PYX-elated
Recently I was charged to function as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion – what sometimes is called a Eucharistic minister. Realizing I was carrying a small container, a box, a pyx containing the consecrated host, I asked, “just what is it that I am doing”? It dawned with the clarity revealed during quiet reflection. It wasn’t about me at all; rather, I was privileged to be a conduit bringing the sacrament of communion to someone unable to attend mass for reasons beyond their control. I was being given a gift of opportunity to practice intentionality in visiting the sick.
For the emotional sentiment I experienced, I have coined a term – PYX-ELATED –a sense of elation, of joy, accompanied by a humbling, deep fulfillment of spirit as a channel for the consecrated host. Upon reflection, Pyx-elated is a close homophone I feel should be pronounced only slightly different from pixelated and pixilated. Accentuating the first “E” it rings as pyx-Elated. The latter two have slightly different sound based on their first vowels.
Anyone with a video screen may have seen an image degrade to pixels. The word pixel is itself a made-up word – a portmanteau– from a contraction of “picture-element “, a small component, a discreet bit, contributing just a miniscule portion to, but necessary for the picture to be complete.
There is another, older, wonderful word, an Americanism – pixilated – (spelled with an I) which derives from pixie, a sprite. A pixilated person is, at least temporarily, given to slight eccentricity, whimsy, or light mood.
Going just a bit deeper into the role of visitor, while never losing respect for the task of bringing communion, a visit to the sick or homebound might, and should, allow time for human exchange and laughter, whimsy, as appropriate to the tone set by the needs and personality of the communicant who may have been isolated from human, or non-medical, non-family contact. It is truly a visit to and for the sick. When it happens that I am pyx-elated, I am gratified, also, to be pixelated as the smallest contributing components in the larger ministry of the Church. My function as a small cog in a much bigger wheel is in some small way, the extension of the priest who consecrated the host and the congregation I am representing and whose peace I help pass.
The extraordinary visit is a time to bring a bit of joy, but also distraction. When asked in a mature, honest, non-self-serving manner: “What’s on your mind?”; “How are you?”; “Is there anything I can do for you while I am here?”; questions affirm the dignity of the person and reinforce the human aspect of the time together.
The Rule of Benedict gives instruction and sets the stage for pyx-elation: It demands humility to appreciate one’s role and mission (ch.7); considering hospitality, it shows respect for the other (72:4); It allows for “no hollow greeting of peace” (4:25); It reminds us all to “visit the sick” (4:16); and “console the sorrowing” (4:19); and commands that “the care of the sick must rank above and before all else so that they may truly be served as Christ” (36:1).
There is, however, a paradox in that one does not need a pyx to be pyx-elated while visiting the sick, just the proper disposition.
Richard H. Fitzgerald
