The Substance of Grace
Okay. So maybe one more post concerning the Eucharist. Our recent discussion on the real presence brought me back to this short passage written in my prayer journal several years back from The Spirit of the Liturgy by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has since become Pope Benedict XVI:
It (the liturgy) only has meaning in relation to something that really happens, to a reality that is substantially present. Otherwise it would lack real content, like bank notes without funds to cover them. The Lord could say that his Body was “given” only because he had in fact given it; he could present his Blood in the new chalice as shed for many only because he really had shed it. This body is not the ever-dead corpse of a dead man, nor is the Blood the life-element rendered lifeless. No, sacrifice has become gift, for the Body given in love and the Blood given in love have entered, through the Resurrection, into the eternity of love, which is stronger than death. Without the Cross and Resurrection, Christian worship is null and void, and a theology of liturgy that omitted any reference to them would really just be talking about an empty game.
About The Author
May God grant Pope Benedict many years. His intellect and devotion has always impressed and amazed me.