The Eucharist is the celebration of Christ's eternal ongoing
sacrifice made manifest in our midst. God is the great I AM, not the "I
was in the historical past". What God did on Calvary,
He does every day and everywhere, in anyone who succumbs to God's presence and
will over their own ego. The self dies and the Christ within lives through us.
The Eucharist is poetry personified.
The unbelievability of a given teaching ought to be seen as
a koan (think, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"). Certain truths of the faith, probably the most important ones, can only
be experienced, never explained or described or understood literally with the
mind.
Jesus desires for us to be one with him the way he is one
with the father. The father revealed his name to be "I am". Jesus
used the same name referencing himself. Likewise we are also "to be".
If we allow our ego to die and invite Christ to live in us instead, then we
shall say also that we/Christ-within "are", ie "I
am".
We must repent because otherwise our past interferes with
our present, our being "I am". We must also forgive for the same
reason. Without forgiveness or repentance, we remain slaves to the past.
The kingdom
of God is here and now,
at hand. In the eternal present. This is the only way a little child knows how
to be, in the present moment. Thus Jesus said the kingdom of God
belongs to "such as these".
When I cross myself, I point to the forehead, chest, and both shoulders. Since the traditional definition of God-the-Trinity only serves to confuse and not inspire, I've taken to thinking of a different trinity when performing this ritual. For instance, when crossing myself at church, I point to my forehead to open my mind to what is being preached at the pulpit. I point to my chest in order to activate my heart's response to the message of the day. And I point to my shoulders to represent the concrete work that ought to be done in serving God, based on what I learn from the homily.
There's much more to be said of the various ins and outs of Catholic tradition, but these serve as a succinct summary of my changing religious viewpoint.
When I cross myself, I point to the forehead, chest, and both shoulders. Since the traditional definition of God-the-Trinity only serves to confuse and not inspire, I've taken to thinking of a different trinity when performing this ritual. For instance, when crossing myself at church, I point to my forehead to open my mind to what is being preached at the pulpit. I point to my chest in order to activate my heart's response to the message of the day. And I point to my shoulders to represent the concrete work that ought to be done in serving God, based on what I learn from the homily.
There's much more to be said of the various ins and outs of Catholic tradition, but these serve as a succinct summary of my changing religious viewpoint.
