Austin Farrer on the eucharist

“As a college chaplain celebrating early morning Eucharists, Farrer set himself the discipline of preaching a homily no longer than the lectionary Gospel text, while the congregation remained standing. Here is one such ‘Farrergraph’:”

This sacrament is not a special part of our religion, it is just our religion, sacramentally enacted. It is whatever Christ is, and Christ is everything to Christian people. In particular, he is the supreme bond between us. Everyone of you communicating is bound to his neighbor by this, that the same Christ who lives in one, lives in the other. You care for your fellow Christian as you would care for Christ, and that in you which does the caring is also Christ. Christ in each cares for Christ in all when we communicate together. The same bond unites us with the saints in paradise, who make up by far the greater part of Christ’s people, and with our departed friends who may not yet be in paradise, but for whom we care and for whom we pray.

from The Truth Seeking Heart, (Canterbury, 2006), 125