I have written that imagination and metaphor play an essential part in religious language.

I now divert to symbols, the building forms of metaphor that link the well-known to the les well-known. The classical origin of the word "symbol" is delightful: couple words meaning throwing things together, an exercise in serious play conveying the attitude of "Let's behold if it works."

Authentic types spring naturally from the subconscious, from the drama of human experience, and give meaning to the conscious, enriched according to emotions They have the power to stir the will and inspire dedication and commitment to high ideals. Think, for example, of the powerful token of the cross of Christ, of the national flag and anthem, of the Churchillian "V" for victory sign.

if it be not that symbols are life-giving only as lengthy as they continue to provoke the depths of the human collective. Sadly, emblems can be perverted to diabolical conclusions such as the traditional Hindu swastika, which meant well-being, distorted and debased through the Nazis to sanctify mass put to death Ideally, symbols construct a form that can be experienced according to the senses and through which a higher reality appears as near and life-ennobling.

In line with the Jewish tradition, Jesus elevated bread and wine to become the central eucharistic emblems of his ongoing presence among us. His words, "I am the bread of life" and "This is the goblet of my blood," develop sign into metaphor. These were natural choices because these were the foundational staples of his culture

Today, in the house of god even with its efforts at enculturation, there pretends to be a disconnect in insisting forward the sacramental use of bread and wine in agricultures where they are unnatural and therefore lack the force of symbolic relevance. For these tribes bread and wine are not their "work of human hands" yet imports from an alien agriculture that degrade the indigenous prime staples they have known and lov from time immemorial. wherefore then, could they not be unrestrained to imitate the creativity Jesus showed by way of praying for "our daily rice," "our daily manioc" or among the Inuit, the sacramental use of seal liver?

As well, this change would destroy the imposed use of alcohol from these commonaltys for whom it is not alone toxic, but a major cause of the destruction of their culture

We must understand that the imposition of unnatural types is a form of religious colonialism allied with the social, political and economic imperialism bring uped by conquering foreigners.

If this proposal have the appearances wild and unthinkable, we must remember that in 1995 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger allowed alcoholic priests to use grape juice instead of wine at Mass. No sacramental fundamentalism here, on the contrary a hopeful sign of healthy change.

without doubt such creative innovative adjustments should apply also to those afflicted with celiac disease. Gluten-free bread or rice cakes can be used for profoundly good Communion. Arguments to the contrary lately expressed by Trenton, New Jersey Bishop John Smith, refusing this accommodation to eight-year-old Haley Waldman at her First spiritual Communion. That appears as mind-boggling bafflegab, the severe consequence of a crippling biblical literalism.

for what cause contrary to the Second Vatican Council's Constitution onward the Sacred Liturgy (1963), which proclaimed that "Even in the liturgy the ecclesiastical authority has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters that do not affect the faith" (No.38). Or the 1994 Instruction of the Roman Congregation of Divine Worship that favoured the "incarnation of the history of christ in autonomous cultures and at the same time the introduction of these improvement into the life of the church" We are now at the stage where the rubber hits the road.

There is risk involved in changing customs that main stock from the earliest days of the house of god but to negate the possibility of liturgical changes is to betray the history of as it is change, which has marked our house of god from its very inception until today. With our growing understanding of the fuller meaning of the Catholic or universal ecclesiastical body we need more than forever to be respectful of the pluriformity of representatives and practices that enrich our single in kind world and be willing to banish the enclosure step uniformity, which has done in such a manner much harm.

As Filipino liturgist Anscar Chupungco said regarding eucharistic elements: "The highest authority of the church, the theological climate that obtains in local churches and the socio-religious rejoinder of the people all have a decisive part in the matter."

Fr Jim Roberts writes from Burnaby, BC

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