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The very joy of the Kingdom

Dear Companions on the Journey,

On the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord (June 23), I am reminded of the wise words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann. He  was a very influential 20th Century Christian Orthodox priest (fyi, the “Orthodox Church” is that part of the large Christian family who have their roots in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.  They include such churches as the Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, and so forth.  Here at the Paulist Center, we are blessed with the weekly presence of the Coptic [Egyptian] Orthodox Church who use our chapel for worship).  Fr. Schmemann wrote:

The Church is not a society for escape – corporately or individually – from this world to taste of the mystical bliss of eternity.  Communion is not a ‘mystical experience’: we drink of the chalice of Christ, and He gave Himself for the life of the world. The bread on the paten [the communion plate] and the wine in the chalice are to remind us of the incarnation of the Son of God, of the cross and death. And thus it is the very joy of the Kingdom that makes us remember the world and pray for it.  It is the very communion with the Holy Spirit that enables us to love the world with the love of Christ. The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity and the moment of truth:  here we see the world in Christ, as it really is, and not from our particular and therefore limited and partial points of view.  Intercession begins here, in the glory of the messianic banquet, and this is the only true beginning of the Church’s mission.  It is when, ‘having put aside all earthly care,’ we seem to have left this world, that we, in fact, recover it in all its reality. [emphasis mine]

What do you think? 

And let us pray for/with one another.

Michael

The Paulist Center

What do you think?

And let us pray for/with one another.
Michael
The Paulist Center