watch himself narowly, and to condemn and hate in himself the faintest risings of coldness and ireverence; for, of course, if he so acts, the less wil be his risk, and the greater wil be his security that his heart wil not betray him. But I seak of those who are not sufficiently aware of their danger, and these are many.’ Newman is clear about how Christians are to approach the


Sacrament. He says that when we first approach the Sacrament that we do so in awe and anxiety – even if the Christian has litle understanding of the doctrine, he should at least be in awe of the very title of the Sacrament – of the Lord’s body and blood. He seaks of the need for careful and thoughtful preparation; we might say examination of our conscience and prayer. Ten he warns about becoming overly familiar with Holy Tings. How easy is it for any of us to fall into that trap, becoming overly familiar so that the Mass becomes a routine?


Daily sustenance Newman goes on in this sermon to talk about another


danger, that of forgetfulness, ‘forgeting that we have communicated’. He says, ‘We are diligent in preparation, we are careless in retrosect; we dismiss from our memory what we cherished in our expectations; we forget that we ever hoped and feared’. Again Newman says that this daily food for us should make a difference and is the sustenance for us, and he quotes St Paul, ‘Till Christ be formed in us perfectly’. In Newman’s mind there will be a time when sacraments will cease, but until that time they are the means by which we are nourished and changed. Here, at the height of his Anglican preaching, it is this encounter with Jesus in the sacrament that Newman challenges us with – good and careful preparation and remembering who it is we receive.


Real Presence In his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,


Newman writes: ‘I have learned it from the Fathers: I believe the Real Presence


because they bear witness to it. St Ignatius cals it ‘the medicine of immortality’: St Irenæus says that ‘our flesh becomes incorupt, and partakes of life, and has the hope of the resurection,’ as ‘being nourished from the Lord’s Body and Blood;’ that the Eucharist ‘is made up of two things, an earthly and an heavenly’: perhaps Origen, and perhaps Magnes, aſter him, say that. It is not a type of our Lord’s Body, but His Body: and St Cyprian uses language as fearful as can be spoken, of those who profane it. I cast my lot with them, I believe as they.’


Development of doctrine Newman’s argument is that it is not simply the Scriptures


that bear witness to Christian doctrine, the sola scriptura of the Protestant understanding, but it is also the Tradition of


the Church. Doctrine can legitimately be developed in the life of the Church. Tis development though will also be consistent and recognizable as faithful to the Christian tradition. From this we can say two things at least. Firstly, that it is wrong to assume that because Jesus says, ‘Do this in


28 ■ newdirections ■ June 2014


memory of me’, that it is his assumption that we would celebrate the Passover as the act of Christian worship! It is an obvious statement, but it does mean that there can be legitimate, liturgical development in the recalling of the Last Supper and the celebration of the Mass. Our liturgical tradition offers something of a stylization of the Last Supper, because we are bringing together the Last Supper and the sacrifice of the Cross in one celebration, the making present of the sacrifice. Secondly, Newman’s understanding of doctrinal development also gives us the clue as to where he would part company with the Protestant Reformation. For the Protestant understanding of simply ‘recalling the death until he comes again’ is clearly at odds with Newman’s understanding of the development of doctrine. A Protestant interpretation of memorial means a clear break with what the Church believed and had come to believe about the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Newman clearly says that he had come to believe in the Real Presence aſter reflecting on the Fathers of the Church, ‘Because they bear witness to it’. He recognizes that through the Holy Spirit our understanding of doctrine has a traceable and logical line of legitimate development.


Analogy Newman also came to an understanding of the sacramental


through Keble’s Christian Year he came to see the intellectual truth of the sacramental system


doctrine through the works of Bishop Joseph Butler on Te Analogy of Religion. Tis was a popular concept in the Romantic literary period and it is when words and poetics were used to convey a deeper meaning or, in theological terms, an outward visible sign of an inward and invisible grace. It was seen as the supernatural interpretation of the natural world from which an understanding of the Christian sacraments was derived. Newman says that through John Keble’s Te Christian Year he came to see the intellectual truth of the sacramental system. Material objects


can symbolize and point beyond their natural reality or, as Newman says, ‘the doctrine that material phenomena are both types and the instruments of real thing unseen’. Tis view of


Te Christian Year puts the understanding of Analogy at the heart of Tracarian poetics and aesthetics. A characeristic of the Oxford Movement is that it gives us this very high view or Catholic view of the sacraments which also interestingly fited well with the literary and poetics of the time.


Evocation of the eternal Newman is able to say, through his novel, Loss and Gain, this


of the Mass itself: ‘It is not a mere form of words – it is a great acion, the greatest


acion that can be on earth. It is, not the invocation merely, but, if I dare use the word, the evocation of the Eternal. He becomes present on the altar in flesh and blood, before whom angels bow and devils tremble. Tis is that awful event which is the scope, and the interpretation, of every part of the solemnity. Words are necessary, but as means, not as ends; they are not mere addresses to the throne of grace, they are instruments of what is far higher, of consecration, of sacrifice. Tey hury on, as if impatient to fulfil their mission.’


ND


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