really matter what we do?

My friends, the answer is quite simple.  There is only one way to actively demonstrate to God that we in fact do love Him and that is to love Him with all our heart, soul mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves (cf. Luke 10:27).  If we wonder what it looks like to love God and neighbor in this way, we need only look to one place, the cross.  It is the cross that serves as our template for success, if you will.  For, it is only those who willingly give the whole of themselves in love for the sake of others that can be said to truly love God as we are told most poignantly by Jesus in The Judgment of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46).

Of course this sounds far easier to do than it actually is in practice.  After all, we are not called to love just those who love us, but to love all, i.e. desire the absolute good for all.  And, given the message that we heard last weekend, if we choose to live a life in accordance with the gospel, it is highly probable that we will spend a great deal of time and energy loving those who do not reciprocate this good will.  It is for this reason that the author of Hebrews tells us today that we are to view our trials as discipline, for it is this increase in discipline that will one day lead us to ‘share in the holiness of God’ (Hebrews 12:10).

My friends, to share in the holiness of God is nothing else than to share in His very life!  It is this that we have been created for, and it is a glorious call indeed.  What’s more, it is a call that we all share, regardless of race or creed, for it is our mutual calling as human beings.  However, we must remember that it is not on our terms that we climb the mountain of God where we will share in this life eternal.  Rather, this mountain can only be scaled by following in the footsteps of Him Who is the Way, Jesus Christ.  This Sunday it is the Way Who tells us that many will not enter in through this narrow gate.  Why?  They will look to where His footsteps lead and see a place of suffering and death instead of seeing it for what it really is; the place of total love, complete happiness and eternal life.  This Sunday, choose to see what many don’t and live what you see.  In doing so you will not only be assured that the path you follow leads to a life of glory, but that the love you live will bring all, at one and the same time, one step closer to one another, and one step further up God’s mountain.

Your servant in Christ,

Tony