Dear JasonB:
Having reviewed RayK's post above, as an Orthodox Christian, I can't find anything with which to disagree. (Stop laughing, guys, this is not the first time that I've agreed with other people.
)
Perhaps this quote from an anonymous monk would help and, I venture to say, encapsulate RayK's message (although I welcome his disagreement with my proposed simplification):
"When we prepare as if we were to receive the body and blood of Christ, then that is exactly what we receive. When we prepare as if we were to receive bread and wine, then that is exactly all that we receive."
The incarnational underpinnings of the eucharistic theology should keep leading us back to the fact that this is a cooperative work - a synergia (Gk).
If we don't want Him to be present in our lives, He will stay away. Christ does not seek to bind us as prisoners. If we want Him to be present in our lives, repenting of our great unworthiness, then He guarantees us that He will be there, not only at the eucharistic meal, but forever. And we, as Christians, bet our lives upon it.
In Christ,
Andrew
