The Eycharistic Sacrifice

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 11, Issue 9, 1 August 1945, Page 6

The Eycharistic Sacrifice

(By Chancellor R. J. Campbell m the Church" of England Newspaper.)

-J. -H v - Shorthouse, the author of "John Inglesant," was won to say that the most .perfect corporate act of worship m. his experience was that of the Holy Communion m an English parish church. The words recurred to my mind With special force ,on Thanksgiving Sunday when I knelt with my neighbour m a little country church to^ offer to Almighty Godwin common 'with the whole nation and' indeed all Christendom, the home of our hearts for a great deliverance, and to pledge ourselves anew to His service m the restoration of shattered human fellowship. The very quietude^ helped us to realise our' nearness to one another as we made our individual selfoffering to the Lord if life. Returned „ prisoners of war were there side by side With the loved ones whose prayers for their safety had been so signally answered; mourners were there whom " war had robbed of son or brother; weary workers were there; glad of respite, hopeful of better days; to come. ■ ' - . The venerable liturgical phrases as" they fell upon our ears seemed charged with new and deeper import to some if not all of us as we joined m offering "ourselves, our souls ~and Iwdies," m Christ, "to be a reasonable, holy fend lkrely sacrifice" to our heavenly Father." To speak of the Holy Communion as "the Eucharist is readily understandable by the" simplest mind. Children easily grasp it, as all. who have the responsibility of giving religious instruction to them know very well. For the whole service is an ; act of thanksgiving and adoration, which is what Eucharist meant: hence the fitness of- its appeal on Thanksgiving Sunday. To call it also a sacrifice perhaps needs more ex-r planatioh to the untutored mind. The Scriptural Authority. The scriptural authority for >so terming it is sufficiently plain. In this service we plead before God the sacrifice of Christ for the redemption of the world from the dominion of evil, and "we associate ourselves with that sacrifice.- Thus m Heb. x. we read: "We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."' In the same connection (chap, xiii.) we read: "By Jlim therefore. let. us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to- His name." And m 1 Peter li.j 5, " -we are reminded, that 'We also, as likely -are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, " 'to offer up

spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by-Jesus Christ." - The sacrifice, of Christ on Calvary was, as the Scripture says, an .offering to God once for, all on behalf of the human race,. There is a sense m which that sacrifice never needs to be repeated nor could be. But^ when we plead that one perfect sac^ rifice m the -'Holy Eucharist we offer ourselves with it; and_that is what we mean or ought to mean when we call this particularly service a sacrifice. ■•■■'.'-'■■ As that lovable man, Bishop Carey, says m his book "The Life m Grace!': "Christendom has'-always asserted that the Holy Eucharist is both sacrifice and Communion — a presentation" of the sacrifice and on the sacrifice ... for it is' a sacrifice worthy, of God, for it is Christ's: it is also our sacrifice because Christ is ours— -our Kepresentative and the Head of that redeemed humanity which offers the sacrifice." v There is no mere form of words : it is the literal truth: and hence its peculiar, appeal to us m our national thanksgiving and the bracing of our moral energies for the difficult problems ahead. Sacrifice implies suffering, 'but is the means to highest joy. How right Dr. Streeter waj when he wrote years ago: "There is one sphere m which m all ages and all countries the supra-animal reaction to suffering has been tradition; m the profession of the soldier. ' The soldier has always been taught to take 'It for granted that wounds, weariness, hardship and often death are the normal, and up to a point inevitable, conditions of loyal service :. . . The analogy between the soldier's profession and the .Christian's service of Christ already appears m the, New Testament: 'Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus' (2 Tim: ii., 3). Christianity immensely widened the field of heroic endurance; and then bade men meet suffering, of whatever kind m the spirit, m which the soldier is expected to meet it if and when it comes as incidental to his calling." :;. ' This is our Calling— -all of us— in the. spiritual warfare that never ceases. And just as there have been no civilians m the world conflict m which we have all been serving and suffering for the past five and a half years, and no real neutrals, so is it with, the Christian m God's array. But know this: Sacrifice motived by pure lpye is pure joy.. Ijfc was "for the joy that was set before Him

thai our Saviour "endured the Cross despising 1 - the shame." And the guerdon of the soul that faithfully follows Him m the way of the Gross is the -welcome: "Enter into the joy of thy Lord."