FOS SUMMARY - “Spirit and the City”

HOLY COMMUNION: With Fear, Faith and Love

by Dorothy Poli & Daniel Padovano

24 June 2008

FOS Summaries are recaps of discussions points, organized and presented conceptually, in a session's dialogue and Q&A among Fr. Frank and FOS participants.  The Summaries' authors further elaborate on certain ideas from a theme offered by Fr. Frank.  All Summaries are approved by Fr. Frank prior to e-mail distribution.  Past summaries can be found on the Cathedral website at http://www.thecathedral.goarch.org/FOSSummary/. 

Response as Preparation.

Salvation is a free gift from God.  Holy Communion is the fullness of this gift.  It is the sacrifice of Christ done out of His love for humanity.  Love is freely given, it cannot be earned.  Nothing can commend us to God.  Therefore, Holy Communion should never be considered as a reward for fasting or works.  We receive not because we did the right thing.  Rather, Holy Communion empowers believers with the will and strength to do the right thing.  Therefore, the Orthodox fast is done as a result of Holy Communion received on the prior Sunday, not as a preparation of the Holy Communion to be received the following Sunday. 

Sunday is about what Jesus did for us and the rest of the week is how we respond to it; how we live our lives, i.e. with humility, gratitude, kindness, fasting, etc.  Therefore, the best preparation is to be ready to respond appropriately to this gift by giving back to Christ and His family which is all of humanity.

What we, as individuals, do after the Divine Liturgy is most important. This means how we live and act in our lives.  By the time we reach coffee hour how often have we acted without kindness, hospitality, non-judgment, attributes for which Holy Communion gives us strength to possess?  If we take part in the sacraments and honor what they mean, then we should live accordingly.  In receiving Christ, He is in us.  We reflect this by carrying Christ in us out into the world by being Christ-like.  St. Paul often expressed this state of being when he said: “It is not I who live but Christ Who lives within me.”  As we die to ourselves (self-centered ego and pride, not individuality or personality), Christ is more and more within us.  This is why frequent Communion is important. 

The need for healing and reliance on God.

The best time to receive Holy Communion is when we are aware of our sinfulness and recognize our need for healing.  Healing is not something that we can do for ourselves.  We must rely on God.  The best way to receive Communion then is to acknowledge that the Blood that healed the universe cannot give us a disease but rather can take away our “spiritual disease.”  With a posture of repentance and humility, we ask God for the healing that only He can transmit through the Grace of His Holy Spirit.  

The arrogance of humanity is that we want to do it ourselves.  We can neither heal nor save ourselves by our works.  First comes faith and God’s Spirit will heal and strengthen us for works.

When we do not receive Holy Communion we starve the soul within us.  “We starve the Christ within us” Who is the One giving us strength, according to one FOS participant.  St. John Chrysostom recognized that Communion strengthens the spirit and he received Holy Communion almost every day.  Jesus said “if you don’t eat of My Body and drink of My Blood you will have no life in you.”  The irony is that when God says eat, we don’t.  When God says do not eat, i.e. fasting or the fruit by Adam and Eve, we eat.

Fasting and Abstaining.  The weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts are as commemoration and reminders of Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion, respectively.  Jesus said to the disciples not to fast while He is with them, but there will come a time when He will be taken away from them and then they should fast.  The Bridegroom was taken away from us by these events and it is when the Bridegroom is gone that we fast.   There is no fasting on Sundays because Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day of Resurrection when we are with Christ in His Kingdom.  We abstain on Sunday morning prior to Holy Communion, but do not fast.  We abstain because as the first day of the week, the first thing we should take in is that which is given us from God.

Forgiveness.   In addition to abstaining, Jesus wants us to be reconciled with one another before receiving Him into ourselves.  Our relationship with one another is of primary importance to God.  Jesus summarized all of the 10 commandments into these two:  ‘love God and love your neighbor’.  Both are necessary for eternal life.  We cannot judge others; that is God’s prerogative alone. Only God knows what truly sits in the heart and soul of an individual.  Therefore, following in Jesus’ example, we must forgive those who have intentionally or unintentionally hurt or offended us and whether they asked for it or not.  Jesus forgave us from the Cross even though we did not ask for or even recognize our need for forgiveness.  Only through the forgiveness exemplified by Jesus can relationships be healed.

Further, the validity or sanctity of Holy Communion is not at all determined by the worthiness of the priest or the ranking of the clergyman.

“Seeking the Giver, not the gift.”

In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana experiences three life threatening challenges as he searches for the Holy Grail. The challenges require great faith and belief, but begin with penitence–a humbling of the self.

Indiana, throughout the movie, is not happy. His relationship with his father is strained. The elder Dr. Jones left his family for long stretches of time in his own search for the Holy Grail. He kept notes in a journal book, which in a time of great need as it turns out, enabled Indiana to complete the search for the Holy Grail and save his father’s life.  It also indicates that guidance is needed, a map, and Indiana humbled himself enough to be guided by his father. 

An analogy to this is that the Bible and those books written by the Church Fathers contain the information we need for our spiritual nourishment and salvation. The words are wisdom and guidance for us.

The first challenge is to be humbled.  Indiana traverses a tunnel with huge rotating blades.  As he begins his walk he reads his father’s journal: “a penitent man walks before God.”  Indiana realizes that a penitent man kneels before God. In kneeling, Indiana narrowly escapes decapitation.  In contrast, his predecessor lost his head because he did not have this guidance.

The second challenge is to walk in the name of God.  Indiana must walk across a floor with letters spelling the name of God. One misstep will mean falling through the floor into a deep chasm.  Indiana (after falling through one panel) remembers barely in time the correct spelling of Jehovah in Latin (I E O V A H, the letters used on the floor).

The third challenge is to take a leap of faith. In this challenge Indiana must cross a bottomless chasm. He is unable to jump the distance, but looking at the journal he sees a knight walking in mid air. Upon hearing his father’s discomfort and exhortation by his companions, Indiana, in complete surrender to faith, takes a step forward and lands on a narrow walkway that is hidden from view. 

Indiana then enters a chamber with many chalices (grails).  It was thought that drinking from the correct chalice will grant eternal life while drinking from the wrong chalice will bring death. Indiana chooses the correct chalice and brings it (filled with water) to his father and saves his life.  Another individual seeking immortality pursued the Holy Grail out of lust and disintegrated when drinking out of a chalice he chose.  Salvation and eternal life cannot be had using even something holy selfishly.

Fr. Frank posited: “Was it the actual chalice that saved the elder Dr. Jones’ life or was it Indiana’s faith and intention for the contents (Body and Blood of Christ) of the chalice that saved his father’s life?” Indiana did not ultimately pursue the contents of the chalice for his own glory, but by the force of his love and at risk to his own life in order to save his father’s life.  It was this posture, this attitude, this sacrificial love that was most important for the saving grace that ensued. 

Likewise, we are invited during the Divine Liturgy to approach Holy Communion with “fear, faith and love.”