{"id":6628,"date":"2021-09-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2021-10-06T04:05:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T20:05:34","slug":"279-emmaus-newman-on-the-spiritual-presence-of-christ-in-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6628","title":{"rendered":"279. Emmaus: Newman on the Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

28\u00a0<\/sup>As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>But they urged him strongly, saying, \u201cStay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them.\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup>When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.\u00a031\u00a0<\/sup>Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>[Luke 24:28-31<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0Supper at Emmaus<\/em>, by\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Pontormo<\/a>, 1525<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a sermon by Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, from Parochial and Plain Sermons, VI.10\u00a0– \u201cThe Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Church<\/a>\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n

Now observe what was the nature of His presence in the Church after His Resurrection. It was this, that He came and went as He pleased; that material substances, such as the fastened doors, were no impediments to His coming; and that when He was present His disciples did not, as a matter of course, know Him. St. Mark says He appeared to the two disciples who were going into the country, to Emmaus, \u201cin another form<\/em>.\u201d St. Luke, who gives the account more at length, says, that while He talked with them their heart burned within them. And it is worth remarking, that the two disciples do not seem to have been conscious of this at the time, but on looking back, they recollected that as\u00a0having<\/em>\u00a0been, which did not strike them while it\u00a0was<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

. . .\u00a0 their hearts seem to have been holden (if we may use the expression) as well as their eyes. They were receiving impressions, but could not\u00a0realize<\/em>\u00a0to themselves that they were receiving them; afterwards, however, they became aware of what had been. Let us observe, too,\u00a0when<\/em>\u00a0it was that their eyes were opened; here we are suddenly introduced to the highest and most solemn Ordinance of the Gospel, for it was when He consecrated and brake the Bread that their eyes were opened. There is evidently a stress laid on this, for presently St. Luke sums up his account of the gracious occurrence with an allusion to it in particular; \u201cThey told what things were done in the way, and how He was known of them in breaking of bread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For so it was ordained, that Christ should not be both seen and known at once; first He was seen, then He was known. Only by faith is He known to be present; He is not recognized by sight. When He opened His disciples\u2019 eyes, He at once vanished. He removed His visible presence, and left but a memorial of Himself. He vanished from sight that He might be present in a sacrament; and in order to connect His visible presence with His presence invisible, He for one instant manifested Himself to their open eyes; manifested Himself, if I may so speak,\u00a0while He passed from His hiding-place of sight without knowledge, to that of knowledge without sight<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or again: consider the account of His appearing to St. Mary Magdalene. While she stood at the sepulcher weeping He appeared, but she knew Him not. When He revealed Himself, He did not, indeed, at once vanish away, but He would not let her touch Him; as if, in another way, to show that His presence in His new kingdom was not to be one of sense. The two disciples were not allowed to\u00a0see<\/em>\u00a0Him after recognizing Him, St. Mary Magdalene was not allowed to\u00a0touch<\/em>\u00a0Him. But afterward, St. Thomas\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0allowed both to see and touch; he had the full evidence of sense: but observe what our Lord says to him, \u201cThomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.\u201d\u00a0Faith is better than sight or touch.<\/span><\/p>\n

. . .\u00a0 We see Him not; but we are to believe that we possess Him,\u2014that we have been brought under the virtue of His healing hand, of His life-giving breath, of the manna flowing from His lips, and of the blood issuing from His side. And hereafter, on looking back, we shall be conscious that we have been thus favored. Such is the Day of the Lord in which we find ourselves, as if in fulfillment of the words of the prophet, \u201cThe Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee. And it shall come to pass in that Day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.\u201d [Zech. xiv. 5-7.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Nay, even before the end comes, Christians, on looking back on years past, will feel, at least in a degree, that Christ has been with them, though they knew it not, only believed it, at the time. They will even recollect then the burning of their hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nay, though they seemed not even to believe any thing at the time, yet afterward, if they have come to Him in sincerity, they will experience a sort of heavenly fragrance and savour of immortality, when they least expect it, rising upon their minds, as if in token that God has been with them, and investing all that has taken place, which before seemed to them but earthly, with beams of glory. . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

May He enable us to make full trial of His bounty, and to obtain a full measure of blessing. \u201cThere is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her and that right early \u2026 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.\u201d [Ps. xlvi. 4, 5, 10, 11.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, September 2021. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/u> <\/strong>You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28\u00a0As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.\u00a029\u00a0But they urged him strongly, saying, \u201cStay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them.\u00a030\u00a0When he was at the table with them, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh","author_link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"28\u00a0As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.\u00a029\u00a0But they urged him strongly, saying, \u201cStay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them.\u00a030\u00a0When he was at the table with them,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6650,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/6650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}