(3.8) “Galahad and the Grail” – High Worship with the Sacred Mysteries

(3.8) “Galahad and the Grail” – High Worship with the Sacred Mysteries. (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)

Book Three: “The Achievement of the Grail“ (by “book” is meant a large section in this installment of Guite’s Arthuriad).

Stave Eight: “The Achievement of the Grail” (a “stave” is an old-fashioned term for the stanza of a poem, a verse in a song, or a chapter in a long story; this chapter has three sections: The Great Castle, The Sacred Mysteries, and  Ends and Beginnings).

“We need to re-enchant a disenchanted world. We need to rebaptize our imagination. I’m trying to lift the veil; not so much to re-enchant, but to un-disenchant the world, to help us see what is already there.” (Dr. Malcolm Guite).

Why is Malcolm Guite retelling the King Arthur saga, no less in the form of English ballads? He has gone on record as saying…

1. The KA mythical tales echo something real about sin, redemption, and the hope that was broken in us and in the world that can be made whole again;
2. Every generation that asks good questions of King Arthur legends gets good answers;
3. The modern world could use a resurrection of the ideal of chivalry and honor;
4. Ancient myths and stories aren’t just relics of a pre-modern imagination, they are carriers of truth we’ve forgotten how to see with modern eyes;
5. Legends like these don’t distract us from the real world, they reveal it;
6. These stories restore the spiritual elements that have been shorn away, and they renew their deepest meaning;
7. The English ballads were composed in a poetic form that were made to be sung or chanted out loud. They are rhythmic and musical, and one gets the sense that with ballads, ‘the poem on the page is lying asleep. And the job of the reader is to wake it up and breathe into its being by reciting it out loud, because that physicality of sound and breath and speech is what it’s made for.’ Above all, enjoy it. Poetry is meant to give pleasure.”
8. “This is the tale that makes my heart rejoice.”

Some Reference Points for the story that follows: 

The Holy Grail is the sacred relic which is the chalice from which Jesus drank at His Last Supper with His disciples, and it was used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christ’s blood after His side was lanced by the Roman soldier after Christ had died on the Cross. The Grail was seen as a miraculous source for healing and redemption offered in Christ, and it also symbolized spiritual purity and mystical union with God. The Holy Grail has been accepted down through the centuries as a cup or a deep dish that retained the spiritual powers of Christ Himself. The Grail represented the presence of divine grace, and so the Quest for the Grail was the most important quest ever conceived by the Knights of the Round Table. This first appearance of the Grail covered in a white veil was evidently intended to whet the appetite of the knights to find the Grail in order to see it in all its glory.

The Spear of Destiny – Also called the Holy Lance, the Spear of Christ, or the Spear of Longinus, this sacred relic was the lance used by the Roman soldier named Longinus as he sought to confirm the death of Christ on the Cross. When the soldier lanced the side of Christ, both blood and water poured out, and Jesus was officially declared dead. At that time, Joseph of Arimathea had already procured the Cup from the Last Supper, and he used it to catch the blood flowing out of the Son of God who had just died (John 19:34). Early church tradition held that a drop of Christ’s blood fell onto Longinus and he was immediately healed of a serious disability. Soon afterward, Longinus converted to Christ and lived as a missionary until his martyrdom much later. This spear was indeed holy because it dripped with Christ’s own blood that continued to serve as a healing agent when used properly. So the Holy Lance was a tangible reminder of Christ’s suffering, spiritual redemption, and a vehicle of merciful healing. The Spear of Christ was sacred and could only be used for righteous and pure purposes.

The Sacraments. It’s not surprising that one scholar claimed Galahad was “a fusion between knighthood and theology” and that another Arthurian called him a “warrior-monk.” Even in his early youth Galahad felt most at home in the castle’s Chapel where priests were always ready to serve him in any way they could. It was in this Chapel where Galahad smelled the holy incense, listened to heavenly music, watched the sacred candles burn with “Pentecostal fire,” and “sensed the Holy One, so present in the Mass.” Galahad fully participated in the extraordinary spiritual power hidden in the sacraments. A word here is in order as we consider the nature of sacraments in the Christian life… The physical elements above are the raw materials used in the Christian Church by the Holy Spirit to bring God’s very presence to us on earth. There are varying views of what a sacrament in the Church is, and how many of them there are. The actual word “Sacrament” is a legal term, “sacramentum,” which in Latin means “sacred vow.” It referred to the solemn vow a man would make when entering the Roman military, as well as the oath of honesty one would declare in the Roman courts. The early Christians adapted the term to designate the vows a person would take when being baptized into the Faith in a faith community. Soon other aspects of this commitment to Jesus would be called sacraments as well, such as foot washing, the Lord’s Supper, a special blessing on someone, and even marriage. The Latin Bible translated the Greek word “mysterion”, or mystery, for the Latin word “sacramentum” in various passages in the epistles. The Church then identified many special acts of commitment and discipleship as sacred mysteries of the Faith, or sacraments, such as baptism, confession and healing with anointing oil.

