From: boutland@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr J Boutland)
Subject: Re: Horst Hogenkamp asks Why frequent communion?
Organization: Monash University, Australia.
Distribution: aus
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 23:04:53 GMT

ricko@ee.uts.edu.au (Rick Jelliffe) writes:

>horst@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Horst Hogenkamp) writes:

>>Why do you want to have a frequent communion?

>And as far as personal details go, I don't take daily communion. But I
>think that if I loved Jesus more, I'd also naturally want daily communion
>more. Any Catholics out there have any testamony?

>-ricko

I guess that views on this essentially divide along traditional 
"Catholic" and "Protestant" lines. The Catholic view is essentially
sacramental while the Protestant emphasizes the proclamation of the
kerygma through preaching. These of course are by no means mutually
exclusive. Unfortunately the word "Catholic" with an upper case "C"
tends to imply only the Roman Catholic communion. Sacramental views of
Christian life are strongly held by all of the Eastern Orthodox persuasion
as well as (most) Anglicans and Lutherans and possibly others I'm not
aware of. There are of course differences in emphasis in these on the
matter of the nature of the presence of the Christ in the Eucharist, as
the long running debate on transubstantiation has brought out.

I would prefer, if I may, to use the terms "sacramental" and "kerygmatic"
rather than "Catholic and "Protestant". Those who emphasize the former have a
strong sense of the Church, they are ecclesial in outlook. I would like
to share some thoughts from an Orthodox point of view. I'm not a member of
an Orthdox Church myself but have recently found much of interest in
a book, "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Kallistos Ware, an English Orthodox 
Christian. The quotations that follow come from that book.

Fr Alexander Elchaninov observes:-

"Man finds his true self in the Church alone: not in the helplessness of
 spiritual isolation but in the strength of communion with his brothers
 and his Saviour".

Not that the kerygmatics would disagree with this; they would though
see that communion in perhaps a more abstract way, in a mutual response
to the preaching of the Gospel. The breaking of bread they would see
more as a matter of fellowship between those who have accepted the Word,
getting together, as Jesus did with His disciples, for a (not insignificant)
common meal. To the sacramentalist Christian:-

"it is the sacraments that constitute our life in Christ...None can be a true
 Christian without sharing in the sacraments...The whole of the ascetic and 
 mystical life is a deepening and realization of our Eucharistic union with
 Christ the Saviour"

(Bp. Kallistos Ware)

Holy Communion is fundamental to the sacramental Christian. It is interesting
that in the Orthodox Church communion is given to infants from the moment of
baptism, not after personal acceptance of a Christian faith, such is the 
significance of this sacrament.

"...in this sacrament we attain God himself, and God hinself is made one 
 with us in the most perfect of all possible unions...This is the final 
 mystery: beyond this it is not possible to go, nor can anything be added
 to it."

(Nicholas Cabasilas)

We must, I suppose, be conscious that the sacrament is not automatically
or mechanically efficacious, otherwise we end up with the bizarre and
patently untrue proposition that one's holiness is directly proportional
to the number of times one receives Holy Communion. It is more a question
of this Communion being a fundamental part of our life in Christ.

The sacraments are not the whole story though. The spiritual way is 
evangelical as well as ecclesial and sacramental. Bishop Ware adds:-

"At each step upon the path, we turn for guidance to the voice of God
 speaking to us through the Bible...The real purpose of Bible study is
 ...to feed our love for Christ, to kindle our hearts into prayer...
 The study of words should give place to an immediate dialogue with
 the living Word himself." 

John Boutland.
Newsgroups: aus.religion