As an altar boy decades ago I was informed that when I rang the bells after the priest had raised the chalices toward heaven, transubstantiation occurred. Right there and then the wine became the blood of Jesus, the bread his body. Yuck! I must have written it off as adult make-believe, for as I helped with communion, holding the shiny golden plate beneath the chins of my neighbors, I could plainly see that the round, white wafers hadn’t changed one whit. And the wine still had the same grape juice color and was giving off its unmistakable alcohol vapors.
Sure, the every-Sunday, supernatural feat of transubstantiation is Catholic doctrine, but do any modern folk believe it actually occurs and is not just religious poetry? To enlighten myself on the matter, I consulted the almighty Google, and found this very helpful quote at www.rosary-center.org:
We are dealing here with something that cannot be verified or even examined by natural science. The nature of the change brought about in the Eucharist as taught by the Church, lies beyond what chemistry, physics or biology are able to establish. We have it on the clear words of Our Lord, and we can only assent to it through the supernatural light of faith.
I see. But this raises a number of questions. We need not heed the data of the real world; we must accept that something really does happen on the clear words of Our Lord. Hmm. Are the words truly that clear and not subject to different interpretations? Are they in fact the words of a lord? How do we know? Is one person’s hunch, I mean faith, as good a guide to truth as another person’s?
And what about that bit about supernatural light? Does this supernatural light have similar qualities to electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum — pleasantly colorful and potentially warming? Or is supernatural light more like light of the x-ray frequency? Or is it so super that it has a frequency and thus energy beyond that of gamma radiation? What does it all mean?
In a liberal (meaning free and progressive), educated, democratic society, the gods of religion rule in the ever smaller niches not occupied by reason, vote, and scientific methodology and knowledge. Modern medicine, law enforcement, and technological advancement make the domains of the gods ever smaller. To insure bountiful crops we spread fertilizer. To reform a person who has behaved badly, previously referred to as a sinner but now more often called a criminal, we send him to prison or to counseling or make him do community service. To ensure a safe passage home for the holidays we check the Weather Channel and have the guys at the local Spiffy Lube give the car a 32-point inspection.
The domain of gods is indeed getting chiseled down. Me, I’d like to get it done with once-and-for-all. How? Perhaps by grabbing “God” by the scruff of his neck and drop-kicking him into oblivion. And I could do it too, with my holy kicking power. Oh no, you can’t see or verify this power. You have to accept it on the supernatural light of gullibility.
[cartoon thanks to jesusandmo.net]
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Tags: atheism, religion, Sunday Un-Sermon
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