Blessed Sacrament

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The Blessed Sacrament is displayed in a procession at the 2005 Southeastern Eucharistic Congress.
The Blessed Sacrament is displayed in a procession at the 2005 Southeastern Eucharistic Congress.

The Blessed Sacrament, or the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional name used in the Roman Catholic Church, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches, to refer to the Host and wine after they have been consecrated in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Christians in these traditions believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharistic elements of the bread and wine and hence practice Eucharistic reservation and Eucharistic adoration. This belief is based on interpretations of biblical scripture and tradition. In the Roman Catholic tradition, Christ's presence is believed to be corporeal, while in the Old Catholic and Anglican traditions, his presence is more usually seen as spiritual. The Roman Catholic understanding is defined by numerous church councils including the Fourth Lateran Council and the Council of Trent and is quoted in paragraph 1376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (which explains the meaning of Transubstantiation).

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[edit] Roman Catholic Church

Main article: Eucharist (Catholic Church)

The Blessed Sacrament may be received by Catholics who have undergone the First Holy Communion (ie., given by a priest or other Minister of the Eucharist to a Catholic and consumed by the communicant) as part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist during Mass. The person receiving the Eucharist should be in a "state of grace," i.e., have no mortal sin on their conscience at the time of communion (Matt 5:23-24).

The Blessed Sacrament can also be exposed (displayed) on an altar in a Monstrance. Rites involving the exposure of the Blessed Sacrament include Benediction and Eucharistic adoration. According to Catholic theology, adoration of the host is not the adoration of bread, but of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, who is transubstantiated in it. Catholics believe Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God prefigured in the Old Testament Passover. Unless the flesh of that passover sacrificial lamb was consumed, the members of the household would not be saved from death. As the Passover was the Old Covenant, so the Eucharist became the New Covenant. (Matt 26:26-28), (Mark 14:22-24), (Luke 22: 19-20), and (John 6:48-58)

[edit] Anglican Communion

Main article: Anglican Eucharistic theology

Reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the Anglican Communion varies by province. Formerly, Confirmation was universally required as a precondition to reception, but many provinces now allow all the baptised to partake.

Devotions to the Blessed Sacrament vary. In most churches, individuals will genuflect or bow in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, which is generally reserved in a tabernacle or aumbry on, behind, or near the altar. Its presence is usually indicated by a lamp suspended over or placed near the tabernacle or aumbry. Except among Anglo-Catholics the use of a monstrance is rare, perhaps in keeping with Article XXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles that "the Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them." Nonetheless, many parishes do have services of devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, in which the ciborium is removed from the tabernacle or aumbry and hymns, prayers, psalms, and sentences of devotion are sung or read. In some parishes, when the Blessed Sacrament is moved between tabernacles (say, from the High Altar to a chapel altar), sanctus bells are rung and all who are present kneel.

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