Bishop’s Note – The Fraction

As we continue our examination of the 2019 BCP service of Holy Communion Standard Text we move from the Lord’s Prayer, which encapsulates the prayer of consecration, to the Fraction.

As the congregation adds the “Amen” to the Lord’s Prayer the priest reverently elevates the Priest’s Host (the larger and most visible of the hosts) for the congregation to see and then he gently breaks the host separating the two parts as the sanctus bells chime.  This act draws the eye of the congregation as they look upon the broken body of our Lord, which is simultaneously, the Bread of Life.

For centuries this constituted “ocular communion.”  In an age when people believed they were not worthy to consume the sacred bread and wine then, it was believed, simply gazing upon the sanctified host was sufficient. Indeed, there is grace in looking upon the consecrated elements but it is not the same as seeing and receiving the body and blood of Christ. After the Reformation the faithful were invited not simply to look upon the body and blood of Christ but to “taste and see.”

After a moment he proclaims, either in word or song, one of the statements below.

The Fraction

If the consecrated Bread was not broken earlier, the Celebrant breaks it now.

A period of silence is kept.

Then may be sung or said

Celebrant

People

or this

Celebrant

People

[Alleluia.] Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore let us keep the feast. [Alleluia.]

[Alleluia.] Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, once for all upon the cross.

Therefore let us keep the feast. [Alleluia.]

In Lent, Alleluia is omitted, and may be omitted at other times except during Easter season.

With these statements we announce in one statement the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the Passover Lamb who bore our sins and because of whom the angel of death has passed us over… Good News indeed!

I pray that this Sunday as you gaze upon the consecrated host elevated remember the Good News that is represented in this “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace!