The Use of the reserved sacrament
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article37
- Author
- Gibson, Paul (Paul Saison), 1932-2022
- Journal
- Resources for Liturgy
- Date
- 1987 September
- Journal
- Resources for Liturgy
- Date
- 1987 September
- Issue
- 10
- Page
- 1-2
- Notes
- "There is no question that communion received from the reserved sacrament at a celebration of the eucharist is true communion. The question is whether it is appropriate. (Food consumed from a private supply at a banquet may be nourishing, but the banquet loses something of its symbolic value as a celebration based on common sharing -- as St. Paul was quick to note.) Abuses spring from small violations of the integrity of liturgical acts; they cause much misunderstanding and are reformed only with pain and difficulty. The purpose of reservation is always to extend the eucharistic celebration to include in its communion those who cannot be present for the whole. The eucharist is an event; it is not a mechanism for confecting the sacrament as though it could have an existence apart from the event. Reservation extends the event. Perhaps the best form of reservation is that which was proposed by the first Prayer Book and is now commended by `The Book of Alternative Services': the sacrament is taken directly from a celebration of the eucharist to communicants who are unable to be present. .... The reserved sacrament should always be treated with reverence, but that reverence should not be allowed to expand into a piety which eclipses the purpose of reservation i.e., communion. At this point the historic Anglican critique of reservation remains valid".
- Subjects
- Lord's Supper - Reservation - Church of England
- Lord's Supper - Reservation - Anglican Church of Canada
- Church work with the sick - Anglican Church of Canada