Living Catholicism: Reverence for the Eucharist in Secular Literature

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September 17, 2005

Reverence for the Eucharist in Secular Literature

I have what amounts to obsessive-compulsive reading disorder in which I read a lot of books. I can’t help it, I tell others, it’s a disorder that isn’t treatable at this time . . . so I give in and succumb to my reading temptation.

In the process, I read a lot of secular books as well and I’m currently reading one that took my breath away with a particular passage that I wasn’t expecting in a non-Catholic fiction book. So I thought I would share it and see if anyone could guess the name and/or author. Frankly, this isn’t too tough – the book is a classic by an extremely well-known author. But take a stab at it (don’t cheat by searching online!):

Then Father Pinckney lifted the holiest fingers in Tennessee, held a white host aloft, whispered the old dead prayers, believed in the deepest mystery, believed that the bread and the child, and the nailed carpenter were one . . .

Father Pinckney held the bread in his hands. Father Pinckney held God in his hands. Three times the bells sang. The bread trembled. Ben looked up and believed.

The host convulsed like a fetus, kicked with new blood. Arteries burst through to the strongest grain of wheat where the soul of God took root, where a new heart more ancient than time, stronger than nations, pumped godblood to the smallest vein in the bread. Teeth formed in the grain of Christ and soft, unleavened nails scratched against the fingers of Father Pinckney. A mouth formed a cry in the voice of the bread. Eyes that came to life in the moonblaze of sacristies and witnessed the birth of the world struggled to open against the priest’s grip. In the perfect circle of the host, lungs began to breathe the incensed air, the same lungs that had breathed in the blackness of the void, the ozone of creation, and the fire of molded stars hatched by hands large enough to arrange galaxies. Softly, God grew in the hands of one priest; in the womb of his hands Christ grew. A man and a god lives far in the bread, deep in the grain. And Ben Meecham believed.

I must admit, this is edited to make it okay for the eyes of children (this is a secular book). I took out one reference at the ellipsis. Also, he’s speaking of midnight Mass at Christmas (the “moonblaze” reference).

Any guesses?

God bless,
Jay

Posted by jay at September 17, 2005 12:59 PM