MINING THE RICHES
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n the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
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“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said:“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said:“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:1–7)
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The Prophet Isaiah, TIEPOLO, Giovanni Battista (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
hat joy we have in singing the glorious words of the seraphim in the Communion liturgy. The Sanctus soars to the heavens as our voices are blended together with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. But for Isaiah and for us, there is more than a song. In the throne room, Isaiah was confronted with his sinful flesh and his unclean lips. He would surely die.Yet, God is merciful. One of the seraphim gathers a burning coal from the altar and touches it to Isaiah’s lips.That coal is a burning remnant from the daily offering of the whole burnt offering; the male lamb slain granting the penitent access to God’s favor and acceptance in His sight.The gift was forgiveness and peace with God.
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In the holy liturgy, we confess our sins and eagerly await the word of Absolution. Surely we, like Isaiah, should die. Yet, God is merciful. From the altar, under the bread and wine, comes the burning coal, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–19), Jesus the once-for-all burnt offering, the body and blood of Christ offered for the life of the world. Christ into us, our guilt is taken away, and our sin atoned for. What a true joy that so many come to receive the precious body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. But how should we receive this burning coal of salvation? Some receive the body of Christ directly into the mouth, while others receive Him in their hand. Is one right and the other wrong? Is one form of receiving the body of Christ more appropriate than the other? The two manners of receiving the Host—directly in the mouth and in the hand—both reflect a genuine theological piety and tradition within the Church and deserve our careful attention. First, let us look briefly at the history of the Church. The earliest surviving liturgical texts tell us that the holy people of God in both the Eastern and Western Churches received the body of Christ (the Host) in their hands. The practice was abandoned near the start of the Middle Ages partly out of fear that persons receiving the sacred body in their hands might carry it off for some frivolous purpose, or even for some darkly sacrilegious purpose, and partly because of the increasingly widespread idea that respect for the holy body of Christ precludes our touching holy things with unconsecrated hands. Perhaps most important for us is how, from the earliest times, they received the precious body of Christ. Cyril of Jerusalem has left us his famous instructions on approaching Communion with hands extended and fingers closed, the left hand serving as a throne for the superimposed right hand
