The Eucharist

What if the description of Transubstantiation, Consubstantiation, or Memorial as the definition of the Lord’s Supper was in each case just partly correct? I have written numerously on the emergence of the integral era of history, emerging over the past two centuries of time. This makes a big difference in the way they should be interpreted.

The passing years of the mental rational era, which dominated the foregoing two and a half millennia saw the capacity of the mind moving from the mythic era (the change appearing in the half millennia before the life of Christ) to the height of the Enlightenment period which gave us the wonderfully sophisticated world we live in today. While the sophistication of the mind has continued its ever-grand journey in pursuit of more glorious knowledge it is doing so in a different context today. The awakening to an even more sophisticated understanding of life based upon the new understanding of the Quantum world and its related fields of knowledge has witnessed the emergence of the integral understanding of life. All things are integrally interrelated. This stands in vast contrast to the mental rational era that was characterised by its ability to divide and analyse. The advance in learning broke through this threshold of understanding with Quantum explanations, to re-cast the broad domain of understanding our world to now perceive that the universe is one massive unity. Everything was in some way or another interrelated. The definitions of transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or Memorial were coined in the early mental rational era when the practice of dividing and analysing was paramount to the way the church approached its teachings. The outcome was harsh divisions and narrow-minded beliefs. Through to this present-day many people still cling to these harsh definitions that lead to division. They are inadequate in this newly emerging integral era.

The contrast between the traditional understanding of the Eucharist and the integral is to be found in the context that gives underlying meaning. The transubstantiation, consubstantiation, and memorial explanation all arise from the search for an elusive experience of a Christ beyond, which is to enter the elements of bread and wine to transform these gifts into the various explanations offered above. The three offerings emphasise various explanations. The transubstantiation emphasises the actual transformation of the elements into the actual body and blood of Christ, which is real in substance even though it may appear as bread and wine. The practice of receiving ‘in one kind’, ‘reserving’ the sacrament, and displaying the sacrament to gaze upon it, places the emphasis upon the sacredness of the actual bread and wine. The explanation of consubstantiation is similar. It is not as definitive in describing the transformation into the actual body and blood but speaks of the “real presence’ of the Christ in the bread and wine. The practices that emphasise the holy communion as a memorial of Jesus' life, are various in explanation, but emphasise that one is merely recalling the story of Jesus’ life. The common practice of discarding the bread and wine in the garden or some other means stands in sharp contrast to the sacred regard that the churches that believe in Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation devour all remains of bread and wine at the altar. Whereas there is a significant difference in explanations, it is common that all three regard Jesus is entering the experience from beyond and becoming localised in the situation at hand.

The context of the integral world is very different. It is important to go back to the origin of life to understand the context for integral. There are at least two main explanations of the origin of man that will lead to two very different explanations of how we live. The first is the plain scientific explanation that says the origin is out of nothing, and that this origin is logically explained. The second is the religious explanation that says the Big Bang appears from the emergence of consciousness, which is the story of love. This story of love is the incarnational presence of the divine. The loving incarnational presence of the divine is the subtle force that shapes the evolutionary story. Teilhard de Chardin speaks of this as Christo-genesis, that is, the loving incarnational presence is the story of the Christ ever-present in the story of evolution. The Christ is the innate primary force of creation. The Christ is ever present in all of creation. We are now grasping this reality as we enter the Integral era. The Christ is the loving force that unites all being in an interrelated whole. This is the new context in that we must learn to understand the nature of the Christ, the incarnational being, that is working to bring all that is to fulfilment. It is the context that we are to understand the Eucharist.

It is in the incarnational Christ of the beginning of time that is still the persevering love that fills every minute morsel of reality with the intent to bring creation to fulfillment that is operative in our time. This is the context in which we celebrate the Eucharist. Far from a distant Christ, we call from a distant place to engage with us, in the integral world we bring to the fore the Christ who is in our midst. Yes, the Christ is the Christ of Transubstantiation because the incarnational Lord is engaged with every minute detail of matter. Yes, the Christ is the Christ of Consubstantiation because the incarnation Lord is engaged with every minute detail of consciousness. Yes, the Christ is the Christ of memory because the incarnation Lord is the ultimate detail of the story. In the integral world, each contributes to the ever-present and ongoing work of resurrection.

Every day, every week, people gather in their bubbles of worship, with their own cultural style of worship practice, emphasising truths that tell part of the story. It is not the full story. The story lives in the people, ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst’. We are bringing to life that which is present of the risen Christ in every particle and realm of life in every moment of our day, for the incarnational Christ is an integral Christ.