One could argue that a second great benefit of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book, besides its excellent exploration of so many questions of theology, belief and practice, is that it has given an enormous number of people a new-found confidence to speak their minds. Intelligent people are sick to death of this culture that has developed in the Church where everyone is beholden to the "thought police". One wonders what the Vatican would do if the entire population rose up and questioned some of its pet assumptions? Don't answer that question. 85% of the population of the Western world has and you can see what the Vatican has done: it has constantly caved into the insecure elements in the population constantly running around proclaiming the sky is about to fall in if we discuss such as such. Tom McMahon is another man, like Geoffrey Robinson, who is not afraid to called a spade a freakin' shovel. Enjoy this new series Tom begins today where he endeavours to explore the real meaning of eucharist and communion in our lives away without fear of the hand-wringers, thought police and those in despair that the sky is about to fall in if we question a few assumptions. …Editor

PREFACE: Three experiences impact the spirituality of Tom in the 1960's:

1. In 1961 after a tour of duty at the US Army's chaplains' school in New York I, on pilgrimage to the Holy Land , encountered in Beirut and Jerusalem refugee camps of displaced people ; in attempting to offer money to help feed these victims of military oppression and human greed I was ridiculed by religious order priests who wanted my money to build a shrine. Embittered, the Irish-American rebel in me snapped and I realized I was an angry priest without a church; ten days later I found myself sitting five feet from John the 23rd and listening to John's version of Christianity ; on that Ash Wednesday , 1961, I began my serious conversion to Jesus , satiating my hunger for truth and justice by devouring the words of this great pope .My journey with Jesus would take a radical departure from that of my 1942 to 1954 seminary training. In 1977 as the roman cleric in me disappeared a mature and well trained California State mental health therapist emerged; marriage and parenting two sons furthered my spiritual growth.
2. In 1967 on a fast moving train from Cologne, Germany with destination Moscow, Russia 28 American teenagers and 4 adults found ourselves at 2pm without food, our last meal on the prior evening. I , their leader am 36 years old, ordained 11 years; most are counsellors from parish recreational programs serving minority poor children. They are well trained for travel and caring for the other. We are hungry. At a brief stop I leap off the train and back on with 14 small hot dogs purchased from a vendor. My "homily" was brief , an encouragement to share so that every person partakes. 39 years later I still sense the profound holiness (wholesomeness) as this community broke bread in a Jesus human experience. We were one body in Jesus and his Spirit.
3. On the beach outside Athens two bikini clad members said to me "Tom, we would like to have one of those Jesus gatherings to memorialize our being together ( we had been 42 days in Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin, and Europe, experiences that further knitted the community ). The kids cleaned mustard off a hot dog bun and presented me with a paper cup of wine and we, a community in bathing suits and our altar a blanket in the sand , offered these gifts to Our Father in simple thanksgiving ; we shared an outward sign of a common-union, a church, a body of Christ. We were communion , a eucharist. We addressed no profound theologies; we had an experience of the Greek "EU" (well done) and charism (an event) that Webster's dictionary defines, eucharist as an experience well done.

One might see now why I title this article eucharist/Eucharist; when I type in eucharist my computer automatically corrects to a capital E, signifying what church influence has had on culture. We shall later discuss how Eucharist became the objective property of institutional religion, a sacrament/sign according to the Council of Trent, 1542, instituted by Jesus that was to be liturgically presided over by an ordained male priest. Simple eucharist preceded Jesus; the meaning and psychological meaning of eucharist is profoundly salvific.

I had been encouraged by John the 23rd in 1961 to prepare for great changes in the Roman Church. As I radically educated myself in history I have joyfully experienced many changes; by the time I left institutional ministry I had presided at well over 11,000 Masses, none of which ever came close to the Spirit alive in that youth group of 1967. After my departure as priest from the RC institution in 1980 we have had many eucharists in the Spirit of our Lord in our home-based Community of Jesus Our Brother which in 2007 still remains a Body of Christ in San Jose, California (after discussion, we had a five minute quality eucharist this morning by which we renewed ourselves in the way of Jesus). We understand what it means to be people of the Gospels who had eaten with and in the Spirit of the Master … "where two or three are gathered in my name there I am". The mystery of a Jesus presence is fleshed out in people. Today I do not accept a Jesus body presence in the host; I do accept communion as sacred sign, instituted by people in memory of Jesus.

The replica of DaVinci's last supper portrays only males, yet the reality of a Passover meal speaks of family and friends being present. Today's and yesteryear's Orthodox Passover begins with a child asking the question "why are we here?" … and the child gets a reward. Profound theologies will take centuries to develop what we call today the Mass in established Christianity. Did the Jew Jesus, a reformer of Judaism, intend to change the Passover and did he have in mind his dying for the sins of all human kind … and without warning or future instructions? Did the Jew Jesus encourage the drinking of his human blood, an abhorrent forbidden experience in the Hebrew religion? 1500 hundred years later at a time of frightening crisis the Council of Trent would offer explanation using a new word transubstantiation; in 2007 controversy over ordination at the Last Supper and what Jesus had in mind has come to a boiling point and Roman authority demands there be no dialogue. Australian Michael Morewood invites dialogue on these issues and offers sound appreciation of updated biblical study and modern theological research. What did Jesus mean when he said "this is my body ... my blood"? What is entailed in the study of mythology?

My mother was born in San Francisco in 1897, a grand-daughter of illiterate and pious Potato Famine Irish ; Mom received her first communion at age 16 and until her death at 87 was devoted to the Eucharist, as well as having a brother and son as priests. By her saying them daily, Mom introduced me as a small boy to blessed sacrament beads … "Oh Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine" (I never used them in seminary) Pius the Tenth had introduced the practice of First Communion to children in 1910 in the hopes of breaking the European practice of once a lifetime communion for ordinary adults, if that. My early priesthood saw the dismissal of harsh fasting laws and the 1950's return at Mass to the practice of frequent Sunday communion; nearly 60 years later an evolutionary study prompted by Vatican Two has clergy and people questioning what a Eucharist is and who controls the experience. Is Eucharist an exclusive clergy experience? Or is it lay orientated? Can people say Mass? What is Mass? What is the Jesus experience?

After Vatican Two I experienced and lived in an ever changing evolutionary world; I view the outward signs of the Council of Trent as most helpful in stablising the theological confusion of the middle ages, unable in our age of space to convey the spirit and meaning of early Christianity and what Jesus intended as he approached human beings with his hands on ministry. Such issues as sacred host and true presence, high priest, and liturgical police control of worship need to be exposed to the fresh air of John the 23rd's open window. Is Eucharist an object? Is eucharist an experience? Is Eucharist "hocus-pocus"? What is a Jesus meaning of eucharist/Eucharist?

Dialogue anyone? There is much more to talk about. What makes communion sacred? What is your experience of Eucharist with a big E or eucharist with a small e? What was the mind of Jesus?

T McMahon 14/9/07 San Jose, Ca. USA

©2009 Tom McMahon

[Index of Commentaries by Tom McMahon]