The Eucharistic Presence and Making Christ Present in the Word of God: A Study Inspired by the Views of Robert Sokolowski

Robert Sokolowski wrote that biblical words activate the presence of God. But can we speak of the “sacramentality of the word” analogous to the sacrament itself? This paper collects reflections on the “making present” of the word of God intra mysteriorum celebrationem. This issue is related to the theme of the relationship between past and present in the Eucharist, which was dealt with by Sokolowski. The article summarizes this philosopher’s views on the Eucharistic presence, in dialogue with which it then reflects on the presence of Christ in the word of God. From the “Passover-centricity” of the Holy Scriptures stems a kind of making present the anticipatory self-giving of God in the events to which the inspired texts testify. The liturgy of the word must lead to the climactic event of Passover and its sacramental making present. There can be no question of “two presences” of the Lord at Mass. The words of institution from the Last Supper have a role in the actualization of the Passover, while the inspired words are not in the same way “instituting” words. It is only in their inner orientation that they lead to the mystery of Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Az úrvacsorával való élés vörös fonala az ószövetségi páskától a mai gyakorlatig

Guidelines to the Eucharistic Practice from the Passover until Nowadays. The current writing is a summarizing paper on the second sacrament of the Reformed Church, which, according to our faith, was appointed by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. This can be even seen in the Old Testament during the events of the Exodus, namely the Passover/Pesach, which is the predecessor of the Christian communion. After a short historical overview, I outline the various beliefs about this sacrament in different denominations, namely in the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and the Reformed Churches. After introducing these ideas, I will approach this sacrament from a practical side, which is the liturgical perception. In this part, I introduce the liturgical viewpoints of some reformers as Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli and additionally I name those practices that should be kept in nowadays’ practice of faith. In the last chapter, I explain the eschatological meaning of communion, which is a predecessor of the Messianic Feast. Keywords: Eucharist, communion, Last Supper, sacrament, ecumenical dialogue

Filmowe reprezentacje ostatniej wieczerzy jako locus theologicus (trzy wizje biblijnej sceny)

The cinematic scenes of the Last Supper were treated as a challenge to visual theology. As the Last Supper, which in the films about Jesus of Nazareth (and, of course, the gospels) is the culmination (and also a turning point as an event ending Jesus` earthly activity), it is possible to see the essence of the theological message of films referring to the gospel in its presentation. The scenes of the Last Supper from three films were subjected to a comparative analysis, each of which is an individual director`s vision. These are The King of Kings (1961) by Nicholas Ray, The Passion of the Christ (2004) by Mel Gibson and The Thorn of God (2015) by Óscar Parra de Carrizosa. The selection criterion was the importance given in the films to the scenes of the Last Supper and their mutually diverse representations. It has been shown how the established new transmission of visual theology modifies the meanings determined by classical theology, basically not deviating from the framework set by it.

Narrative Structure Transformations of the Last Supper Painting in Graphic Design

The transformations of the visual narrative come from preoccupation with the aesthetics of the artistic form and the creative presence of the artist, and the centrality of the system's discourse and its reference to the discourses of shattering the fixed meaning, demolishing the centrals and dissolving connotations in an infinite continuous movement in the sense of shifting to new imagined and potential structures closer to the assumption and the possibility of a reality that cannot be represented because it is a structure hidden behind Phenomena, so the dismantling and reshaping of reality takes place through the imagination, which may be parallel to reality or alternative to it, but it differs in its manifestations and may give us something else from knowledge, self-awareness, criticism of reality, and understanding of the world, so there is a new tendency is the tendency of rejection and rebellion, which confirms according to its own system its rejection of the public, Also, technology sought to create a new reality in which the subject contradicts the subject.

Offering

This chapter analyzes the Scriptures in several hymns prescribed for Holy Thursday, whose central theme is Wisdom’s offering and freely sharing a life-sustaining banquet with those searching for her (Prov 9:1–6). God’s begotten Wisdom (Prov 8:22–31) mixes a bowl of ambrosia (i.e., Eucharist, Matt 26:26–29). But prior to Wisdom’s banquet (i.e., Last Supper), Jesus, the incarnate Wisdom, the one who bows the heavens and controls the terrestrial and upper waters (Ps 114 [113]), bows himself before the servants and washes his disciples’ feet as an example of serving leadership (John 13:3–17). However, Jesus’s foot washing is also the expression of divine synkatabasis (condescension), which was possible due to the “mighty love of his [God’s] strength” proclaimed by Habakkuk (3:4 [LXX]). Wisdom’s banquet provides her followers with a “new,” “spiritual drink” (1 Cor 10:4) and makes Jesus be with his disciples forever as “God among gods” (Ps 82 [81]:1–2, 6).

A Virtual Space Built on a Canvas Painting for an “Augmented” Experience to Catch the Artist’s Message

“Entering” a canvas to examine and learn about the work from unexplored points of view is an experiential “journey” in an environment reconstructed through the use and integration of innovative technologies, such as descriptive geometry and digital photogrammetry, solid modeling and immersive photography. Generating a “sense of presence” in the viewer means connecting it with immediacy to the artist’s message and grasping even the most subtle elements of the painting that are difficult to understand, such as architectural inconsistencies or the play of perspectives that, very often, bring out the situations scripted, characterized by discoveries that prelude to the aesthetic pleasure as the multiplicity of meanings and the “stylistic overcoding” of the work is revealed. The research hypotheses were applied to a case study, or to the splendid “Last Supper” by the Flemish artist Gaspar Hovic, a canvas painted in oil (late 15th century AD) and kept in the Matrice SM Veterana Church di Triggiano (BA), where the representation of the suggestive moment of Jesus with the Apostles is carried out through numerous symbols, in an evocative architectural context rich in details. The pictorial subject provides a series of very interesting ideas suitable for research of the role of perspective. The inverse method of linear perspective was used to reveal the plants and sections corresponding to the perspective space of the painting, used as the basis for the reconstruction of the 3D model of the entire scenic composition. Although the painting represents the apparently rigorous application of the perspective technique, by “entering” the canvas it is possible to observe some exceptions to the geometric rules deliberately introduced by the artist, thus making the perspective restitution process an effective interpretative act of the work.