Holy Supper
By Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton
June 17,1950

     The essence of Divine Love is to give to others outside Itself. This was the cause of the creation of the universe with its ultimate time and space; for the Infinite can be received only in the finite, and the finite involves time and space. This is the reason why no angel or spirit can be created such. Time and space constitute the alphabet in which alone man can read the marvels of Divine Love and Wisdom. In the words of our Revelation: "Man is such that he can have no idea of thought whatsoever, unless he adjoins something natural which has entered in from the world by means of sensible objects; for without that, his thought would perish as in an abyss and would be dissipated" (A. C. 5110). In the other world, all things, howsoever sublime. must be seen under the appearances of time and space. "Times and spaces (we read) finite each and every thing in both worlds" (T. C. R. 29).

     Here we have the reason why worship must be clothed in external forms; why the Holy Supper, the supreme form of all worship, was clothed in the ultimate act of eating and drinking; and why the Lord said, Bread and Wine, and Flesh and Blood, and not Divine Good and Divine Truth; namely, that man may have an ultimate natural idea of the Lord's love, within which angels and also man himself if he thinks interiorly can see the spiritual idea; that thus there might be conjunction of the men of the Church with the angels of heaven, and also of the external man with the internal (E. 329b).

     In place of the sacrificial animals and the blood whereby the Lord's presence was represented in the Israelitish Church, the Lord, when He manifested Himself in ultimate form, substituted bread and wine, the simple representation of all food and drink, both spiritual and natural; for when the eye sees and the tongue tastes the bread and wine, the man, however simple, can think of the Lord's mercy as the Giver of all things, and of his own duty, to show gratitude to the Lord by obedience to His Commandments.

     The Holy Supper represents the Lord's presence in His Divine Human, and man's reception of Him. Yet, that Supper was instituted before the Lord was fully glorified. It was instituted in the evening preceding the day of the Cross, the last temptation whereby the Lord fully glorified His Human. This was necessarily so. It was necessary that there be an actual eating and drinking as the basis for the spiritual thought, that the Lord in His Divine Human is the Bread of life and the true Vine, just as it is necessary for us to have the actual experience of material nourishment if we are to think of the Lord as the Nourisher of our spiritual life. This actual eating and drinking could not have been instituted by the Lord after His Resurrection. It is true that the Lord ate with His Disciples after He had risen from the tomb, but then their spiritual eyes were opened, and their eating was a representation in the spiritual world. It was not an ultimate act of the bodily senses.

     It was because the Holy Supper was established before the Glorification that the Lord said, "This do in remembrance of me." So man approaches the Holy Supper when he but dimly sees the Lord, and prays that his eyes may be opened; and to him also the Lord says: "This do in remembrance of me" that is, This do, that your eyes may be opened to the beholding of me. Therefore, when, after the Resurrection, the Lord revealed Himself to some of the Disciples, "as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and having blessed, break it and gave to them, and their eyes were opened and they knew Him" (Luke 24: 30).

     The same thing is involved in the fact that the Holy Supper was instituted in the evening; for evening represents a state of humiliation before the Lord, in which man acknowledges his own unworthiness, and humbly prays that the Lord may be with him; but it is the evening that precedes the morning, the evening that preceded the resurrection of the Lord.

     The Disciples had but a dim idea of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and even this idea they had only at times of peculiar enlightenment, as when Peter said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16: 16). They were to be enlightened by the Lord after His resurrection.  So men of the Christian Church in its infancy, while they worshiped the Lord in His Human, saw Him but dimly, and while they looked to Him in the Holy Supper, had but a general idea as to the use of that Supper. The enlightenment was to be given by a later revelation. This is involved in the words said by the Lord immediately after the institution of the Holy Supper: But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom" (Matt. 26: 29). By drinking of the fruit of the vine, when predicated of the Lord, is meant instructing in the truths of a new church (T. C. R. 708), and giving perception to see those truths and be affected by them (A. C. 3069). A commencement of this instruction was made after the Resurrection when the risen Lord appeared to the Disciples and opened their eyes (T. C. R. 730); for then the Kingdom came, the Christian Church was instituted, and that new covenant was made which is meant by "drinking it new" (E. 376e). But the Kingdom came in fullness only in the Second Coming, with the revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word, that the Church then established might enter into the true use of the Holy Supper (T. C. R. 708).

     The institution of the Holy Supper is preceded by the words, "And as they were eating." It is not said that they were eating the Paschal Lamb, though this is implied, for the Lord had said, "Go and prepare us the passover that we may eat" (Luke 22: 8); but it is not stated, because the Lord who was represented by the Paschal Lamb was Himself in their midst. What is involved is, that in the night of the Jewish Church, the Disciples were among the simple who preserved something of faith and thus could receive the bread and wine of the new covenant. It is ever so; for the new church will be received only by those who, in the night of the former church, have preserved a simple faith in God. "In thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36: 9)-that is, in the light of the former Word, they can see the new.

     "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it . . . and said, This is my body." Such is the translation as given in the Authorized Version, and it is on the basis of this understanding of the meaning of the Greek text that the Roman Catholic Church has founded its false doctrine that by the blessing, the bread is actually turned into the flesh of Christ. In the Greek text, however, it is not said that the Lord blessed the bread.  Literally translated, the words in Matthew and Mark read: "Jesus, taking the bread, and having blessed, or, having given a blessing, break it . . . ; and taking the cup and having given thanks, He gave it to them." In Luke the words read: "And taking the bread, having given thanks, He break it." Moreover, in many authentic manuscripts, the text in Matthew reads, "Having given thanks" instead of "having blessed." The blessing, however, was not a blessing of the bread, but a blessing addressed to God, even as was the thanksgiving. Indeed, it was a custom among the Jews to commence their meals with an invocation, beginning with the words "Blessed be God,"* even as it is a custom among Christians to say Grace before meals.

     * See Clark's Commentary on Matthew 16: 26.

     But whether we read "having blessed" or "having given thanks," the meaning is the same. This is indicated in the teaching of the Writings, that "among the Ancients, it was customary to say, Blessed be Jehovah, by which they meant that from Him is every blessing; and it was a formula of giving thanks, and this because the Lord blesses and has blessed" (A. C. 1096, 3119). But though the Word does not say that Jesus blessed the bread, yet such blessing is implied, not however in the sense that the bread was in any way changed, but that it was dedicated. The bread and wine do not effect conjunction with the Lord; there is nothing holy in them (R. 224f). They are still bread and wine, but bread and wine dedicated to use in Divine worship. It is the same in the saying of Grace before meals, for this involves that the food provided by the lord shall be used, not merely for the satisfaction of appetite, but that the body may be nourished for the performance of uses. Thus we are told in our Revelation: "The Lord's blessing the bread, the wine, the fishes which He gave to the Disciples and the people, signified a communication to them of His Divine, and so conjunction with them by goods and truths" (E. 340d). It may here be noted that the Gospels do not say that Jesus blessed the wine, but that He gave thanks.

     Furthermore, the Lord's words, "This is my body," do not mean, as some have vainly imagined, that the bread was actually the body of Jesus, but that it signified that body. The Jews had no word for "represents" or "stands for," and for this they used the verb "to be" as when Joseph declared, in his interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, "The good kine are seven years" (Gen. 41: 25).  Indeed, nothing is more common in human language than such a use of the verb to be. Thus, looking at a picture, say of Christ, we find it quite natural to say, "That is Christ."

