This evening I found myself laughing at the Summa Theologiae. I think I may actually be going mad.
Aquinas is discussing transubstantiation, specifically why the change in substance has to happen instantly:
If this were to begin to happen before the instant of consecration, there would be some time during which under a part of the host you would have neither the substance of bread nor the body of Christ. This would be a most undesirable situation (quod est inconveniens).
At which point, I'm afraid, I found myself actually giggling. Not at the theology, I hasten to add. It's just the deadpan quod est inconveniens. Bits of reality suddenly ceasing to exist, even though it looks like they're still there? Sounds like the premise for Lovecraftian horrors. Quod est inconveniens, all right.
Anchorite sounds like some kind of rock, and there are many different kinds of rock in Sutherland. But the association of anchor and rock suggest to me the song, Will your anchor hold, and if it is embedded in rock then it will be secure. But Wandering Anchorite suggests a rolling rock, perhaps gathering no moss, as it journeys across the landscape. One of the roads I drive is perilously close to rocky cliffs. Both sides of the road are peppered with huge boulders that would crush a car flat and probably leave it invisible underneath the rock. It is a bit nervewracking to drive, although the rocks have been there so long that you are more likely to get crushed by a bus, perhaps not so unlikely up here!
ReplyDeleteSo, dear Anchorite, journey well, and hold tight to the the Rock.
I hadn't thought of anchorite as a rock type, but you're right ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your good wishes, travel well yourself!