Meditation on a text of Qurbana Taksa
Third
Blessing
P. May
the grace and Mercy of the Holy and Glorious Trinity, Uncreated, Self Existent,
Eternal, Adorable and One in essence be with you all forever.
C. And with you
also. O Holy and Glorious Trinity, have mercy on us.
P. Holy things
for holy people
C. Holy is the
One Father, holy is the one Son, holy is the one Spirit
P. The one Holy
Father who created the world in his mercy is with us
C. Amen
P. The one Holy
Son, who saved it by his precious passion is with us
C. Amen
P. The
one living Holy Spirit, who perfects and fulfils all that is and that has
been, is with us. May the name of the Lord be blessed as in the beginning both
now and forever
C. Amen
The
portion from the taksa (Eucharistic Liturgy) selected for our meditation is an important part
of the celebration of Holy Qurbana. Qurbana reenacts the whole
event of incarnation one by one including virgin birth, baptism, salvific
ministry, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. By this time
through the celebration, the worshippers come across all these aspects of
incarnation and now feel the immanence of God’s presence in their life.
This part starts
with the blessing. The word blessing is translated from the Syriac root word
Rooshma. It means seal; and a seal in turn is an assurance of God’s grace
and protection. All the four rooshmas, in the celebration of the Holy
Communion point to this aspect of assurance of God’s protection and care to all
the believers and moreover to the whole creation.
It
is also a place where the 'communion' aspect of the Qurbana is highlighted. As
God in three persons is a community that shares the core of their being and yet
respects the distinctiveness of the persons, the communion is graciously
extended to the world that God has created through the rooshma. The worshipper is invited
to experience God as the Trinitarian Communion. God is experienced as the
Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of the whole created order. Playing through
these differing roles in relationship with the creation God makes Godself an immanent
reality, who participates in the ebb and flow of the lives of all believers.
Holy things for
Holy people
“Holy things for
Holy people” is also mentioned as the "words of administration."
Thus the “words
of administration” is uttered by the priest as he lifts the elements up.
What does it signify by the act of lifting up? Lifting up in John’s gospel
talks about the crucifixion and further glorification of Jesus. Many a times
Jesus in John’s gospel talks about this inevitability of lifting up of his life.
Lifting up is done to symbolize the yearning of the believer to be lifted into
the likeness of the glory of the lifted up Jesus.
Who can be Holy?
Is it a
communication of the norm to participate in the communion? It is more than
that. By the words of administration what is meant is that the table is ready
for the believers to come and commune. It is not by the worth of the worshipper
that he/she is enabled to be part of this communion. But it is because of the
gracious extension of this communion by God to all. Holiness here is understood as
contagious and it spreads from God as one comes, realizes and accepts the
Communion that God extends in God’s love for the world. The dialectic tension
that exists perennially between the Holiness of God and the human struggle to
approximate that holiness is beautifully dealt here in these prayers. Christ
event is already enacted through various acts, prayers and chants, now the
believer is invoked to a level of high alert and consciousness to experience
the immanence of God that is to be experienced through the blessed Holy
Elements (bread and wine).
The third rooshma
is a trinitarian blessing through which the attributes of the trinity as One in
essence, Holy, Glorious, Eternal, Adorable etc are communicated to the
worshipper.
Worship is also
an experience where the expectation of God about the worshipper is also expressed.
Worshipper is invited to grow into the likeness of God’s holiness. Here the
response of the believers to that of the words of administration is, “Holy is
the one Father, holy is the one Son, holy is the one Spirit.” By this response
the worshipper reaffirms the initiatives God takes through Son and Holy Spirit
to redeem and perfect the creation. What is affirmed is the faith that without
the initiatives of God through Jesus and Spirit none can experience holiness
and salvation. The invitation is to a perichoretic communion.
Perichoresis
in eastern theological thinking is the thought that expresses the communion of
the trinity. The main emphasis of this thought is all about the oneness that
this communion is expressing, but at the same time it respects the freedom of
each person in the trinity to express itself distinctively. God wants the
communities on earth to be organised in the fashion of this Trinitarian
communion. Therefore the third blessing and the prayers that follow together
carry the divine intention to see the world as one in unity of God, Church and
the Creation. The Holy Qurbana celebrates Christ Jesus as the extension
of God’s Trinitarian communion to the world that became unworthy of that holy
fellowship by the sinful human interferences.
John 17 speaks
about the unity of the church and further the whole world. “…so that they may
be one as we are one (Jn 17:11b).” As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,
May they also be in us… (Jn. 17:21)” The divine intention for unity expressed
in these biblical passages are beautifully articulated through these prayers in
the taksa. Here worship becomes an experience of being welcomed to the
trinitarian communion inspiring the worshippers to live for the unity of the
world spreading across all discriminating divisions of God’s creation.
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