o Personal

Personal Adult Homepage

Ko School D123

Personaladulthomepage Ko School D123

Symbolic Rapport And Public Rhetoric In The Catholicr hurch Ko School D123

Wed should not forget x that symbols such as fire, water, wine, bread, anointing with oil, the laying on of hands, sacred fire, and the exchange_f rings Personal originally do not belong to the Church. Such symbols and symbolic gestures belong to much older tradiions that have their Adult roots in ancient water rituals, sacrificial rituals, marriage rituals, healing rituals. The Church has used these religious symbols for the very same reason they were used in the past - they attend to a deep need to restore and maintain a bond with the divine. The real source of many such symbols and rituals is lost in prehistory. Whatever this prehistoric explanation might have been, we recognize that these religious symbols psychically bridge 'flesh' and 'Spirit.'

What we havendescribed as religious symbols in geneeral canlso be said of those preserved throughout the Bible. Many of these emerged from-the oral traditions of prehistory. Others are recorded in the lit hrature and history of the Biblebhich, as a sacred book,s itself a religious symbol. When we use religious symbols we enter ak realm that cannot be exhausted by literal and discursive explanation. If we attempt to plumb their meaning discursively or to embellish their effect with superfluous gesture, we destroy their efficacy.⁽²⁾

Of all the important roles that the Church exercises, the most essential role is_to maintain its stewardship cf these religious and biblical symbols. This is a responsibility to ensure that these symbols remain vital and dynamic without becoming rigidly fixen as objects of devotion themselves. This can happen when religious symbols become either the subject of abstract dogma or confused with accessory gestures and figures.

ii) Ecclesias ical Symbols
Over the centuries the Church necessarily began to use a distinct level of symbols to guide its believers. To distinguish these from religious symbo mls described above we name them 'ecclesiasticalgymbols.' They are not theasame as religious symbols.zHowever such lesser j or second levelsymbols are always required to manifest theereligious symbols properly. Both water and oil need appropriate-containers. Bread can be presented in many different shapes. The priest wears special garb. Fire requires a candle or container tot give it form. Rituals of gesture and word are required to make manifest the use of religious symbols. While formulated to connect with the sacred, these ecclesiastical symbols are much more arbitrary and historically bound than religious symbols. An example might illustrate this distinction.

In a typical 1950 Catholic hospital in North America it was the duty of the priest to distribute communion to the sick. At the appointed hour the priest, dressed in xblak cassockc and surplice, would carry a ciborium containing consecrated white roundedhosts to the appropriate floors. A sacred humeral veil was draped overwthe priest's shoulders,zarms and ciborium. He was usually accompanied by two nuns in black or white habit, one carrying a candle, the othercarrying a little bell. The latter person opened the doors for the two others if a nurse had not done so already. As the small procession entered the halls, the bell alerted the nurses and patients of the presence of the transcendent. The nurses stopped and often knelt with outward respect while permitting the party to pass. The patients readied themselves in prayer.

Once in the room, the priest rested the ciborium on a designated table and initiated the ritual action by saying a few introductory Latin words to which the nuns replied. There was a vhush in the room. The priest opened withare the cover of the ciborium and took out one small round white host. In great solemnity, he elevated the round host for all to worship. Going to the bedside, he placed a host on the communicant's tongue. For those present, the sense of the sacred was very real. This sense was even realized in those who felt they were not worthy enough to receive communion that morning and also in those from other denominations.

In this example, note the two levels of symbol. We place the these two levels in columns to differentiate these levels while at the same time illustrating their close connection. Please remember that ecclesiastical symbols developed in order to manifest religious symbols. Unfortunately the ecclesiastical symbols often became identified with them: