It has always seemed ironic to me that the Eucharist, which was intended to be a symbol of the intrinsic community that exists between God and us and between ourselves, should have been at the heart of most ecclesiastical division over the centuries.
Words were invented and argued over to try and define the territory of the dispute - Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation were just the beginning - but at the heart of the debate was a response to the question "In what way, if any, is Christ present when we celebrate Communion, the Lord's Supper or Eucharist (whatever you may call it)?
Huldrych Zwingli wanted to defuse the whole matter by proposing that since the Church was engaged in an act of commemoration - "Do this in remembrance of me!" - there was no sense of presence necessary for a correct understanding of this question. This proposition took wide hold in protestant circles leaving Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and Anglicans to hold out for one understanding or another.
Medical Mission Sister, Mirian Therese Winter, in her recent book eucharist with a small "e" proposes a completely new way of considering the real presence of Christ when the Christian community is gathered to celebrate Communion. She wants to take up the gospel comment of Jesus that where two or three are gathered, there he was in their midst. This does away with the mystical/scientific dichotomy created by the linguistic debate of Transubstantiation and Constubstantiation which is generally a sturggle for most moderns, and it provides a way of considering the eucharistic event as having more significance than a simple commemoration in which nothing happens other than our own sentimental reminiscences.
I have always felt there was a dynamic and power in the idea of Christ being present when two or three are gathered together, and so this proposition resonates well with me. What about you?
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