This paper was given by Fr Christopher Marshall, a priest of the Ordinariate. It is full of rich teaching and puts the Catholic position with admirable clarity. I persuaded Fr Christopher to let me put his paper on my blog.
The Revd Edward Forse, writing in 1920 in “Ceremonial Curiosities and Queer Sights in Foreign Churches” describes High Mass one Sunday in an Italian Cathedral. He notes that after the Gospel, a Franciscan Friar mounted the pulpit and began to preach. Meanwhile the celebrant sent the MC to put out the six altar candles. After twenty minutes from the pulpit, the celebrant sent the MC to light the altar candles again. Forse records, “The preacher watched this procedure in stony silence and then proceeded to preach for another half hour!”
This is much the way I first reacted to the account of Paul at Troas, when a major incident interrupts. Paul is not going to be throw off course by this young man drawing attention to himself by falling out of the window! He deals with it and goes on regardless. Paul, as ever dogged and determined, will not be derailed and went on till day break.
Acts 20 verse 7.
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell from the third story and was taken up dead. 10But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12And they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.
There is more to it than just Paul’s doggedness here. They wanted to hear, to know as much as they could about this new life in Christ on which they were embarking. Paul would have been their primary or only source of information available at the time
For the first Christians there is no ‘New Testament’, no missals, no written books to teach the faith, just perhaps access to a “Passion Narrative” of the last week in the earthly life of Jesus and such letters of Paul and other apostles then in circulation. The message they had heard was this: Jesus was put to death, rose again, will come again. If you want to be ready when he comes again, repent of your sins and be baptised into him. The extent of Catechesis must have varied widely within this framework. The Ethiopian Eunuch has a few hours catechesis from Philip starting from Isaiah’s Servant Songs. He is baptised on his journey, went on his way and began the conversion of a whole nation!
Others are less well instructed like those Paul comes across at Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
2and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when [a] you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
On the Day of Pentecost-3000 heard Peter’s sermon, were convinced and baptised all on same day, yet it appears from the account in Acts that they received little or no catechesis. What then bound them together to become the nucleus of the Church?
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:37-42)
Apostle’s teaching – fine in Jerusalem, live teaching where it was available, but more difficult as the faith started to spread outside Jerusalem.
So again this question, what bound them together to become nucleus of the Church?
Fellowship – The fellowship of the believers kept them together. Having all things in common
Prayers – Temple prayers – daily in the Temple – but not sacrifices for Jesus had ended the cult of sacrifice in the offering of His own Person.
Breaking of Bread – given by Jesus on night of His Passion. Its future lay on Sunday, the day of His Resurrection and new Life, the eighth Day of Creation, the New Creation in Christ.
And on first Easter evening, two disciples journey to Emmaus
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So, he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.” (Luke 24:27-35)
Breaking of Bread – to share in fellowship at first within context of meal, instituted by Jesus in context of Passover meal (or as Pope Benedict believes an anticipated Passover, because Jesus knew He would not be alive in 24 hours when feast began, and indeed while the lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple, Jesus would be dying on the cross.) Jesus is the New and True Passover Lamb, his body broken, adding a deeper dimension to breaking of bread at the fellowship meal.
Always remember that St Paul’s first account of the Eucharist is not to give to the Corinthian Christians information about something new but to correct abuse of what is already familiar and central.
The Lord’s Supper
23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[g]25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
27Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
(I Corinthians 11)
The Eucharistic celebration is a part of Christian experience every Sunday, their meeting with the crucified and Risen Christ. So the New Testament is full of allusions, referring to what they already know, and would suggest the Eucharist in which they met the crucified and risen Lord for themselves.
Thus Matthew, writing for Jewish Christians, speaks of Bethlehem, the House of Bread. And in the call of Matthew, as Bishop Robert Barron points out Jesus tells the tax collector “Follow me”, and then goes with him to a meal, a feast “(where) they were at table”.
The feeding of the seven and the five thousand suggest that Jesus anticipated the gift of Eucharist in communal feeding of the crowd with earthly food as he wanted to feed them with heavenly food. ( see John 6) The early Christians hearing these events from the lips of the Apostles or in later reading of the Gospels at Mass, would immediately think “ Jesus fed them: and that’s what Jesus does for us in the Eucharist.”
