Daily Archives: 22 October 2006

EXCERPT:
I want to bring back to the fore what I wrote of the word frequentatio some weeks ago. Frequentatio is also a technical term in rhetoric: it is “a condensed recapitulation of the arguments already stated separately, a recapitulation, summing up.” Our reception of Holy Communion in the context of Mass is really the fullness of what the Church calls “full, conscious and active participation” in the sacred liturgy (which is the “source and summit”). Holy Communion is the ultimate frequentatio for the Eucharist “having in itself all delight”, as we pray during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Furthermore, the celebration of Holy Mass is the source and summit of our Christian lives. Thus, is not the moment of Holy Communion being described in this prayer not a summation of the whole of the Christian’s identity and life? Each and every consecrated Host is the Eternal Word made flesh, who dwelt among us so as to save us from our sins and reveal us more fully to ourselves (cf. Gaudium et spes 22). Of all the sacraments Christ gave us, this Most Blessed Sacrament is the only one which actually is what it signifies:

Christ truly present. Christ, who is the Word spoken from eternity by the Father, is the frequentatio, the perfect “summing up”, who at the end will take all things to Himself and submit them to the Father so that God might be all in all (1 Cor 15:28). Christ is our frequentatio. Read More →