EUCHARIST AND THE "SKILLS OF RECOGNITION"
Thoughts on the presence of Christ
"who is, was, and always will be present to us who believe"
By Ray Temmerman
I have long questioned the whole idea of God being a puppet-master. That's the kind of thinking that says, whenever disaster strikes, "everything happens for a reason". It is as though some giant puppet-master in the sky has pulled some strings and has made this event happen in our lives as part of an overall plan for us, a plan which will somehow, somewhere, lead us to an as-yet-undefined win over adversity. It's also the same thing that happens when, in adversity, a person says, "God must be trying to teach me something."
Interestingly, I have never heard either of those statements made when joyous events occur. Hmmm… But I digress. I simply do not see God as a puppet-master, pulling strings, making things happen in our lives for good or for ill. Rather, as I see it, "stuff" happens, be it an accident or illness, a sinful action in our lives with all its consequences, a wonderful new job we have landed or the birth of a much-longed-for child, or a tornado or wildfire upending our lives. And in that "stuff", God walks with us, inspiring us (if we have ears to hear) to new directions, new actions, on the road to salvation.
Then the question occurred to me: if I don't believe in God as a puppet-master, do I believe in God as a puppet? To my mind, the idea of God being a puppet is most forcefully in operation in popular Eucharistic belief. In such belief, as the priest says words we hold sacred, and does certain actions we hold sacred, the Christ becomes truly present in what appears still to be bread and wine, but somehow, in a mystical, metaphysical manner, is now His Body and Blood. If that is what we believe happens through those words and actions, are we seeing the Christ as a puppet, just waiting to respond, to become truly present where, a moment ago, He wasn't?
Or is something more going on here?
Interestingly, I have never heard either of those statements made when joyous events occur. Hmmm… But I digress. I simply do not see God as a puppet-master, pulling strings, making things happen in our lives for good or for ill. Rather, as I see it, "stuff" happens, be it an accident or illness, a sinful action in our lives with all its consequences, a wonderful new job we have landed or the birth of a much-longed-for child, or a tornado or wildfire upending our lives. And in that "stuff", God walks with us, inspiring us (if we have ears to hear) to new directions, new actions, on the road to salvation.
Then the question occurred to me: if I don't believe in God as a puppet-master, do I believe in God as a puppet? To my mind, the idea of God being a puppet is most forcefully in operation in popular Eucharistic belief. In such belief, as the priest says words we hold sacred, and does certain actions we hold sacred, the Christ becomes truly present in what appears still to be bread and wine, but somehow, in a mystical, metaphysical manner, is now His Body and Blood. If that is what we believe happens through those words and actions, are we seeing the Christ as a puppet, just waiting to respond, to become truly present where, a moment ago, He wasn't?
Or is something more going on here?
Recognising the Presence of Christ
Consider for a moment the biblical story of the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35). You remember it well: two disciples were walking to Emmaus, discussing the events of the previous days, in which this Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified. A man joins them, walks with them, and asks them what they were talking about. Wondering how it is possible that he doesn't know, they tell him, at which time he launches into a recital of the ways God has been with them through it all. Arriving at Emmaus, they invite him to join them for a meal. As he breaks bread with them, they suddenly recognise him.
Now, I have to ask: did Jesus suddenly become present as he gave thanks and broke the bread? Or had he been with them all along and their recognition of his presence – rather than his presence itself – suddenly happened in the breaking of the bread? Did they not recognise, then, that their hearts had burned within them as he spoke on the journey? Did their recognition not bring with it an awareness that he had been there all along? This is not the story of a puppet, made suddenly present, but of a person who truly walks and talks with us, even when we don't recognise him or his presence. In this understanding, the action of breaking bread is not what suddenly makes him present; rather, it is what causes a sudden recognition of his presence, a presence that was there all along.
Who is this person who is recognised as being present? We get a sense of that when Jesus said, earlier in his life, "My Father goes on working and so do I" (Jn 5:17-18). His work is an ongoing one, not flitting in and out of people's lives, becoming present only when the words and actions of the Eucharistic liturgy are proclaimed and carried out. Just like the Father, the Christ goes on working, day in and day out, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
Recognising the Presence of Christ
Consider for a moment the biblical story of the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35). You remember it well: two disciples were walking to Emmaus, discussing the events of the previous days, in which this Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified. A man joins them, walks with them, and asks them what they were talking about. Wondering how it is possible that he doesn't know, they tell him, at which time he launches into a recital of the ways God has been with them through it all. Arriving at Emmaus, they invite him to join them for a meal. As he breaks bread with them, they suddenly recognise him.
