Part of the devotional ''development'' outside the Orthodox tradition in the West was the development of a cult of the reserved Sacrament. Anciently in the West the Blessed Sacrament was only reserved (usually kept in private houses, as can be gleaned from St Bede's account of the man Caedmon, who on his deathbed, asked the pious family if they had the Eucharist in the house) for Viaticum and the Communion of the Sick. This ancient praxis seems more apposite to the very nature of the Blessed Sacrament to me than the modern, untraditional, devotional development. From this development we got ''Benediction'', the Feast of Corpus Christi and many other things alien to the Early Church (and to the more traditional Orthodox Church). I wonder: are such developments a good thing? We must remember that while the Blessed Sacrament is truly and objectively the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord under the appearance of Bread and Wine - Our Lord instituted the Blessed Sacrament fundamentally as a food for the life of Men, the very Bread of Life (Cormas, or ''life-bread'', as Tolkien dubbed the Waybread of the Elves in Quenya). Therefore, it seems rather strange to me that such practices as ''Benediction'' of the Blessed Sacrament, people going into church to pray before the Tabernacle (whereas anciently they prayed before the Altar, where Heaven and Earth come together in the Eucharistic Liturgy), or even the Blessed Sacrament ''exposed'', and Corpus Christi processions. Like Medieval men gazing for minutes on end at the upheld Sacrament, going from side-Altar to side-Altar in the parish church (I actually felt rather irritated on behalf of that Lollard cleric who, in the middle of his preaching, was interrupted by the warning bell for an Elevation at another side Altar and his audience disappeared and go and see another Elevation!), it just seems ''superstitious'' to me, and a tad anti-liturgical. But this may be an extreme way of looking at it. Since we're more or less stuck with Benediction and the cult of the reserved Sacrament in the West, I would just try to curtail it as much as possible, rather than abolish it completely (although I would abolish the Sacred Heart without any qualms at all) - restrict Benediction to the Feast and Octave of Corpus Christi or something. What do my readers think? The Church building is not holy because of the reserved Sacrament - and banal, modernist ''churches'' (hideous sermon halls) cannot be made to feel holy, or even wholesome, because of the reserved Sacrament - but rather because it is a liturgical space where the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy occurs. At least this is the theory.
A friend of mine and I were discussing this recently, and she said to me: ''What was it the 39 Articles say? The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them...''
Quite. All this said, I am rather fond of Aquinas' Eucharistic hymns. My Latin teacher and I, whom I miss sorely, used to sing them.
Upon reflection I probably more or less agree. I can't say I've ever got Benediction. It's a removal of the sacrament from it's liturgical context, and after all, it was within a liturgical context our Lord instituted the sacrament of his body and blood. I do think though that it's probably not a bad thing that the sacrament is at least reserved in the churches.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Henri de Lubac's Corpus Mysticum? I have found him one of the saner voices of last century's resourcement. I still dislike him overall, though.
ReplyDeleteWhat do my readers think?
ReplyDeleteThanking God that you are not the Pope! Abolish Benediction? Nothing would warm the hearts more of Luther and Cranmer to hear that could happen.
I went to a little classical RC College in Ft. Worth named St. Thomas More -great school.
ReplyDeleteBut the college chapel situation was interesting... a group outside of the college basically took over the college chapel and ran their own devotions and Medjugoria (sp?) type stuff. They organized their chapel time around "Eucharistic adoration" hours that went on for many days a week. Bizarre practices sprang up during "adoration" like guitar solos in front of the sacrament, keyboard playing, and "sleeping in the presence of the Lord" -where people would bring sleeping bags and sleep in front of the altar. It seems that long periods of "Eucharistic adoration" can easily lead to a para-church situation where all kinds of groups do what they want while the priest isn't around.
Arturo, unfortunately you mistake me for someone well-read and erudite whereas I am completely rustic and untutored. I know of Henri de Lubac only as a name I have encountered and cited in the works of others and confess to never actually having read his works, although I shall look out for this one.
ReplyDeleteSirian, or whatever your name is now, how typical of a Traditionalist to see any objection to Romish extravagance as ''protestant'' or ''modernist''. I am none of these things. I said nothing about abolishing Benediction, although I would if I could. The Blessed Sacrament is food - at least the Protestant Reformers understood even this, despite getting just about everything else wrong. If only the Reformation were not a protestant one but were rather a revival of traditional, liturgical and ancient Christianity in the West, and the abolition of Medieval abuses such as Low Mass. Unfortunately Rome's response to the Reformation was almost as pernicious and inimical to the Catholic Tradition as the Protestant Revolt itself - codify, decree, freeze Tradition (except where it suits Popes to change it at whim), and thereby set an irrevocable precedent for the Enlightenment. The biggest mistake of Trent was handing over to the Papacy the task of implementing a much-needed ''reform''...of course as a Papalist Traditionalist you won't see this - you looked but didn't hear, you listened but didn't hear etc.
Bradley, unfortunately the Church's response to such things are even more inventions. Genuflexion before the consecrated Sacrament was only introduced in response to a heresy. I wonder to what extent Roman ''inventions'' are mere reactionary to Heresy? If so, do they actually have inherent worth?
ReplyDeleteI've just stumbled across your blog and rather enjoy it! While I agree with you that attending Benediction and Adoration can become substitutes for actually taking Communion (and therefore sinful), I also think that Benediction can be a great solace to those who are temporarily unable to take Communion. God knows we Christians should be able to worship Him in any place, but being able to so 'concretely' enter His presence during such times can be a great consolation.
ReplyDeleteI am by no means a "papal traditionalist" - whatever that is. I have no problem of calling into question abuses of papal authority. But when a perfectly harmless devotion, that has theological grounding, is attacked (you admitted yourself that you would abolish benediction if you could) then I feel obliged to defend it.
ReplyDeleteNext you will probably want to ban the holy rosary, stations of the cross, devotion to saints canonised after 1045 for the pure reason that the "Orthodox don't do them".
As someone who you admit is more cosmopolitan and better read, I have to warn you against such distaste for the Catholic traditions of centuries. This little toy of ours called literary scholarship makes us feel we can buck the practices of centuries, supposedly in favor of the dead practices of the first millennia. But a hundred years is a long time, a thousand is an eternity, especially for someone who is under thirty. The same bitch goddess is responsible for all of the cultural dreck that you complain about. If you find an ancient text that supports one practice, an opponent can find an even more ancient text supporting another that you don’t like. But say things against Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament or the Sacred Heart, and quickly you will find in yourself lying with strange bedfellows. Bouyer disliked Benediction, but so did Chenu, Bugnini, and Dom Botte.
ReplyDeleteBasically, your attitude towards tradition is the same as theirs: “Show me why the tradition is right and I will believe it”. Why not try to take the tradition at face value and then try to dig more deeply into how significant it was in the life of the Church: the Corpus Christi processions, the elaborate plays that went along with them in such places like Spain, and the imagery that forms the Catholic consciousness. In other words, instead of complaining about why life doesn’t conform to your ideas, why not see how life itself is the manifestation of ancient archetypes that were there long before you and will see you buried six feet in the ground? I am just saying that you will seem less eccentric and bitter, and far less like a young man full of piss and vinegar.
Where did you research the history of the Eucharistic devotions that you deride? The books I have at hand give fairly early dates in many instances. For example, Stephen JP van Dijk and Joan Hazelden Walker ('The myth of the aumbry') date solemn processions of the Eucharist to the third council of Braga (a.D. 675).
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