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Abbot Theodore Phillips's avatar

Thank you for this wonderful article! Our "enlightened" age is taught to restrict understanding to the realm of the intellect, neglecting the role of the heart/spirit in apprehending the mysteries of life and of life's Creator. Rather than cultivating awe and wonder, we are trained to be uncomfortable with "things unknown."

It has always seemed to me that the emphasis on "active participation," understood as having to do/speak almost everything oneself, deprived many people of the ability to exercise "active listening," not only to what is said or sung, but to the actions done in conjunction with the texts (or in silence). This seems to mimic the radical Protestant Reformers, who barraged people with a multitude of words from the preacher (who, in effect becomes the mediator between the Word and man), while depriving them of any significant ceremonial because this was the surest way to change the beliefs of their congregants especially in regards to the "Lord's Supper": stay seated, pass a tray around, and the minister gets the left-overs for lunch. The bread and wine (juice?) are special because they are eaten together while thinking of Jesus -- the exact opposite of the fundamental truth that the people are special because they receive the Body and Blood of Christ in order to be transformed into his likeness.

What you wrote about the devolution of "the Body of Christ," into a reference to the congregation (a.k.a. the gathered community that MAKES Christ present) is true even among many who still retain a belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament. I have heard this preached and taught many times. Churches should be stripped bare of imagery or even architectural beauty, so that the bodies of those present, who constitute the People of God, becomes the visual focus. This leads straight to the inadequate, if not outright heretical, understanding that the Eucharistic Body of Christ is primarily an affirmation of the individual's belonging: a right to which we are entitled simply by our presence, rather than an affirmation of our undeserved, active participation in the life of the Crucified and Risen Lord, which should be approached "with faith and in the fear of God." From that follow so many of the current disfigurations of theology, ecclesiology, and spirituality that can be seen in our time, even among hierarchy and clergy.

God forgive and correct me if I have mis-spoken.

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Peter Kwasniewski's avatar

I agree with you 100% (and would say 1000% if that made any mathematical sense).

I will be going into some of these topics more in the next two installments, so stay tuned!

As for heresy: yes, I would say that a lot of Protestantism has crept into the Catholic Church (just as a fair amount of Catholicism remained in the Protestants, at least the more conservative among them). The bifurcation of the West into Catholic and Protesant has been harmful for BOTH sides, not in the same way, of course.

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David McPike's avatar

Seems to me that understanding (Latin intellectus) is inherently and necessarily restricted to the realm of the intellect. IIRC, 'the heart,' according to St Thomas, just is another term -- the typical term in the OT (Hebrew lev) -- for the intellect. Even things that are unknown are unknown precisely to the intellect. It is precisely the intellect that is the power of the soul necessary for grasping its own unknowing, and for experiencing and cultivating awe and wonder. "Philosophy begins in wonder" and wonder takes place where? how? -- in and through the intellect.

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