'Becoming meet partakers of these holy mysteries': on the Exhortation at the Holy Communion
The now unfortunately rarely used Exhortation "At the time of the Celebration of the Communion" is a rich text which calls us both to meaningful self-examination as we approach the holy Sacrament and to receive with thanksgiving. In his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), Shepherd roots this Exhortation in the practice of the ancient Eastern churches:
Chrysostom informs us, that in the Greek Church, when the communicants were conveniently placed, "the Priest standing in a conspicuous station, and stretching forth his hand, and lifting up his voice in the midst of profound silence, invited some (that is, those that were worthy), and forbad others (the unworthy) to approach."
By showing how the Exhortation follows patristic practice and the liturgies of the East, Shepherd reminds us how much of the rhetoric surrounding the Parish Communion movement - the idea that it was a restoration of patristic practice - is significantly misleading. Entirely missing from the Parish Communion is precisely that which the Exhortation represented: the deeply patristic insistence on the need to approach the Table after self-examination and with penitence.
As Shepherd goes on to illustrate, the Exhortation robustly sets forth this call to penitence and does so in a manner almost entirely lacking in contemporary rites:
In this exhortation the Minister excites us to two general duties, self-examination. and thanksgiving. He states the benefits of receiving the Sacrament worthily, and the danger of receiving it unworthily. He enforces the duties of true repentance, lively faith, complete reformation, and perfect charity, in order to our becoming meet partakers of these holy mysteries.
The Exhortation concludes by calling the penitent heart to thanksgiving as we draw near to these "holy mysteries", words which will be echoed by "feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving" during the administration of the Bread:
He insists, above all things, on the necessity of thanksgiving to God for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ. Thanksgiving is a principal part of the eucharistic banquet, and the concluding paragraphs of the exhortation furnish us with various considerations, on which our gratitude may expatiate.
Against those who depict the Prayer Book Communion as overly-focussed upon penitence (a rather convenient trope in light of the profound weakness of many contemporary rites with regards to penitence), Shepherd's description of thanksgiving as "a principal part of the eucharistic banquet" - referred to at the administration of both the Bread and the Cup - exemplifies how thanksgiving is a pronounced characteristic of the Prayer Book rite. This, of course, is related to the penitential theme: in the words of Our Lord, "to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little".
Rarely used as it may now be, this Exhortation is worthy of personal reflection and contemplation on a regular basis, as we prepare to approach the holy Sacrament. Such personal use addresses an evident weakness in contemporary Anglican rites. As for encouraging its use in traditional Prayer Book rites, perhaps the wisdom of the rubric concerning the Exhortation in PECUSA's BCP 1928 might be heeded: "that the Exhortation shall be said on the First Sunday in Advent, the First Sunday in Lent, and Trinity Sunday". Likewise, the Church of Ireland BCP 1926 - in a rubric maintained in BCP 2004 - states this Exhortation is to be read "at the least three times in the year". Such use of the Exhortation would be a means of reintroducing this wonderful text of sacramental, pastoral, and spiritual teaching.
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