The Worthy Communicant
With thanks to Fr Tim Handley of S James Garlickhythe who drew my attention to this passage from Jeremy Taylor. [The Eucharist] is the greatest solemnity of prayer, the most powerful liturgy and means of impetration [fervent request], in this world. For when Christ' was consecrated on the cross, and became our high priest, having reconciled us to God by the death of the cross, he became infinitely gracious in the eyes of God, and was admitted to the celestial and eternal priesthood in heaven; where, in the virtue of the cross, he intercedes for us, and re-presents [ie makes present an eternal reality here and now. ] an eternal sacrifice in the heavens on our behalf. That he is a priest in heaven, appears in the large discourses and direct affirmatives of St. Paul. That there is no other sacrifice to be offered, but that on the cross, it is evident, because "he hath but once appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" and, therefore,...