{"id":1471,"date":"2011-05-12T16:53:37","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T23:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=1471"},"modified":"2011-05-13T14:05:12","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T21:05:12","slug":"if-a-wafer-falls-on-the-floor-do-i-have-to-eat-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=1471","title":{"rendered":"If a wafer falls on the floor, do I have to eat it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026I reserved them and saw to it they were consumed after the service.\u00a0I think we got them all.\u201d\u00a0 Yet, when \u201chosts, reserved from Sunday\u2019s service,\u201d turned out to be infested with weevils, Pastor Saltzman<\/a> did not make any calls to the homebound \u201cuntil a new order arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does not relate what was done with the consecrated but weevil-infested hosts.<\/p>\n

All of this because Saltzman had been forced to\u00a0actually<\/strong> dig through things by taking a course on the Sacraments at a\u00a0nearby Roman Catholic seminary.<\/p>\n

\u201cLutherans and Catholics talk about the Lord\u2019s Supper in\u00a0almost identical<\/strong> language,\u201d he claimed to discover.<\/p>\n

To the contrary!\u00a0Lutherans and Roman Catholics in dialogue manage to eliminate stereotypes and misunderstandings, but at most they arrive at \u201cconvergence.\u201d<\/p>\n

On real presence, yes, there is “increasing convergence”:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur conversations have persuaded us of both the legitimacy and the limits of theological efforts to explore the mystery of Christ\u2019s presence in the sacrament.\u00a0 We are also persuaded that no single vocabulary or conceptual framework can be adequate, exclusive or final in this theological enterprise.\u00a0We are convinced that current theological trends in both traditions give great promise for increasing convergence and deepened understanding of the eucharistic mystery.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

There is, however, a huge “however”:<\/p>\n

\u201cLutherans speak of the whole liturgical action as usus<\/em>: the consecration, distribution and reception (sumptio) <\/em>of the sacrament \u2026 Lutherans do not speak of Christ being present before or apart from \u2018use.’\u201d [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

And that lets the air out of this\u00a0ecumenical boomlet.\u00a0Wafers that fall on the floor are not part of the “use.”<\/strong>[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Lutherans do, of course, treat the unused elements respectfully, but reservation and adoration are not actually<\/strong> Lutheran.<\/p>\n

The whole discussion, to be sure, is moot because for Roman Catholics nothing happens without a valid priesthood anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n[1]<\/a> The Eucharist as Sacrifice, Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue III<\/em>, ed. Paul C. Empie and T. Austin Murphy (Minneapolis: Augsburg,\u00a0[1967]) 196-97. Best of all, read the full agreement, pp.\u00a0191 \u2013 97.<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> L\/RC III<\/em>, 193, footnote 24.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> How the Lutheran Confessions actually<\/strong> write about the Lord’s Supper:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Christ is truly present in doing what He commanded, in the use, the action. (Formula of Concord VII, \u00b6\u00b685-87; Book of Concord<\/em> [Tappert], pp. 584-85. Also \u00b673, pp. 582-83.)<\/li>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

  2. Christ is not truly present apart from doing what He commanded, apart from the use, the action\u2014in the so-called reservation of the host or otherwise. (FC VII \u00b6108, p.588; \u00b6\u00b6126-27, p.\u00a0591.\u00a0 Pastor Saltzman’s struggle with “exactly how long the Presence of Christ may\u00a0last and to what degree it persists” is specifically rejected<\/strong> in FC VII, \u00b6127,\u00a0footnote\u00a0 4 [Tappert], p. 591).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201c\u2026I reserved them and saw to it they were consumed after the service.\u00a0I think we got them all.\u201d\u00a0 Yet, when \u201chosts, reserved from Sunday\u2019s service,\u201d turned out to be infested with weevils, Pastor Saltzman did not make any calls to the homebound \u201cuntil a new order arrived.\u201d He does not relate what was done with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1471"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1476,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471\/revisions\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}