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"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, con
cerning the word of life -- the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it ...." I John 1:1-2 (RSV)

"After his resurrection the disciples saw the living Christ, whom they knew to have died, with the eyes of faith (oculata fide)." Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, 55, 2 ad 1, as quoted in D. M. Stanley, Jesus in Gethsemane (New York, Paulist Press 1980).

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Death and Resurrection of Jesus Proclaimed in the Eucharist

Fr. Stanley says that the "indivisible character of Jesus' death and resurrection is not easily grasped by our western, modern mentality." D.M. Stanley, A Modern Scriptural Approach to the Spiritual Exercises (Chicago 1967) at 251. In the Eucharistic liturgy "we proclaim of the death of Lord until he comes" 1 Cor 11:26. But it is a liturgical proclamation of the death of the "risen" Lord. The "indivisible unity of the death and resurrection of the Church's Lord ... made the kerygma good news." Stanley at 251. Scholars agree that the earliest pre-Gospel written accounts of Jesus were compositions to be proclaimed in the Eucharistic liturgy. The recital began with Jesus' words at the first such liturgy at the Last Supper. Stanley at 251. Then, in the first churches when the narratives of Jesus' death and resurrection "were proclaimed in the 'the breaking of the Bread,' they were believed to possess a reality far beyond that of historical recall of significant past events." Stanley at 150. Such a liturgical anamnesis was, in some mysterious way a real occurrence. Stanley at 150. The idea of anamnesis (remembering) comes from the"event-character" of Jewish feasts, especially that of the Passover. Next post I will say more about anamnesis.

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