Today’s blog post is a tale of two inosculated stories: one from the scriptures; and one, a travelogue along the Via Francigena highlighting the history of the Catholic Church, as told by Timothy Egan.
Scriptures tell a story that Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, after supper, he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins. Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Following His edict, Christians believe that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.
The CROSS
will ever
stand
for
r
e
s
u
r
r
e
c
tion
-Myra Lochner
Timothy Egan's story is entitled, "A Pilgrimage to Eternity". Amazon calls his story:
A thrilling journey, a family story, and a revealing history [that] looks for our future in its search for God.
Moved by his mother’s death and his Irish Catholic family’s complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan…embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity…along the Via Francigena, once the major medieval trail leading the devout to Rome. [Along the way] Egan finds a modern Canterbury Tale in a chapel where Queen Bertha introduced Christianity to pagan Britain; parses the supernatural in a French town built on miracles; and journey’s to the oldest abbey in the Western world, founded in 515 and home to continuous prayer over the 1,500 years that have followed.
Egan’s story is a humorous account of his adventures along the Via Francigena. Egan provides historical evidence of the entanglement of power and corruption between various royalty and leaders of the Catholic church.
On this Easter Sunday, two stories about the Chalice and the Rood provide contrasting perspectives on a religion that guides millions of followers worldwide.
CPW