Matthew, Mark and Luke include accounts of the Last Supper with the gift of the Blessed Eucharist in terms and language corresponding to St Paul in 1 Corinthians. However John 6 expounds this truth by giving us Jesus’ own teaching on the gift he would make to His Church in the Eucharist. “I am the Bread of Life” says the Lord: I AM is the name of God: Jesus is and speaks the solemn word of God, whose word brings into being in creation – “and it was so.” There is only one thing you have bread for and that is to eat it. So with this Bread of Life: God is to be eaten. He is to become part of us. In the Temple the cereal offerings or shewbread, set before the Lord, are eaten by the priests as an offering. Jesus will himself take the place of this and all Temple offerings by his giving of his life on the cross.
St John makes no mention of the institution of the Eucharist, already available in St Paul and the synoptic Gospels and familiar in Sunday by Sunday celebration. But he gives this amazing discourse of Jesus on meaning of the Eucharist. The Protestant Christian, making the assumption is his mind that “the Bible came first” would see only a picture of personal relationship with Jesus. But for Catholics the Eucharistic context is clear: this chapter of John is an in-depth description of how that personal relationship is attained and developed through the Blessed Sacrament. John begins his Gospel with the Incarnation and refers to what also happens in the Eucharist: “The Word was made flesh” And John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb: “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
41 (Jesus) said “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 48 zI am the bread of life. 49 aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and bthey died. 50 cThis is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it dand not die. 51 I am the living bread ethat came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give ffor the life of the world is gmy flesh.”
52 The Jews then hdisputed among themselves, saying, i“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of jthe Son of Man and drink his blood, you khave no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and mI will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood nabides in me, and I in him. 57 As othe living Father psent me, and qI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 rThis is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread3 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught sat Capernaum. (John 6:42-59)
The letter to the Hebrews dates AD 64-68 and is written to a group of Jewish Christians. It speaks of Temple worship as though it is still going on. Bishop Barron suggests a temple priest as the author: “the most compelling biblical depiction of Jesus as sacrificial priest. Temple sacrifice is seen as an imperfect foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.“ The letter expounds on the relation between the sacrificial death of Jesus once on the cross and the eternal offering of that sacrifice in heaven.
9 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ……..he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
10 19 Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 2
The death of the animal is the preparation of the sacrifice. The offering of the sacrifice takes place in the Holy Place. Jesus having entered the true Holy Place of heaven offers his sacrifice made once upon the cross to the Father for us.
But you have come to eMount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to
God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesuskthe mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
The writer speaks of Heavenly worship in the present: you have come to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem. Where can that be said of Christians that they have come to Jesus and His sprinkled blood? At Sunday Mass!
In the Apocalypse we have a vision of heavenly worship, with the assembly of the angels and first born. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” i.e. the day of the Eucharist. John the author is at Sunday Mass and the assembly of bishops and priests is transposed to the heavenly court. At the centre the Lamb that had been sacrificed, Jesus who is the sacrificial Lamb the of the Eucharist. Back to Hebrews where we read You have come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Abel’s blood pleaded for vengeance – Jesus’ blood pleads for forgiveness.)
In the Synoptic Gospels, the Institution Narrative relates the events of the Last Supper to the real presence of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. ‘This is my blood of the New Covenant.’
Back to Troas where the context not just of Paul’s visit and teaching but of the composition and understanding of the New Testament is found in the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered to break bread,” The New Testament was composed and is understood within the community of the Church and the Church is essentially the community which gathers to celebrate the Eucharist.
The sixteenth century Reformers placed a tremendous emphasis on Scripture as the pivot of the Church’s life and came more and more to understand the Eucharist in relation to its mention in Scripture. Gradually the idea “ since it’s not mentioned very often we don’t need to do it very often,” takes shape. The emphasis of Sunday worship shifts to the preaching of Scripture based sermons rather than the celebration of the Sunday Mass.
Within the Church of England in recent decades this imbalance had been largely corrected : the primacy of the Eucharist was almost won. But in more recent years this has receded in deference to Evangelical priorities of “mission and evangelism”. Another reason for decline has been the decreasing availability of ordained clergy to celebrate. The Catholic Church is also experiencing this difficulty, but it is essential that it does not sacrifice its Eucharistic heart.
The Catholic Church since Vatican 2 has placed great emphasis on the Eucharist as the celebration of the Christian community. This has sometimes led to a decreasing understanding of the Catholic doctrine of our Lord’s Real Presence in the transubstantiated bread and wine and in the Sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary presented anew in every Mass.
