The grace which we have by the holy Eucharist doth not begin but continue life. No man therefore receiveth this sacrament before Baptism, because no dead thing is capable of nourishment. That which groweth must of necessity first live.
If our bodies did not daily waste, food to restore them were a thing superfluous. And it may be that the grace of baptism would serve to eternal life were it not that the state of our spiritual being is daily so much hindered and impaired after baptism.
In that life therefore where neither body nor soul can decay, our souls shall as little require this sacrament as our bodies corporeal nourishment, but as long as the days of our warfare last, during the time that we are both subject to diminution and capable of augmentation in grace, the words of our Lord and savior Christ will remain forcible, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink ye his blood ye have no life in you.
Life being therefore proposed unto all men as their end, they which by baptism have laid the foundation and attained the first beginning of a new life have here their nourishment and food prescribed for continuance of life in them.
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V—1597
Today is the annual commemoration of Richard Hooker, the great early Anglican theologian and still one of the surest interpreters of what it means to be a “reformed catholic” – the classical self-understanding of this tradition.
Hooker’s discussion of Baptism and the Eucharist here show what a profound, lively, and intensely real understanding of the sacraments he had. Far from being spiritual “comfort food,” a sign of being part of the group, or “chip-and-dip with Jesus” (yes, I’ve heard it described in these ways), the Eucharist is intensely real food for committed (though fragile and vulnerable) disciples. It is a food of authenticity: we receive it not only to be nourished, but also to be judged by the Gospel’s criteria and to have the truth of Christ poured into our lives afresh, so that our conscience being cleansed, we might witness not to our own selfishness or distortion, but to Christ’s healing and power of resurrection.
Baptism and Eucharist are not stepping stones towards something, or "about" something else: they are the thing they say they are: New Life in God and nourishment in that Life. When the sacraments are understood this way, contemporary confusions of hospitality and discipleship are resolved. Hospitality, especially for those not yet baptized, is essential… but the Life given in Baptism (and the centrality of the much-quoted baptismal covenant) and nourished in the Eucharist is not an act of hospitality: it is a radical break with this world and its power; a gift of restored life in God the Holy Trinity and the accountability and grace to live that life.
Collect for the Commemoration of Richard Hooker,
Priest & Theologian
O God of truth and peace, you raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
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