Sept 28
Scripture: Ephesians 4: 3-7
3 Make every possible effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, as well as one hope to which you have been called by your vocation, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure in which Christ allotted it.
Meditation
From his article, "The Canticle of Creation: Unravelling our Eucharistic Identity," by Anthony M Carrozzo OFM
The Canticle of Creation may be the best known poem of Francis of Assisi. Not only for its beauty but also for how Francis values creation. Today we are concerned about our misuse and abuse of God’s creation. This poem gives us the incentive to be actively concerned. Even Pope Francis warned us to avoid exploitation and greed when dealing with creation. We agree. Yet this creates a problem for us as we study and analyse this poem. We miss the Eucharistic outlook that St Francis presents to us.
Like any Eucharistic Prayer it is not addressed to us, it is addressed to the Father. Over and over again Francis says ‘Praise be to you’. Each time it is prayed it is transformative, like every Eucharistic prayer.
To understand this Franciscan approach, we must refer to the different understandings of the Eucharist in the Middle Ages. Aquinas proposed Transubstantiation, emphasizing the transformation of bread and wine. Bonaventure, while not directly disagreeing with him even after the Church approved the view of Aquinas, gave a very different understanding of the Eucharist. It provides a broader view. He wanted us to understand that the liturgy is relational, that is to say that when we receive communion we are in relationship with one another in Christ. As Ilia Dileo put it, we should open our eyes and look around at one another and eventually at all of creation.
This is significant because a recent pew survey indicated that today’s Catholics no longer believe in the real presence. I wonder if it is the Church’s medieval definition that is the problem. Relationship would be far more appealing to contemporary people. We are all in search of sound moral relationship in spite of what is portrayed in our movies.
We need only to search the internet on the Eucharist to find two very distinct camps. Those who follow Aquinas present a theological perspective as is evidenced in the haunting but problematic Panis Angelicus. The Eucharist is precisely not the bread of angels. It is the bread by which we humans are nourished in the relationship that results in uniting the human and divine.
So a search for a Franciscan appreciation of the Eucharist most often speaks of humility and gratitude for the food of the poor, as John Barker writes ‘in Jesus Christ, Francis saw the incredible generosity of a God who assumes our poor, fragile human nature’. Franciscans do not deny the real presence of Jesus in bread and wine. We just see ourselves and our world differently. He enjoys being with the poor and that poverty has nothing to do with what is in our wallets. It’s that we are finite, limited. We Franciscans must pay attention to that difference. This is what is taking place in the Canticle of Creation where we notice that the praise of God is repeated frequently to show we are focused on God. It is an indication that Francis is presenting us with a Eucharistic prayer addressed to the Father like all the Eucharistic prayers we know. Obviously, there are no words of consecration. Francis after all wrote as a lay person. Nevertheless, he believed in the transformative power of the Word.
We now know that the entire prayer is consecratory. We have the scrupulosity of St Ambrose who sought to know the exact moment when Christ became present on the altar. Jesus and His Holy Spirit cannot be so limited. Words alone are not transformative. They depend upon the grace of God and faith on our part. Francis knew this when he presented us with his Canticle filled with Eucharistic overtones.
Musical Selection