SEARCHING FOR TRUTH AND BEAUTY
Sang Real (True Blood) + San Greal (Holy Grail)
Do we still care about the search for truth and beauty? And are we capable of recognizing them if we find them?
Consider this…
A core tenant of the Roman Catholic faith is the teaching that at every Mass (said throughout the world), bread and wine become the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Literally. Meaning, Christ enters the world daily in a physical way and makes Himself readily available to His people.
And yet…
In August 2019, the Pew Research Centerpublished its findings of a survey of American Catholics in which almost 70% of respondents said they believe the bread and wine were symbols and not the actual Body and Blood of Christ.
Though we live in an age of skepticism (and increasing nihilism), with its heavy co-dependence upon empirical evidence, an interesting datapoint from the survey provides some explanation: according to the Pew survey results, “Most Catholics who believe that the bread and wine are symbolic do not know that the church holds that transubstantiation occurs. Overall, 43% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the church.”
Think about that: people simply don’t know what the Church teaches. And so, they don’t believe.
Two decades earlier, the results were just as dismal.
In Fr. John Hampsch’s 1999 book, The Healing Power of the Eucharist, he cites two polls of alarming significance. The first was a 1992 Gallup poll of American Catholics in which only 30% of respondents were able to correctly identify Catholic teaching on the Eucharist (that we are truly receiving the Body and Blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine). The second was a 1994 New York Times / CBS News poll of American Catholics in which respondents were asked essentially whether the Eucharist at Mass really is the Body and Blood of Christ, or merely just symbolic representations: in that poll, only 34% said they believed the Eucharist really is the Body and Blood of Christ, while 63% said they believed they were only symbols.
In the spirit of pursuing a search for truth and beauty, this podcast series was created. We’re asking our guests to share their personal insights, learnings and experiences in the hopes that these stories can impart a greater appreciation for the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist among listeners.
Why “Sangreal”?
Sangreal is a kind of portmanteau derived from two terms from the cultural and literary history related to the search for the Holy Grail. As noted by A. T. Hatto in his foreword to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the terms “San greal” (Holy Grail) and “Sang real” (True Blood) form a pun that characterizes the Eucharistic nature of the Grail as found in some medieval legends.
Further, in the story of Parzival’s encounters with the Holy Grail, I found a useful model for a searching soul. As an unrefined youth, Parzival fortuitously stumbles upon the wounded Fisher King who invites him to the Grail Castle. Due to his inexperience and ignorance, Parzival fails to ask the king the question which would have healed him of his infirmity and freed his land of its doldrums. This failure on the part of Parzival sets him upon a long road of trial and tribulation until he once again is able to return to the Grail Castle, where this time he asks the question that heals the king.
It is my hope that by emulating Parzival and asking questions of the people kind enough to share their stories, the healing power of the Holy Eucharist will be properly honored through this podcast series.
For Prayerful Contemplation
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 John 4:14-16)
"At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1323)
The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." To respond to this invitation, we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1384-1385)
"The Blessed Sacrament is indeed the stimulus for us all, for me as it should be for you, to forsake all worldly ambitions. Without the constant presence of our Divine Master upon the altar in my poor chapels, I never could have persevered casting my lot with the afflicted of Molokai; the foreseen consequence of which begins now to appear on my skin, and is felt throughout the body. Holy Communion being the daily bread of a priest, I feel myself happy, well pleased, and resigned in the rather exceptional circumstances in which it has pleased Divine Providence to put me." (St. Damien of Molokai)
"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." (St. Maximilian Kolbe)