“We have become so engrossed in assuring each other that we are the Body of Christ, that we are in danger of forgetting the Body of Christ present on the altar” (Fenton Morley, Anglican Dean of Salisbury in 1970s).
Thus (quoting Bishop Robert Barron), the highly respected Pew Research Centre in 2019, detailing American Catholics’ belief about the Eucharist found that “just 31 % affirm that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus. The other 69% believe that they are symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.” This aligns with Protestant beliefs about the Eucharistic species. UK surveys show that 51% of self-identified Catholics in Britain say that they “probably or definitely believe in the “Real Presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist.” Very striking here, and the opposite of what Pew found in the USA is that younger Catholics tend to have a more robust belief in the Real Presence. Over 80% of those who say they attend Mass every week affirm a belief in the Real Presence. At the other end of the scale, around 20% of those who attend only for “hatch, match and dispatch etc” hold such a belief. In contrast to the prevailing view of our western society that the individual believes as he wishes, Pope Benedict emphasised “Catholics must believe what the Catholic Church teaches.”
I conclude by a picture of the Church in the immediate post Apostolic Period, when the New Testament was largely still fresh from the pen.
St. Justin was a renowned evangelist/philosopher/apologist . As a very young man , it is just possible that he might have heard a very old man, St John the Divine, preach at Sunday Mass. That’s how close we are to the apostles. Justin was eventually tortured and executed by the Roman authorities for his Catholic faith.
From the First Apology of St. Justin Martyr, c. 155 AD
No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true, unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the principles given us by Christ.
We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Saviour became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.
The apostles, in their recollections, which are called gospels, handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do. They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup, he gave thanks and said: This is my blood. The Lord gave this command to them alone. Ever since then we have constantly reminded one another of these things. The rich among us help the poor and we are always united. For all that we receive we praise the Creator of the universe through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members, whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time. When the reader has finished, the president of the assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we all stand up together and pray.
On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give assent by saying, “Amen”. The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who are absent.
The wealthy, if they wish, may make a contribution, and they themselves decide the amount. The collection is placed in the custody of the president, who uses it to help the orphans and widows and all who for any reason are in distress, whether because they are sick, in prison, or away from home. In a word, he takes care of all who are in need.
We hold our common assembly on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the day on which God put darkness and chaos to flight and created the world, and because on that same day our saviour Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For he was crucified on Friday and on Sunday he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we have passed on for your consideration. “
St Justin shows that post-apostolic Christians:
- Understood that baptism conveyed new life in Christ and forgiveness of sins. “A sacrament does what it says” ………. unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins
- gathered Sunday by Sunday to honour the day of Christ’s resurrection.
- Their worship included the reading of and teaching from the Old Testament (particularly the prophets who anticipated the coming of Jesus) and the memoirs of the apostles i.e. the Gospels – and the sharing in ‘the Eucharist’ each week.
- They believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist, since the bread and wine “becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving” (Eucharistic prayer ) (see also St Paul on unworthy reception) On Sunday he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we have passed on for your consideration
- Only those who had been catechised and baptised and were living in in accordance with the teaching of the Christ could receive the Blessed Eucharist. ….. unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins,
They believed that their Eucharistic worship was not just “a service” but obedience to the command delivered by Jesus Christ to his apostles and eye-witness disciples.
Eastern Christians would later give it the title of “Divine Liturgy” – the service given by God.
Thus by 150 AD we see established a tradition of Eucharistic worship which relates back to the teaching and practice of the Apostles as delivered to them by the Lord Jesus. We see also a pattern familiar to us, especially since Vatican 2, in the shape of the Mass and the belief and practice of the Universal Church.
In this paper, I have sought to show that the Eucharist, “the source and summit of Christian life” is the heart and the beginning of the life of the Christian Church and that the New Testament needs to be read in a Eucharistic context, rather than vice versa. I have suggested illustrations from the New Testament to back this argument rather than a comprehensive analysis of passages. I have touched on the effects of the Reformation in reversing this context.
Bishop Robert Barron’s comments concerning current trends in abandoning traditional Catholic belief in the Eucharistic presence seem to me highly pertinent . Finally I have returned to use Justin Martyr’s Apologia as an authentic picture of the Eucharistic life of the immediate post Apostolic Church.