Angels: Our Partners in Worship. Angels enjoy a primary job that is the hub of the wheel for them, the resource for all their other duties and responsibilities…  eternally worshipping Him without ceasing. Angels have free will, so they choose to reverently adore God and rejoice over Him with singing and praise. They are sinless, pure spiritual beings, undefiled servants of the Lord who are privileged to be constantly in God’s presence in glory. Angels never cease to behold God’s face and offer their praises to the only Being in the universe Who is worthy of such worship. When we sing our praises, when we worship our Lord with each other, we are not alone. All heaven comes alongside us in our praises, or maybe we could say we come alongside them. We join with the heavenly host around the Throne when we worship together. The words which introduce the Holy Communion service in the Anglican liturgy says it all: “Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious Name, evermore praising you and saying, ‘’Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of the Angelic Host, heaven and earth are full of your glory! Glory be to You, O Lord Most High.” (BCP). There are many Christian churches which believe that earthly worship is the faithful act of participating with heavenly worship. The Divine Liturgy, the central act of Orthodox worship, is seen as an “entrance, passage, and ascension to the Throne of God where the faithful join with angels in praise and worship.” The Orthodox priests, for example, emphasizes that the entire church is declaring the holiness of God “together with these blessed powers” of the angelic hosts. As so many pastors and priests like to say, “We’re constantly being reminded throughout the liturgy of our overlapping role and unity with the angelic powers in their worship of and obedience to God in ministry.”

The Sanctus. This is a traditional prayer used in many Christian churches to begin Communion, the Eucharistic liturgy. It has been sung or spoken since 100 AD, and it combines two biblical passages… Isaiah 6 :3, “And the angels were calling to each other: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory! along with Matthew 21:9, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” The Sanctus is looked upon as the call for Christians on earth to join with the voices in heaven to praise God before the Bread and the Wine are consecrated and prepared for the believers in attendance at the Communion service. The full prayer-song is, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 

And now for the High Point of Dr. Guite’s retelling of the King Arthur saga: 

Into the Chapel of the Grail. The Procession marched slowly into the Chapel of the Grail, where the maidens placed their holy relics on the altar. King Pelles was carefully set down at the altar where all knelt in reverence. The Spear of Longinus hung above the altar over the lighted Grail and Dish. Nacien, the Priest of the Grail, then began to lead in worship, in the service of the Mass, the Communion, the Eucharistic mystery. Everyone continued kneeling in confession as they joyfully received forgiveness. Just before the three-fold Sanctus was sung, a sweet bell sounded in the Chapel, heard by all present. Nacien then spoke in a trembling voice, “Before we sing, we lift the veil that until now did shield the Grail. For now God lifts the greater veil ‘twixt holy Heaven and earth so frail, and at this mystery sight may fail and flesh may tremble, spirit quail, for now we come where the spirits dwell, which flesh cannot endure.” 

Galahad then stepped forward toward the altar, came directly to the Grail, and lifted up its white veil. At the same time, there in this thin place between earth and Heaven, the veil separating the two was also lifted, and that indescribable moment could only be described this way… “Only the angels have that speech which might toward the mystery reach, where they stand singing each to each, their Sanctus doth the Spirit reach, and lift to Heaven the struggling Church, that even earthly minds might reach to where the angels dwell.”

The Mystical Moment Continues… “In Chapel there they heard the song that doth Heaven sound. It ravished every person there, lifted their heart they knew not where, for earth and water, fire and air, were all transfigured for them there, and like the burning bush they were – radiant with love’s pure holy fire, but not consumed, still rooted here, still firm in God’s good ground. What did they see? O each one saw as much as he could bear. And what some saw, none else could see. Each saw part of the mystery…” 

Percivale observed that all earthly things met the divine in that clear-as-glass Chalice, that earth rose as Heaven descended, where they “met with glory crowned.” He felt that he was in Heaven and earth at the same time, seeing the wounded king simultaneously with the singing angels. He rejoiced that he was able to witness the Lamb Himself in the Bread as Nacien lifted it up in worship.

Sir Bors was grateful that, even in his simplicity, God would allow him to have this moment of holy ecstasy when he began to understand the meaning of that little word “Trinity.” When the veil was removed from the Grail. Bors saw the world full of every kind of person, “God’s tapestry,” and he joined with them in worship. Finally, he tried to describe “the One in Three and Three in One drawing everyone towards the throne where love is three and Love is one, God’s Holy Trinity.“