Food for pilgrims

The Host provides the best food for the pilgrims. Do you see a broad interpretation in that statement? We are all called "pilgrims" at times. And the Eucharist--the Host--strengthens us for our pilgrimage--our journey through life. Such a thought would be understood poetically by Catholics today. But what about Chaucer's contemporaries? Did they see the Eucharist as food for a journey?
     The 14th century poem quoted in the previous entry continues the thought: A better food may no man find/ For to everlasting life it will lead us. (Carleton Brown, Religious Lyrics of the 14th Century)
     It is even more clearly stated by John Lydgate in the medieval work called The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man. Christ is quoted as saying he leaves his body (Corpus Christi) to "true pilgrims" as the thing that may most avail them to relieve their travail/ travel as chief repast to sustain them.
     While the surface story in this scene tells of an obliging innkeeper catering to his guests, Chaucer's underlying message is the acting out of the prevalent religious thought of his day. We will find that Chaucer often portrays a well known expression as an action.
     The purpose of this blog is to ask questions and to recognize clues Chaucer gives to a second and deeper meaning. What we are confirming now is that there is a concealed image within the Canterbury Host. He is actually--he is also--Christ himself. Numerous factors point to this identity. Several are found in this scene between the Host and the pilgrims:
he settles accounts
he states he will be their judge
he demands immediate acceptance of his plan
     Let's look at just the first item for now: settling accounts. We're told the pilgrims made their "reckonings." This can be read on one level as an innkeeper concerned about his profits, but there is no elaboration. Here again, Chaucer refrains from giving specific details. Though the action could be seen as dealing with money, coins are not mentioned. Why is that significant? Because lack of limiting details allows both the surface and underlying intention to be valid. Lack of specifics encourages ambiguity.
     In the mind-set of Chaucer's day, terms which appeared to allude to money and bookkeeping transactions were the usual terminology for God's dealings with individuals at Judgment. For instance, in staging a Judgment scene in a Morality Play, each soul carries a personal balance sheet as he approaches Death's door. And Confessio Amantis, by John Gower (ca. 1386) uses different but similar language. At the soul's las Day of Account man will come before "Christ the Auditor."
     We need to be aware that once the Host sets himself up as their ever-present judge, the atmosphere of judgment subtly permeates the whole journey. And does this please the journeyers? Next time we shall see.