(3.8) “Galahad and the Grail” – The Achievement of the Grail, Section 2

(3.8) “Galahad and the Grail” – The Achievement of the Grail, Section 2. (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.”

Section 2 – The Sacred Mysteries:

Reference Points. Before diving into the exquisite descriptions of high worship by Dr. Guite, these references will hopefully be helpful:

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 Signing of the Cross. In Dr. Guite’s retelling of the King Arthur legend, he often integrates the ancient Christian custom of signing the cross into the storyline, presenting is the prelude to worship, a physical action that broke the demonic curse, nd an act of faith that dissolved the evil enchantment. Maybe a little history of that sacred gesture is in order… Signing the cross on yourself or others can be an irreligious superstition, a thoughtless ritual, a nervous habit, or a physical gesture that is rich with spiritual significance. Crossing ourselves can be as meaningful as we want it to be. It can be an empty hand movement devoid of faith, or it can be a sincere gesture that represents your deepest identity. When genuine, the act of crossing ourselves is truly making a statement, it is setting us apart. Ever since the 2nd century the traditional hand motion in the shape of a cross, starting at the forehead, then the heart, then both shoulders, then back to the heart again, has been a distinctive symbol of the Christian faith. There have been variations on these movements through time and tradition. And it should be remembered that many believers privately choose to sign the cross over themselves even if not a tradition in their particular church. Down through the centuries, the sign of the cross has represented many truths:

1. It reveals our chosen identity as a Christ-follower;
2. It marks us as disciples of Jesus;
3. It announces that we belong to God, that we are His possession, owned by Him;
4. It tells others that we believe in the Bible and the truth contained in Scripture;
5. It is a clear confession of faith in the Holy Trinity, since the sign is accompanied by the prayer, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;”
6. It is a tangible reminder to us of our baptismal vows and our new life in Christ;
7. It is a physical action that reminds us of God’s spiritual presence;
8. It echoes the command of Christ to pick up our crosses daily;
9. It renews our commitment to crucifying the desires of the flesh;
10. It is a picture of Christ’s suffering and our acceptance of suffering in His Name;
11. It announces our side in the warfare against the powers of darkness, alerting the enemy that we are on the side of Christ against the demonic kingdom;
12. It reminds us of our protection in Christ if we feel spiritually attacked or harassed;
13. It is an act of submission to God’s will and His purpose in our lives;
14. It is a sign of blessing when we put the sign of the cross over others, asking the Lord to show them favor and mercy;
15. When crossing ourselves, it is a way of asking God to help us love Him with all our mind (forehead), our heart, and our strength (shoulders);
16. It is an expression of our heartfelt piety and deepest devotion;
17. As one traditional church puts it, “The Sign of the Cross disposes us to cooperate with God’s grace if invoking the Name of Christ.”
18. “Little” signs of the Cross are also used during Christian worship, in which our thumb is used to mark a small cross on one’s own forehead, mouth, and heart, asking God to sanctify our thoughts, our speech, and our affections for God’s use;
19. A little sign of the Cross may also be prayerfully marked with the thumb on someone else ‘s forehead when blessing them, preparing them for a healing prayer, or for many of the sacraments.

The symbolism of the fingers is vital in fully understanding the signing of the Cross. To symbolize the Holy Trinity, using your right hand, the tip of the thumb touches the two tips of the longest fingers next to the thumb. Those three fingertips must be touching when signing the cross because they represent the three Persons of the Godhead, the Trinity. The two fingertips minus the thumb represent the dual nature of Jesus Christ: His divine nature and His human nature. Many have said that the sign of the cross is an abbreviated version of the Apostle’s Creed because of the symbolic use of the fingers.

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.

Balyn the Knight – As an honorable knight of the Round Table, Balyn went off in search of adventure and a worthy quest, when he fell into battle with a man who Balyn had to kill in self-defense. This man who was killed had a brother named Pelles, who naturally sought to avenge his brother’s death. While Pelles and Balin were in a fight to the death, Balyn’s sword was shattered and unusable. So Balyn tried to find anything in this strange castle that would help him defeat this strong opponent Pelles. Balyn found a blood-stained spear in the castle’s chapel and picked it up, ignoring loud voices that begged him not to use that particular spear. So Balyn thrust a deep stroke into Pelles’ thigh with that spear, which maimed Pelles and left him helpless and unable to defend himself. Balyn soon departed. The “Dolorous Stroke,” the death-dealing cut from the seemingly magical spear affected the king’s realm as well as his own body. All the lands in Pelles’ kingdom became a cursed wasteland. It turns out that without Balyn even being aware of it, that special spear was the very lance used to cut deeply into Christ’s side on the Cross. The blood-stained Spear of Christ was being carefully guarded in Pelles’ castle, and was not to be used in any way. If used, it was prophesied that profound disaster would follow, which proved to be true.

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!”