Previously we discussed the two dimensions of the Eucharist, i.e. the celebration of the Eucharist which takes place at the altar in the midst of a participating community, and-as a result of this-the reservation of the Eucharist for distribution outside this gathering and for private adoration. Now we will look at the origins of eucharistic reservation, see how it evolved throughout the centuries. and note how the Church practice today continues our authentic tradition

The original reason for reserving the Eucharist was to distribute communion to the sick and dying. We find references to this custom as early as the second century. In the following century an additional reason appears: to receive communion on weekdays. Since the Eucharist was ordinarily celebrated only on Sundays, the faithful carried home a portion of the consecrated bread in a small box for use during the week.

After the persecution of the Church had ceased and when freedom of worship was allowed, the community gathered for prayer either in already existing public buildings or in newly built structures. The Eucharist was reserved in one of the following ways:

• in a box in the sanctuary;
• in a wall niche;
• in a small container (pyx) suspended from the ceiling;
• in a container near but not on the altar.

This practice continued for the first thousand years of the Church's history. During this time the only objects, if any, permitted in or on the altar were the bones or relics of the saints.

During the sixth to ninth centuries large churches were built over the graves of the martyrs. Elaborate shrines containing relics of the saints were also constructed within churches to inspire and encourage the faithful. The Eucharist was celebrated in the midst of these images and reliquaries, showing that these saints followed in the footsteps of the one who stands in the midst of the assembly, Jesus Christ. The

Eucharist itself was on full display in the great company of the saints whose relics and images adorned the gathering space.

In the eleventh century we find Christians beginning to treat the consecrated host as a "person" or a "thing", as for example when the priest began to address the host in prayer immediately before communion. In the twelfth century the host began to be elevated at the consecration for the faithful to see. It is interesting to note that what some used to consider the high point of the Mass never existed for more than half of the Church's liturgical history.

Beginning with the twelfth century we find an increasing impatience with symbolism and a hunger for the natural, the literal, the real. People wanted to bring God down to earth, to see him, to touch him, as it were. This tendency would continue in the following centuries with a growing fascination for viewing the eucharistic bread and wine as objectsopen to scientific and theological analysis. Questions and corresponding answers focused on: "Can there be the body without the blood? Is the entire Christ present in the bread? When does the change take place in the eucharistic elements?"

Eucharistic reservation and adoration as we know it today really began in the thirteenth century. Although religious men and women living in monasteries and convents were accustomed to pray in the presence of the reserved Eucharist, now the laity began to visit churches to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, whereas earlier they visited churches mainly to honor the relics of the saints and martyrs at the altar. Since the place of reservation began to be more accessible, sacred cupboards and ornate towers began to appear in or near the sanctuary.

In 1215 the Lateran Council directed that the Eucharist be kept under lock and key in all churches. Churches in Canterbury, England, and St. Denis in France were among the first to use tabernacles. However, these were probably not located on the altar but built into a wall.

By the fourteenth century the practice of private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament was well established. This eventually developed into various forms of public eucharistic devotions outside Mass. Pilgrimages and processions to churches began to focus on the Eucharist and less on honoring the saints.

Within Mass people wanted to see or gaze devotionally at the host-a type of visual communion. At the same time there was a decline in the actual reception of communion due to the severity of fasting, the loss of the concept of the Mass as a meal. and the growing separation of the clergy from the laity. These factors obscured an awareness of the Eucharist as an action of the assembly. The church building was seen not as a place where people celebrated the liturgy but as a place where "wonderful- things happened.

These changes were expressed in later Gothic and early Renaissance architecture.

• altars were moved back into the apses, away from the assembly.
• altars began to look less like tables (since the meal aspect had all but disappeared) and more like sacrificial monuments.
• Canopies were erected to focus attention on the holy place of action and on the holy place of reservation.

By the time people began to focus almost exclusively on Christ present under the forms of bread and wine. Although this dimension has validity, it does not express the fullest understanding of the Eucharist. The popular understanding had shifted from one of active celebration in word, prayer, song, procession. shared bread and cup, and the sending of the Body of Christ into the world. People now concentrated on the reservation of the Eucharist for prayer and adoration.

By the time of the Reformation the laity's participation in the Eucharist was severely limited. Among the reasons for this situation were the use of a language foreign to most people, a failure to appreciate the Eucharist as a shared meal, the rise of clericalism, and the loss of contact with the Church's liturgical roots. People had little to do except watch and adore. Tabernacles were embellished with precious metals, candles, and cherubs. Artisans took great delight in fashioning ornate vessels as pyxes, ciboria, and monstrances. The church building moved from a concept of being the domus ecclesiae (the house of the church) toward being "God's house", a house where God dwells in the tabernacle. Genuflection, silence, and other forms of pious devotion became commonplace.

With great thanks to the Liturgical pioneers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries we have been able to recover the roots of our liturgical tradition In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (no. 14) the Second Vatican Council pointed out that the "full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else" and that "the faithful have a right and an obligation to this by reason of their Baptism." Church documents, while not negating the concept of Christ's presence in the eucharistic species, remind us of his presence in the word, in the sacraments, and most of all in the assembly.

The documents and reflection on them recall that the Eucharist has a dynamic aspect-it is a shared meal. One fruit of this celebration if the continuing presence of Christ after Mass, and this should appear as such. We are also reminded that the major space of the church building is designed for the action of the Eucharist ... not for reservation.

Thank you for accompanying us on this journey, especially for completing part two of our exploration of eucharistic reservation. Next time we will explore the implications of Christ's presence in the Blessed Sacrament, both for the life of the community and for our individual lives.