     That the Disciples understood the Lord's words in this sense, is evident, for they could not possibly have thought that the bread was actually the Lord's body, since He was present in the flesh before their eyes. Moreover, it is confirmed by the history of the early Christian Church; for the teaching of that Church was that the bread represented the body of the Lord. There was no suggestion of the doctrine of Transubstantiation except in a vague way and among a few. That doctrine was never thought of as a doctrine of the Church until the year 1215, when it was declared by Pope Innocent III speaking ex Cathedra.*

     The Lord instituted the Holy Supper that it might represent His love to the whole human race, and the reciprocal love of man to Him (A. C. 5120:5), thus that by it there might be conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord. This conjunction is the end for which the Word was given: but the Word must be received by man, and must form him anew. In the Holy Supper, this giving and this receiving is represented in ultimate form. It is because of this that the Holy Supper is the most holy act of worship. There are many acts of worship, such as kneeling in prayer, praising God, listening to sermons, but all these acts are concentrated in the Holy Supper. In that Supper there is presented before the eyes the ultimate evidence of the Lord's mercy in providing nourishment for the earthly life, and the man who partakes is held to think of the Lord's mercy in giving spiritual nourishment for the salvation of his soul; to think also of his own need for this nourishment, and of his duty that he may receive it; and then to implore the Lord's aid that he may fulfill that duty. In the language of the Writings, "In the Holy Supper, the whole Lord is present, and the whole of His redemption" (T. C. R. 716). The Lord is actually present before the eyes of man's spirit, and if the man approaches worthily, he is then conjoined with the Lord, and the Lord with him.

     This conjunction is not effected by the bread and wine, for there is nothing holy in them (R. 224f). He who approaches worthily adores, not the bread and wine, but the Lord, and he adores Him, not from doctrine, but from love. To quote the words of Revelation: "The Holy Supper is so holy a rite that human minds, when from internal affection they think that the bread and wine signify the Lord's love and man's reciprocal love, are conjoined with heavenly minds, and so are in holiness from within" (A. C. 2177:8).

     In the Holy Supper, man is to think, not of the bread, but of the Lord as the True Bread. It was for this reason that the Lord broke the bread. Bread which is taken into the mouth is broken by the teeth and lips, in order that its interior properties may be released for the nourishment of the body. Therefore, the breaking of bread signifies the opening of the interiors which are signified by bread; and the distribution of the bread after being broken signifies the communication of interiors. Hence, in the Ancient Church, bread was broken when it was given to another, that it might signify the communication of the giver's interior affections (A. C. 5405). The breaking of the bread by the Lord, and the giving of it to the Disciples, therefore signifies the giving of His Divine Love to those who approach Him worthily.

     Spiritual food and natural food-both are present in the Holy Supper. But between them there is a great difference. Natural food consists of parts for the replacement of that which is cast off; for the living body is ever casting off waste and useless matters, and these must be replaced. Natural food does not give man life, it merely replenishes the parts of his body, and so enables him to receive life from the soul.

     Spiritual food does not consist in the taking in of parts, but in the induction of forms on the organic vessel of the mind. This is manifest; for while the body may be well nourished by natural food, the mind is not developed unless instructed by truths; and truths are not parts added to the organic vessel of the mind, but they form the mind by inducing new states upon its vessel. But truths alone will not give spiritual life to man. A man may be abundantly rich in truths, even spiritual truths, and yet cherish evil in his heart, and evil is spiritual death.

     For true growth, the mind must be formed, not only by truths, but also by the exercise of charity, that is, of love to the neighbor. It is true that man cannot of himself introduce this love, but he can shun the evils which truths reveal, and as he does this, the state or form of his mind is changed intrinsically, and life flowing in from the soul is then felt as heavenly love. This is what is meant by the Lord's words, "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4: 4); and also by His admonition to "Labor not for the meat which perisheth" (John 6: 27).

     These two things, the acquiring of the truths of faith and the exercise of the mind in the works of charity, are the spiritual nourishment of man-the works of charity being his food, and the truths of faith his drink (A. C. 975, 9003); and just as food and drink are inseparable for the nourishment of the body, so charity and faith are inseparable for the nourishment of the spirit. This, every man can see by introspection. Man's loves are the food in which he delights, and in their exercise he feels exhilarated. But those loves have an insatiable appetite for knowledges which confirm and promote them. One who is in charity has a longing for the truths of the Word. One who is in the love of self has an insatiable appetite for all that confirms that love. Every man can see this in himself if he will but reflect.

     The two foods, the natural and the spiritual, can be illustrated in the bodily life. Thus, when learning a craft-the use of took the playing of the piano, the art of dancing-man induces new forms on his body, and the food which he takes in by the mouth confirms these forms so that at last what had been done with difficulty becomes easy and, as it were, second nature. The induction of the new form on the members of the body may be compared with spiritual food, while the food that enters the mouth is natural food, without which the other could not be received. Indeed, both foods are necessary for man even after death; for, while a spirit is aware only of spiritual food, the organic basis on which he rests, that is to say, the limbus, must be continually nourished by spheres.  This is true of man's spirit even while he is living on earth. It is seen in the fact that men love to be, in spheres accordant with their love, and it is expressed in the saying. "Birds of a feather flock together." This is what is involved in the teaching that the blood of a good man is nourished by different foods than the blood of an evil man.

     The bread and wine of the Holy Supper are said to represent the body and blood of the Lord, which is the spiritual food of man, without which he cannot have spiritual life. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6: 53). Many of the Disciples, when they heard this, found it a hard saying; for their thought concerning the Lord was then merely natural; and they asked, "Who can believe?" (Ibid. vs. 60). But the Lord answered them, "The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life" (Ibid. vs. 63); that is to say, they were to be thought of, not materially, but spiritually. The opportunity of so thinking of them is now given in the Revelation to the New Church, and this to the end that the Church may enter into and enjoy the true use of the Holy Supper (T. C. R. 700). That Revelation teaches that by the flesh and blood of the Holy Supper is meant the Divine Human, and the Holy Proceeding, from which alone is life and salvation (A. C. 2343f).

     It may be, however, that some are unable to elevate their thought above what is visible to their sight. To them the Writings say, when they take the bread and wine and hear mention of the Lord's flesh and blood, let them think within themselves that it is the most holy act of worship, and let them remember Christ's Passion and His love for man's salvation (T. C. R. 709); for if a man who is in charity thinks simply of the Lord from the words, "This is my body, and this is my blood," the angels with him are in the idea of love to the Lord and charity to the neighbor (A. C. 3464:3). It is not the words that bring the presence of angels, but the affection of holiness with which the partaker hears the words (A. C. 4211).

     The essential thing is to think of the Lord, and to think of Him in a holy way. The holy things of the Church are not themselves holy, for the Lord is not present in them; but when man receives them in a holy way, even though only from simple faith, the Lord is present with the man (A. C. 10208).  Then, when taking the bread, the man thinks, not of bread, but of the Lord and His mercy and of charity to the neighbor; for he thinks of repentance and amendment of life (A. C. 4217). It is this state of holiness, and not any doctrinal comprehension, that opens man's mind to the reception of the Lord in His Divine Human, and to the influence of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Lord.

     When we hear the words, "This is my flesh," "This is my blood," how shall we think of the Lord? Certainly we are not to think of Him as a Man of material flesh. The eyes of the body can never see the Lord. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4: 24). It was thus that the people saw the Lord, though but dimly, when they heard the Sermon on the Mount. Their eyes saw a material body, but their spirit saw the Divine Man, because they saw His Love and His Wisdom; and seeing, they marveled. So must we see the Lord in His revealed Word where He presents Himself before our spiritual eyes as Divine Love and Wisdom in human form.  Listen to the words of Revelation: "The Human of the Lord after He was glorified cannot be conceived of as human, but as Divine Love in human form; and this more so than angels, who, when they appear, as they have been seen by me, appear as forms of love and charity under a human appearance, and this from the Lord. For the Lord made His Human Divine from Divine Love, just as man after death becomes an angel by means of heavenly love" (A. C. 4735). It is love and wisdom that make a man, and it is from his love and wisdom that we esteem a man, and not from his body. So in the Holy Supper, we are not to think of the Lord from person-this being what is meant by the words "the Human of the Lord cannot be conceived of as human"-but must think of Him as a Man because He is Divine Love, willing all good to man, and Divine Wisdom, teaching man and leading him in the way of life. His Divine Love and Mercy is represented by the bread which He freely gives man for the sustenance of his life; and His Divine Wisdom by the wine.

