If a man so desires, he can have the woman of his wildest dreams and all his fantasies, sexual or otherwise, are fulfilled. He merely needs a VR-headset to stimulate his vision and hearing, creating an immersive 3-D environment so that the brain is induced or better, seduced into thinking that the virtual is real. But, no matter how much “adult entertainment” (or virtual sex) mimics real-life interaction, no matter how “real” it feels, currently, we still recognise that that it is all in the head. It may be different in the future.
Now transfer this experience to our current situation. Imagine a man or a woman kneeling in front of a TV live-streaming a Eucharistic Adoration. Or attending a live-stream Mass as if one were attending Mass. If intimate relation with a VR-hot chick is all in the head, how different is that from watching a live-streamed Mass?
Oh, but that is different. Fair enough. I was born in the wrong time.
Since religious service has been deemed to be “non-essential”, people have reasoned that it is OK to watch live-streamed Masses (not that it is wrong) after all Jesus is present in different ways when we celebrate the sacred liturgy. First, He is present in the community gathered around the altar. Second, He is present in the Word proclaimed. Third, He is present in the priest celebrant. Fourth, He is present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. Each is a presence of Jesus. So, if your family gathers to proclaim and pray the Gospel whilst watching a live-streamed, there He is present. However, there is a qualitative difference in the fourth Presence of Jesus.
Why?
A parishioner or a priest, both are instances of Jesus’ Presence, but you would never kneel to worship them, would you? Whereas, for the Eucharistic species, especially the Blessed Sacrament in exposition, you would fall on your knees in worship and adoration.
From the earliest times, Christians have taken the words of Jesus to heart. In today’s Gospel, He told the crowd He had fed with the multiplied loaves and fish, that should they desire eternal life, they must eat of His Body and drink of His blood. Sadly, the people were content to settle for a Jesus doing what Moses had done in the desert as we heard in the 1st Reading—to feed them physically. In the Gospel, Jesus commanded and not suggested because He was referring not to food in the general sense. He was decidedly Eucharistic in His mandate. Thus, like their ancestors of old, the crowd murmured and wondered how someone could even broach a cannibalistic practice. He did not back down in the face of their objection.
To gain eternal life is to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus, no less. If Jesus had meant it in a figurative way, He would have proposed that they “eat” (phago, φάγω) instead of directing them to “chew” (trogon, τρώγω). Otherwise, why would the crowd murmur? Furthermore, He stated that the Bread He would give was His flesh (sarx, σάρξ) for the life of the world. He could have used the word Body (soma, σώμα) which is more figurative and definitely more palatable when proposed as an idea.
This points to a Jesus who cannot be more real in giving Himself to us as the Viaticum. Down the centuries, through Apostolic Succession in the Church, Jesus continues to fulfil His promise of feeding us with His Body and Blood. The Church He founded makes the Eucharist for us. The word used to describe this process of confecting His Body and Blood is “Transubstantiation”, in which the very substances of the bread and wine are changed into the substance of Jesus, the same Jesus who walked 2000 years ago. Notice how intuitive the Institution Narrative is as it changes from the 3rd person (in description of the night HE took bread, etc) to 1st person (This is MY Body. This is MY Blood). While the substances of bread and wine are changed, the species retain their accidental appearances of bread and wine so that Jesus is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist—a Presence that has given comfort to billions from the time of the Catacombs to the current pandemic. And not just comfort but strength.
If Jesus is our Viaticum, then deprivation of Mass certainly has an impact on the spiritual health of pilgrims on the road to eternity. This pestilence is not just medical problem but also a spiritual challenge. Whilst we tally up the cost of stopping the economy, surely, we need to consider how sensitive souls are imperilled with this denial of Holy Communion. Of course, one can bring up the matter of making a Spiritual Communion through live-streamed adoration, and etc.[1]
In Sacramental Communion, when we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, we consume the accidents of bread and wine. It means that we eat and drink of Jesus in faith and love which is also what we do in Spiritual Communion. Since both Spiritual Communion and Sacramental Communion are received in faith and love, the effects are the same. However, Spiritual Communion always symbolises our desire to receive Jesus sacramentally and it is premised on the possibility of actual participation. In other words, Spiritual Communion is directed towards the reception of Sacramental Communion. Since Spiritual Communion expresses a desire and is not a fact, it is therefore a sacramentally less perfect sharing in the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Interestingly, when it comes to interpersonal and intimate relationship, people will not settle for that which is virtual but it appears that when it comes to the true, real and substantial Presence, live-streaming may induce us into settling for a projected reality. For those who are elderly, isolated, immuno-deficient or compromised and sick, live-streaming is a blessing. For those who are able-bodied, live-streaming should only deepen our longing for what is real and not be complacent with the virtual. What we have currently is not, despite all the hype, the new normal but the abnormal.
If Christ intends for us to eat and drink of Him for eternal life, then the unavailability of the Eucharist cannot be of divine origin. But we know that God can make good come out of what is a bad condition. He does not change the situation but allows it to redirect our attention. People who have given up on prayer have started to pray. Hopefully, this deprivation of Holy Communion will deepen our love for the Eucharist. But more than the supernatural gift of the Body and Blood of Christ, we should also take heed of the natural realm because faith and food are two sides of a coin. If the absence of Holy Communion should deepen our appreciation for the privilege of the Eucharist perhaps we can pray that we will also develop our solidarity with those who will require assistance as they struggle to get back on their feet during this period of recovery from the pandemic. Jesus has not abandoned us for He gave us His Body and Blood as food for the journey for as long as we are in the world. In keeping His promise to be with us, He is also inviting to ponder on another absence. Through the acute lack of the Eucharist, we are reminded to remember the privation of the other: the shortage of food for the poor is not the lack of God’s compassion but rather of ours. Thus, the want of Holy Communion is not just an invitation to Spiritual Communion. It is also an encouragement to a deeper appreciation of physical hunger especially for the poor and marginalised. At Corpus Christi, we carry our Lord in procession. May we also carry His brothers and sisters in our hearts and with our hands and feet.
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[1] If you read this piece as a diatribe against live-streamed Mass, it is not. I am deeply concerned with the prolonged deprivation of Sacramental Communion. Satan will use any means possible to prevent us from receiving that which is our guarantee for eternal life. And our complacency may just be our unwitting cooperation with him.
