Holy Communion.—One of the two great Sacraments ordained by Christ and generally (i.e., always) necessary to salvation; this being the Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood. The following explanation has been given by the Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D.: "Three names are given to this Sacrament according {134} to the way in which it is regarded. It is called the Holy Communion, because it is the means of keeping that union with Almighty God through the Incarnation which was commenced in our Baptism, and because thereby all the faithful are spiritually one with each other. It is called the Lord's Supper with historical reference to the time and circumstance of its institution. It is called the Holy Eucharist, as being the great act of praise and thanksgiving rendered by the Church in acknowledgment of the blessings of Redemption. It is also called preeminently the Divine Liturgy, as including and comprehending all acts of worship and religion, and as being the first and chief of all rites and functions; and it is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament. It is the great Commemorative Sacrifice of the Church, unbloody, mystical and spiritual; accompanying the Perpetual Oblation of Himself which our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, makes in Heaven, where He ever liveth and intercedes for us. In it the Passion of Christ is perpetually shown forth to the Almighty Father, and His Priests on earth unite in the Oblation which He makes at the Mercy Seat. It is the Sacrament in which the faithful feed upon His most Blessed Body and Blood, in a divine mystery and after a spiritual manner, which is to be believed though it cannot be explained. Our Lord is really present throughout the whole of this solemn and august action, though in no carnal, corporal or material manner." (See REAL PRESENCE.)
The Prayer Book provides that this Blessed Sacrament shall be celebrated at least every Sunday and Holy Day for which Collect, Epistle and Gospel are {135} provided; the only exception to this rule being Good Friday. (See EARLY COMMUNION; FREQUENT COMMUNION, also WORSHIP.)
Holy Days and Seasons.—(See CHRISTIAN YEAR, also articles on
FEASTS, FASTS and GOSPEL.)
Holy Ghost, The.—The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. It is of faith to believe that God the Holy Ghost is a Person, not simply an influence as the vagueness of modern religionism seems to imply, but a Person so real that sin can be committed against Him, as in the case of Ananias who was accused of lying to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5:3); a Person so real that He is represented as engaged in such personal acts as teaching, testifying, guiding into all Truth, and as interceding. The Holy Ghost is to be believed in as very and eternal God, of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son. He, the Comforter, having been given we are now living under the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The third paragraph of the Creed (each article of which is to be attributed to or affirmed of, the Holy Ghost) brings out this truth and sets forth His Presence and work in the Church. This is illustrated by the following statement: "By being born again of water and the Holy Ghost we are made members of 'the Holy Catholic Church'; by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, we enjoy the 'Communion of Saints'; through the Holy Ghost we receive the 'Remission of Sins,' first in our Baptism and afterwards in the Holy Communion and other ordinances; it is through the Holy Ghost that the Lord shall quicken our mortal bodies in the 'Resurrection,' and by His grace we {136} shall be enabled to give a good answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ and so attain to the 'Life Everlasting.'" (See PROCESSION OF THE HOLY GHOST.)
Holy Innocents' Day.—A Festival of the Church observed on the third day after Christmas, December 28th, in memory of the children of Bethlehem, whose death Herod caused, and who have always been regarded as the Infant Martyrs of the Christian Church, for that "not in speaking, but in dying, have they confessed Christ." This Feast is one of the very oldest of Holy Days, having always been associated with the observance of Christmas.
Holy Name, The.—The name of JESUS (which see). Bishop Jeremy Taylor says, "This is the Name which we should engrave in our hearts, and write upon our foreheads, and pronounce with our most harmonious accents, and rest our faith upon, and place our hopes in, and love with the overflowings of charity and joy and adoration." An old custom that has come down to us from the most ancient times is that of bowing at the Holy Name of Jesus, especially in reciting the Creed. The 18th Canon of the English Church (1604) gives the meaning of this custom as follows: "When in time of Divine Service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed, testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment that the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the true and Eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all mercies, graces and promises {137} of God to mankind, for this life and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised."
Holy Orders.—A term used to designate the Sacred Ministry, and is expressive of the position and authority of the Ministry of the Church. Holy Scripture as well as ancient authors and the universal practice of the Church bear witness to the fact that Almighty God of His Divine Providence hath appointed "divers orders" in His Church and that these orders have always and in all places been three in number, viz., Bishops, Priests and Deacons. (See BISHOP, EPISCOPACY, DEACON, MINISTER, PRIEST.)
Holy Table.—(See ALTAR.)
Holy Thursday.—A name commonly given to ASCENSION DAY (which see); not to be confounded with Thursday in Holy Week, which is more properly known as Maundy Thursday.
Holy Week.—The last week in Lent is so called and among the ancients was known also as "The Great Week," because of the important events in the last week in our Lord's Life which it commemorates. It is a week of solemn and awful memories, a holy time of deepest devotion and searchings of heart. The Church has always kept it as such. From day to day, amid the solemnities of worship, we follow our Lord in His Passion, live it over again, as in Psalm and Hymn, in Proper Lessons, in Epistles and Gospels and pleading, prayers the whole record of the Royal Reception, the final Teachings, Betrayal, the cruel mockery, the desertion, and the awful Agony on the Cross, the Death and the Burial of the Lord of Life is solemnly recited as a memorial before God. Each {138} day is significant, thus: The first day of the week, the Sixth Sunday in Lent, is called Palm Sunday, in reference to the palms strewn in our Lord's way on His entrance into Jerusalem; Monday and Tuesday witnessed the final disputations with the Jews; Wednesday stands out as the day of the Lord's Betrayal and the beginning of the events which reached their climax on Good Friday; Thursday is ever to be remembered as the day of the Commands, first, concerning love, and secondly, the institution of the Blessed Sacrament with its "Do this in remembrance of Me"; Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion and Death, and Saturday, Easter Even, which commemorates the Descent of our Lord's soul into Hell while His Body rested in the grave.