Week 4
Day 1

    Listen:

Holy Supper

What is the purpose of holy supper? Why is it holy?

And I saw no temple in her, for the Lord God Almighty is her temple, and the Lamb. (Revelation 21:22).

In this church there will not be any external separated from the internal, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church, is alone approached, worshiped, and adored (AR 918).

[The Lord] enjoined only a few external observances, namely, baptism and the Holy Supper— baptism, that by it regeneration might be remembered; and the Holy Supper, that by it might be remembered the Lord, and His love toward the whole human race, and the reciprocal love of man to Him (AC 4904:3).

The Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord in order that by means of it there may be a conjunction of the church with heaven, thus with the Lord. It is therefore the most holy thing of the church (AC 10519).

[The Holy Supper] … is the primary thing of external worship, because the Lord’s Divine Human is given there (AC 2811).

But be it known that conjunction with the Lord through the sacrament of the Supper is effected solely with those who are in the good of love and of faith to the Lord from the Lord. The Holy Supper is the seal of this conjunction (AC 10522).

For the sake of … affiliation with angels, and at the same time conjunction with the Lord, the Holy Supper was instituted, the bread of which in heaven becomes Divine good, and the wine Divine truth, each from the Lord. Such correspondence exists by creation, to the end that the angelic heaven may make one with the church on earth, and in general the spiritual world may make one with the natural world, and the Lord may conjoin Himself with both at once (TCR 238).

If man thought in like manner when he is in a holy state, as when he attends the Holy Supper, and instead of bread perceived love to the Lord, and instead of wine love toward the neighbor, he would be in thought and perception like that of the angels, who would then approach nearer to him, till at last they could consociate their thoughts, but only so far as the man was at the same time in good (AC 3316:3).

It is with the Holy Supper as with a covenant: after the articles of agreement are settled, it is drawn up and finally executed with a seal…. The Holy Supper… is like the seal…. And the Word is the covenant itself which the Lord made with man and man with the Lord; for the Lord descended as the Word, that is, as Divine truth (TCR 728, 730).

The man who is in a holy state when receiving the bread of the Holy Supper… then thinks not of bread, but of the Lord and His mercy, and of what is of love to Him and of charity toward the neighbor, because he thinks of repentance and amendment of life; but this with variety according to the holiness in which he is, not only as to his thought, but also as to his affection. From this it is manifest that “bread” as mentioned in the Word suggests to the angels no idea of bread, but the idea of love, together with innumerable things that are of love. It is the same with “wine,” which when read of in the Word, and also when received in the Holy Supper, suggests to the angels no thought of wine, but of charity toward the neighbor. This being the case, and as in this way there is a connection of man with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, the bread and wine have become symbols, and unite the man who is in holiness of life with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord (AC 4217:2).

What are called the holy things of the church are not holy unless they are received in a holy way; for unless they are received in a holy way, the Divine does not flow into them, and all the holy things with man are holy merely from the Divine influx. For instance, holy edifices, the altars there, the bread and wine for the Holy Supper, become holy solely through the presence of the Lord; and therefore if the Lord cannot be present there because of the sins of the people, what is holy is absent, because the Divine is absent (AC 10208:3).

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