God is on the Altar, but He isn’t the Guy in Vestments

Round about the moment of the consecration, there’s a massive case of identity confusion going on in the minds of many of the faithful.  The Holy Spirit descends upon the altar, and something at the front of the church turns into the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Hint: It isn’t the guy who was there the minute before.  It’s the one who just showed up.

(I mean okay, yes, God was hanging around the whole time.  It’s what He does.  But at the consecration He becomes present in a visible, palpable, edible way.  I guess we could do a taste-test method to tell the difference, but we’re going to stick with pictures.)

Pictorial Guide to God vs. Not God

Picture #1, God:

Picture #2, Not God:

What Happens when you confuse the guy “in persona Christi” for the Actual Christ?

You become a very miserable person.

It turns out your parish priest makes a very bad deity.  (As he’ll be the first to tell you.) So does the parish secretary, the youth minister, and the music director.  And yes, even though he keeps the lights on and the plumbing working, the maintenance guy isn’t God either.

If you need a perfect job done every time, contact the Creator of the Universe.  Accept no substitutes.

You Might Be Suffering Priestly-Deification Syndrome if:

• You honestly think your pastor should fix all the problems in your parish this very instant.  Father said, “Let there be perfect liturgy,” and behold . . . yeah, no.  It doesn’t work that way.
• You are shocked, shocked, that your parish staff have almost exactly the same collection of sins and weaknesses as  . . . all the other people in your parish.
• You find yourself ranting bitterly about your priest’s or bishop’s various shortcomings, and you haven’t even had your second drink yet.

Of course since we the faithful aren’t perfect either, a certain amount of constructive criticism whining and complaining from the pews is all part of the the way we bless those called to the ordained life.  PDS, in contrast, is marked by an overwhelming conviction that your pastor should possess all the best qualities of your ten favorite saints, and none of their besetting sins.*

Help is Available

If you have PDS, it’s no longer necessary for the people around you to suffer from your lack of silence.  You can be cured by following this simple treatment plan:

1. Apologize to God for confusing Him with someone else.
2. Begin a regular practice of identifying the persons & Persons in your life as either “God” or “not God”.  If you are unsure, ask a friend to help.
3. Contact God for assistance with all problems that require divine intervention.
4. All problems require divine intervention.
5. Allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised if the humans around you manage to put on matching shoes in the morning.

Meanwhile, strictly avoid reading the Acts of the Apostasy until a professional evaluation has confirmed that your sense of humor is working again.

*Yes.  Your favorite saints had besetting sins.  Some of which might have gotten glossed over in the hagiography, some of which didn’t.  But just ask them, they’ll assure you it’s the case.

Images by:

 PerfectUnityOrg (own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Stefano Corso (own work) via Wikimedia Commons