St. Francis: Respect Christ's Body and Blood
At our Secular Franciscan meeting last night we considered several letters of St. Francis.
In these letters, he charged the ordained - priests and deacons - to show greater care for the Body and Blood of Christ, and for the sacred vessels and the churches under their care, or for the Scriptures.
He also had some strong words for those who do not show proper respect when receiving the Eucharist.
In "A Letter to the Entire Order" he wrote: "For a person despises, defiles, and tramples on the Lamb of God when, as the Apostle says, he does not recognize and distinguish the holy bread of Christ from other foods or actions or eats it unworthily or indeed, even if he were worthy, eats it unthinkingly or without the proper dispositions, since the Lord says through the prophet: Cursed is that person who performs the work of God fraudulently."
We reflected on the times when perhaps we received unworthily, or were distracted and not thinking about what we were about to receive. I know there have been times I have to catch myself because I am caught up in noticing the people, or in thinking about what I'll be doing later, or even about something I'm writing or plan to write. My attention should be on the Body and Blood of Christ that I am about to receive.
This is certainly something I need to keep in mind in the future.
In these letters, he charged the ordained - priests and deacons - to show greater care for the Body and Blood of Christ, and for the sacred vessels and the churches under their care, or for the Scriptures.
He also had some strong words for those who do not show proper respect when receiving the Eucharist.
In "A Letter to the Entire Order" he wrote: "For a person despises, defiles, and tramples on the Lamb of God when, as the Apostle says, he does not recognize and distinguish the holy bread of Christ from other foods or actions or eats it unworthily or indeed, even if he were worthy, eats it unthinkingly or without the proper dispositions, since the Lord says through the prophet: Cursed is that person who performs the work of God fraudulently."
We reflected on the times when perhaps we received unworthily, or were distracted and not thinking about what we were about to receive. I know there have been times I have to catch myself because I am caught up in noticing the people, or in thinking about what I'll be doing later, or even about something I'm writing or plan to write. My attention should be on the Body and Blood of Christ that I am about to receive.
This is certainly something I need to keep in mind in the future.
posted by A Secular Franciscan | 4:46 PM
2 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aesthetically it might be pleasing, but I don't see how either would help distracted minds or unworthiness. People have plenty of time to prepare when processing up to receive.
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