Now, I have to ask: did Jesus suddenly become present as he gave thanks and broke the bread? Or had he been with them all along and their recognition of his presence – rather than his presence itself – suddenly happened in the breaking of the bread? Did they not recognise, then, that their hearts had burned within them as he spoke on the journey? Did their recognition not bring with it an awareness that he had been there all along? This is not the story of a puppet, made suddenly present, but of a person who truly walks and talks with us, even when we don't recognise him or his presence. In this understanding, the action of breaking bread is not what suddenly makes him present; rather, it is what causes a sudden recognition of his presence, a presence that was there all along.
Who is this person who is recognised as being present? We get a sense of that when Jesus said, earlier in his life, "My Father goes on working and so do I" (Jn 5:17-18). His work is an ongoing one, not flitting in and out of people's lives, becoming present only when the words and actions of the Eucharistic liturgy are proclaimed and carried out. Just like the Father, the Christ goes on working, day in and day out, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
The Christ who is, was, and always will be present
In fact, as seen in the beginning of John's Gospel, this Christ was truly present from before the world began. Again, in the first letter of John, we are told that the disciples heard this Word, saw it with their eyes, touched it – and that it was at last revealed to them; rather than become present, it was made manifest. This is not a statement about a person who comes and goes at our will, but one who is present, everywhere and at all times, for us to recognise.
Perhaps, then, the words and actions of the Eucharistic prayers, while they are directed to God, are not words and actions making present the Christ of the Last Supper. Perhaps these words spoken to God are in a sense meant, not to make Christ present, but to cause us to recognise this Christ who was, is, and always will be present to us and to the world.
We know that Jesus took bread and wine for his thanksgiving prayers, and gave them to his apostles. But is the bread and the wine the focus? Or is the focus to be, not on the elements, but on the words and actions? If we are called to remember him, is that remembrance limited to a mental calculus? Are we not embodied spirits, kinesthetic learners with our bodies also involved in storing memories? Our bodies store and remember the actions needed to run, play tennis, or tie a knot. If that is so, then should our bodies not be similarly involved in storing memories, and remembering, the truth of Christ's ever-presence?
As the late theologian Joseph Martos (d.2020) liked to remind us, the Greek word eucharist is found in the New Testament in verb-form, eucharistein (to give thanks). It only later morphed into a noun in Latin. Similarly, when Jesus handed the bread and wine to his disciples, he said, "Whenever you do this, do it in remembrance of me". (Cf Mk. 14:22-25, Lk. 22:18-20, 1 Cor. 11:23-25.) He did not say, "Do it and I will be truly present". We are, in the Eucharisting (verb form) celebration and reception, acting physically in a way which helps us recognise and remember the Christ, who is truly present here and now, but also who was truly present in all our yesterdays, and who we can trust will be truly present in all our tomorrows.
Developing the "skills of recognition"
Perhaps, too, our practice of gathering in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament might become, not an event where we focus our gaze on the elements, as though Christ is present there as nowhere else, but rather where and when, focusing on the elements, we consciously take time to become aware of and to reflect on Christ's ever-presence everywhere.
I wonder if, instead of our focus being on the bread and wine, our focus needs to be on the words and actions of giving thanks, blessing, breaking, taking, eating, drinking; in short, involving our whole body in the kinesthetic act of remembering.
I believe that when we act to receive the elements, we receive Christ. But that reception just might be, in our minds and bodies, in the form of recognition finally dawning that Christ is, always has been, and always will be, present for us, for all people and indeed for all creation. And if that is the case, then perhaps we can move to the next step, namely to take away from that celebration the awareness that Christ is present, not only in the eucharisting and receiving of the bread and wine, but in every moment of every day.
If we take playing tennis as an example, we learn to play by practicing until our muscles have built up, and our body remembers the needed actions so well that it naturally acts when called upon. If this is so in tennis, so gathering regularly each Sunday to actively participate in giving thanks, taking, eating, drinking as one body, might also be less about obeying a Church dictate, and instead more about developing the mental and bodily "skills of recognition" (cf Rowan Williams) we need to more readily recognise Christ truly ever-present.
Ultimately, might the sacraments be, not discrete events in which God acts at our behest, like a puppet on a string, but events in which we humans recognise Christ's ever-presence, ever-acting – and go on to live accordingly.
Ray Temmerman administers the website of the Interchurch Families International Network in Canada.
A former board member of the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC), he continues to conduct research into the place of interchurch families and the gift they bring to their churches and the Church.
This article originally appeared in La Croix on November 1, 2023.
Images from Unsplash and Pixabay. Used under license/with permission.