St. James the Greater by El Greco
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint James, one of the 12 apostles.
"This James is the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and Andrew. 'He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him' (Mark 1:19-20).
"James was one of the favored three who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemani.
"Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his brother. St. Matthew tells that their mother came (Mark says it was the brothers themselves) to ask that they have the seats of honor (one on the right, one on the left of Jesus) in the kingdom. 'Jesus said in reply, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can"' (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to give—it 'is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father' (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their confident 'We can!'"For more on Saint James and the cup from which he finally drank, visit Saint of the Day for the rest of this article.
Often in scripture the "cup" is metaphor for the "cross".
ReplyDeleteI think of this when receiving the blood of Christ from the cup. Our "Amen" is the same as saying "we can" (drink) make a commitment to serve others as Jesus did, in self sacrifice, and enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery. Drinking from the cup is a commitment to Jesus' mission. No judgement on those who do not receive the blood of Christ but sometimes i wonder...do they know what they're missing?
Anne
side note: My husband and I went last week to the El Greco to Velazquez exhibit at the MFA...wonderful art, most reflecting Catholicism in Spain during 1500 and 1600's.
Since the Church teaches that the whole of Christ's presence is communicated in each of the signs (bread and wine), what those who do not or can not receive from the cup miss is the experience of the fuller sign of the reality of Christ's presence in the Eucharist.
ReplyDeleteThose who "do not receive from the cup" cannot be said to "not receive the blood of Christ."
In the same way, those with a gluten intolerance who are unable to receive under the sign of bread do receive the whole real presence of Christ under the sign of wine by receiving from the cup.
Under both signs or under one or the other, the whole real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is received.
Anne -
ReplyDeleteI do not know whether my reason for not drinking from the cup would apply to any others, but I am a strep carrier.
Yes! I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Thanks for clarifying. I should have said..."no judgement on those who do not receive from the "cup" (instead of "the blood of Christ". However, receiving both species should be encouraged for those who are able (for the fuller sign)...and that includes children. I still see first communicants receiving only the consecrated bread. Again, it's their choice but I'm led to believe it's discouraged when the whole group does the same.
ReplyDeleteSorry for taking this topic in a different direction....
Anne
Anne: I didn't think you meant otherwise but I just figured I'd head off what might be coming with a quick clarification.
ReplyDeleteRegards children and the cup... In our parish at rehearsals for First Communion, children are invited to taste the unconsecrated bread and wine we use at Mass. (This is also another opportunity to point out the difference between bread and wine that have not yet been consecrated and the elements when they are consecrated.)
We make it clear to children and parents that receiving from the cup is an option and that we understand that the taste of wine may be too strong for some children's palate.
We offer the children a sip so that they know the taste rather than have them taste it for the first time at Mass and have an unhappy and public negative reaction!
My observation is that there's some correlation between a child's parents receiving from the cup and the child's decision to do so or not. Though this is not always the
case.
Just thought I would throw in that for alcoholics the cup is not an option.
ReplyDelete