Lauda Sion, Salvatorem
O Sion, praise your Saviour.
The sequence for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi exhorts Sion, the Church, to praise the Eucharistic Presence. The Lauda Sion is not only one of the most beautiful prayers/poems ever written, it also, line for line, dispels all the previous heresies surrounding the Eucharist. Its authour, St. Thomas Aquinas, once known as "the dumb ox," composes one of the greatest texts in the history of the Church. Our Church was created to praise Jesus in the Eucharist. Don't ever forget it.
I was thinking the other day of an older substitute teacher, Mr. V., who periodically comes in to Tisdale Elementary School to help teach music and art. Mr. V. is very musical, as well he excels in clay and modelling art. The children in the school love him. He is talented, yet very patient and kind. We were discussing him in the staff room and one of the teachers was telling us that Mr. V. taught in a high school his entire life and used to get torn apart by the students there. Mr. V. is an immigrant who perhaps could not relate, or handle, the challenging modern day high school student. Mr. V. then told this teacher that coming in to substitute teach elementary school has made him realize something: he missed his calling in life. We all sort of gasped at that. It is unbelievably sad to hear that this older man, as kind and gentle and effective as he is, feels he missed his calling in life by struggling to teach high school versus teaching the more formable younger grades.
I was thinking of this story yesterday as I walked past the local Anglican church. The pastor's wife is a teacher at our school. They are very nice, though perhaps quirky, people. I really appreciate having them in the community. Now I was thinking of how they both have dedicated their lives to Anglican missionary work in Saskatchewan. Then I thought of how, to be quite frank, they don't actually possess the Eucharist in their church. Not to be insensitive, but the fact is they think they have the Real Presence of Jesus, but do not. I thought of what they might think when they die and are confronted by the reality that they spent their entire lives working in a church that (oh I might as well say it) worships bread and wine and not the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. To be honest, they might be confronted with the thought that they missed their calling in life. Their lives were spent doing their best with what they thought was right, and I'm sure much good was done by their efforts, but in the end they will meet the sad truth of a vocation not entirely met.
But Catholics have another reality staring them in the face. Yes, the Church possess the true Eucharist. Aquinas teaches that the Church is called to continuously praise Jesus in the Eucharist. Will we be living our entire lives in praise of this Eucharist? If not, we can say with great regret that we have missed our calling.
Lauda Sion, Salvatorem.