     The Lord gives good immediately to those who approach Him worthily; therefore it is said that "He break the bread, and gave to them, saying, Take, eat; this is my body."  But the Lord gives His Divine Truth by means of the Word in the Letter; therefore it is not said that He gave the wine, but that He gave the cup, saying, "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new covenant"' the cup signifies the letter of revelation (E. 887).

     It is incumbent on man that he shall approach the Holy Supper worthily. Not that he shall deem himself worthy, but that he shall approach worthily; and he approaches worthily who deems himself unworthy, even as did the publican in the temple who prayed "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18: 13)  Nor can anyone really deem himself unworthy unless he actually sees some evil in himself, and acknowledges himself guilty of it. Many, when partaking of the Holy Supper, have a feeling of lack, in that they are not moved emotionally. This, however, should not trouble them, for external emotion can be aroused by many causes, and yet the heart remains inwardly untouched. What should be of concern is the possible cause of the feeling of lack. Do they go to the Holy Supper without previous thought or preparation? or with thought concerning it only at the time of the service?

     The Writings say much as to man s duty to prepare himself before partaking of the Holy Supper. Indeed, the duty of preparation is implicit in the Supper itself, as being the most holy act of worship. Who would go to the table of a prince without previously preparing himself, that he may appear in suitable clothing? And shall men go to the Supper of the Great King without spiritual preparation?

     Partaking of the Holy Supper is an external act, and of itself contributes nothing to salvation if it does not proceed from the internal (H. H. 222); and it cannot proceed from the internal unless the man has in some measure prepared himself by thought concerning it, and concerning conjunction with the Lord by means of it. This preparation consists primarily in self-examination and repentance. "Actual repentance (says the Revelation) is to explore oneself, to know and acknowledge one's sins, to make oneself guilty of them, to confess them before the Lord, to pray for help and power to resist them, and then to desist from them and to live a new life. Do this once or twice a year when you go to the Holy Communion; and afterward, when the sins of which you have made yourself guilty recur, say, I do not will them because they are sins against God" (R. 531).  "Actual repentance (our Revelation further declares), if done at set times, that is, when the man prepares himself for the Communion of the Holy Supper, if afterward he abstains from the one sin or the other, which he found with himself, is sufficient to initiate him into actuality; and when in this, he is on the way to heaven" (T. C. R. 530).

     There are indeed some who, for many reasons, find it extremely difficult to examine themselves: for these declares our Revelation, it is sufficient if, when an evil occupies their mind and they intend that evil, they say to themselves, "I am thinking of this evil, and it is in my intention; but because it is a sin, I will not do it." By this means the evil attempt of hell is broken and its further entrance stopped (T. C. R. 535).

     Self-examination alone, however, is not sufficient. It must be followed by confession before the Lord, and supplication for help, for without Him, man can do nothing (John 15: 5). It is this confession and this supplication that is man's supreme part in the Holy Supper, for that Supper is "a sacrament of repentance" (R. 531). "That the man who wishes to repent may look to the Lord alone (we read), there was instituted by Him the Holy Supper which confirms the remission of sins with him who acts repentance: for in that Supper, each one is held to look to the Lord alone" (D. P. 122).

     Our Revelation further teaches us that when man, partaking of the Holy Supper, makes confession before the Lord "it is not necessary that he enumerate his sins, for he has searched them out in himself and seen them, and therefore they are present with the Lord because present with the man. Moreover, the Lord led him in the searching, and opened them, and inspired sorrow, and with this the endeavor to desist from them and commence a new life." Nor is it necessary that he pray to the Lord for forgiveness, for the Lord is Mercy itself. It is sufficient that he pray to the Lord "to give him power to resist the evils of which he has repented, and to supply inclination and affection to the doing of good" (T. C. R. 539).

     Those who repent are those who come to the Holy Supper worthily, and to them that Supper is that conjunction with the Lord which is meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood.

     The Lord is Divine Love and Wisdom in Human appearance. This Divine Love and Wisdom are not things of the imagination. They are Substance itself and Form itself-Substance and Form which is manifested in finite things as Life, but creative life; that Life which forms and sustains the myriad wonders of the universe. But just as Life cannot create the wonders of nature by mere influx from within, but requires also influx from without, namely, the heat and light of the natural sun, so Infinite Life cannot form man, unless life flow into him from without. It is that life may thus flow from without that the Lord came on earth, revealing Himself before man's natural mind as actually a Man; and that to the New Church He is now revealed in His Glorified Human, that every eye may see Him.

     It is the Lord in His Divine Human, now revealed in His Word, who is present before man in the Holy Supper; and he who approaches worthily, actually receives life from Him. This Life is the Holy Spirit, which forms and molds his mind and makes it a vessel receptive of life from the Infinite. There is no other approach to the Infinite; for the Lord says, "No one cometh to the Father but by me.

     The Holy Spirit is the virtue and operation proceeding from the Lord as revealed in His Word. Whenever a man repents and turns to the Lord, this Spirit operates in him to reform and regenerate. But in the Holy Supper, this operation rests on ultimates, and in ultimates is holiness and fullness and power. For in that Supper, man has before his eyes bread and wine as the symbols of the Lord's mercy, but thinks, not of these, but of the Lord, of repentance and amendment of life. The Holy Supper is a feast with the Lord (A. C. 2341), and, as a feast with friends ultimates and cements their friendship, so the Holy Supper is a sign and seal that they are sons of God. It is said a sign and seal, because the Holy Supper in and of itself does not bring conjunction with the Lord. It establishes and confirms that conjunction with the man who repents. Nay, more than this, for, being an ultimate act, it brings a fuller realization of the Lord's presence and of His mercy, and so brings hope and comfort, even as the eating with friends brings delights of friendship. In the words of our Revelation: "In the Holy Supper, the whole Lord is present, and the whole of His redemption; for He says, This is my body, and This is my blood.  Consequently, He then admits into His body; and the Church and Heaven make His body" (T. C. R. 728; A. C. 6135:4; N. 214).

     Being in the body of the Lord is not a mere figure of speech; as the parts of the earthly body are molded by the soul that it may dwell therein, so the Lord forms man's mind into a temple wherein He is present: and heaven and the church constitute that Gorand Man whose soul is the Lord (D. 1710; T. C. R. 608).

     The Lord is also present with those who approach the Holy Supper unworthily, for they see the bread and wine and hear the words, "This is my body, this is my blood": but He does not open heaven to them, that is, they do not receive Him. He is present only externally. Externally, there may be a change in the state of their mind, but its intrinsic determination to evil remains unchanged. The understanding perceives the Lord's presence, but mingles this perception with a will to evil. Thus there is profanation. This, moreover, was the teaching of the Christian Church in its infancy; for Paul says: "Let man examine himself, and then let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup: for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself" (I Cor. 11: 28, 29)

     Some have thought to abstain from the Holy Supper from a sense of their own unworthiness, but this sense, if genuine, is the essential requisite of partaking worthily. For it is to the humble in heart who confess their sins that the Lord says: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11: 29)