Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The Eucharist

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Eucharist - sacrament of mysticism

If you want to get into some solid Catholic theology on the Eucharist that will blow your mind and is not sentimental saccharine piety then I highly recommend you check out "The doctrine of spiritual perfection" by Fr Anselm Stolz (has imprimatur)

He goes through his definition of mysticism of the spiritual life as union with God, that Christ restored and therefore he follows from Garrigou Lagrange that mysticism is based in baptism and open for all, not for spiritual elite -

"We merely point out that the Eucharist as a sharing in Christ's sacrifice anticipates in a sacramental manner the union with God one day to be realised, and establishes between a Christian and the Heavenly Father that intimacy which the head of the mystical body enjoys uninterruptedly. Thus the Eucharist, as the perfect fulfilment of what is given at baptism is the proper sacrament of mysticism...

To understand the Eucharist as the sacrament of mysticism, a person can begin with the fact it conveys to the soul Christ in person, and thus effects the highest degree of union with God...

Participation in the Eucharist is not merely one means among others towards mystical union: rising as it does on the foundations of the Grace bestowed on baptism, it is much more the actual achievement of that mystical oneness, to which so far in the believer there can only be a more or less powerful reaction"

If this does not set your soul on fire after reading I don't know what else would!! 😍

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.