God’s presence sanctifies all. Space and time – the dull and superficial space and time of our daily lives – are sanctified by Christ’s presence. Think of that this Sunday, when your priest comes out of the Altar holding the chalice with the Holy Gifts and calls you to approach Him, Who is ‘our sanctification.’
Once you have consumed Christ, you are the new chalice, a chalice made of flesh and bones carrying the same Precious, Life-Giving Mysteries. You become a mobile chalice that goes out of the church into the streets and shops and offices of this world. You become a mobile chalice, taking Christ to face His creation, giving this creation the chance to respond to His presence and find itself in Him.
If God’s presence sanctifies all, we become part of this process by consuming His Body and Blood, and by taking Him further, to those people who would never enter a church. There is no need for us to talk, there is no need to preach. All that is needed is that you take Christ into the world in the chalice of your flesh and bones, because the world knows its Creator and will always react to His presence.
We can expand the church, we can enlarge it. We can include the world within the walls of the church just by giving ourselves to Christ in receiving His Gifts. Our constant fight and preparation to receive the Divine Gifts is not just for our personal salvation, but also for the salvation of the world. This is also up to us. This is also our responsibility.
Thank you for this rich word, which I am reading Sunday afternoon, and am now thinking of myself as a chalice as you describe, something I would not otherwise have understood in quite this way.
Glory be to God, dear Sara. That is the point of these posts. Please keep me and the monastery in your prayer.