Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 06-13-04, Solemnity, Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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Novena Honoring the Body and Blood of Christ

I thank You, Jesus, my Divine Redeemer, for coming upon the earth for our sake, and for instituting the adorable Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in order to remain with us until the end of the world.

I thank You for hiding beneath the Eucharistic species Your infinite majesty and beauty, which Your Angels delight to behold, so that I might have courage to approach the throne of Your Mercy.

I thank You, most loving Jesus, for having made Your- self my food, and for uniting me to Yourself with so much love in this wonderful Sacrament that I may live in You. I thank You, my Jesus, for giving Yourself to me in this Blessed Sacrament, and so enriching it with the treasures of Your love that You have no greater gift to give me.

I thank You not only for becoming my food but also for offering Yourself as a continual sacrifice to Your Eternal Father for my salvation.

I thank You, Divine Priest, for offering Yourself as a Sacrifice daily upon our altars in adoration and homage to the Most Blessed Trinity, and for making amends for our poor and miserable adorations.

I thank You for renewing in this daily Sacrifice the actual Sacrifice of the Cross offered on Calvary, in which You satisfy Divine justice for us poor sinners.

I thank You, dear Jesus, for having become the priceless Victim to merit for me the fullness of heavenly favors. Awaken in me such confidence in You that their fullness may descend ever more fruitfully upon my soul.

I thank You for offering Yourself in thanksgiving to God for all His benefits, spiritual and temporal, which He has bestowed upon me.

In union with Your offering of Yourself to Your Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I ask for this special favor: (Mention your request). If it be Your holy Will, grant my request. Through You I also hope to receive the grace of perseverance in Your love and faithful service, a holy death, and a happy eternity with You in Heaven. Amen.

O Lord, You have given us this Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.
You have given them bread from Heaven.
Having all sweetness within.
Let us pray. God our Father, for Your glory and our salvation You appointed Jesus Christ eternal High Priest. May the people He gained for You by His Blood come to share in the power of His Cross and Resurrection by celebrating His Memorial in this Eucharist, for He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.
Amen.

O Jesus, since You have left us a remembrance of Your Passion beneath the veils of this Sacrament, grant us, we pray, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood that we may always enjoy the fruits of Your Redemption, for You live and reign forever. Amen.

From: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The Institution of the Eucharist

[23] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that
the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, [24] and
when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body which
is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." [25] In the same way also
the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My
blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." [26]
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death until He comes.

Commentary:

23-26. These verses clearly bear witness to the early Christians' faith
in the eucharistic mystery. St. Paul is writing around the year
57--only twenty-seven years since the institution of the
Eucharist--reminding the Corinthians of what they had been taught some
years earlier (c. the year 51). The words "received" and "delivered" are
technical terms used to indicate that a teaching is part of apostolic
Tradition; cf. also 1 Corinthians 15:3. These two passages highlight
the importance of that apostolic Tradition. The words "I received from
the Lord" are a technical expression which means "I received through
that Tradition which goes back to the Lord Himself."

There are three other New Testament accounts of the institution of the
Eucharist (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:16-20). This
account, which is most like St. Luke's, is the earliest of the four.

The text contains the fundamental elements of Christian faith in the
mystery of the Eucharist: 1) the institution of this Sacrament by Jesus
Christ and His real presence in it; 2) the institution of the Christian
priesthood; 3) the Eucharist is the sacrifice of the New Testament (cf.
notes on Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:16-20; 1 Corinthians
10:14-22).

"Do this in remembrance of Me": in instituting the Eucharist, our Lord
charged that it be re-enacted until the end of time (cf. Luke 22:19),
thereby instituting the priesthood. The Council of Trent teaches that
Jesus Christ our Lord, at the Last Supper, "offered His body and blood
under the species of bread and wine to God the Father and He gave His
body and blood under the same species to the Apostles to receive,
making them priests of the New Testament at that time. [...] He
ordered the Apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer
this Sacrament when He said, "Do this in remembrance of Me", as the
Catholic Church has always understood and taught" ("De SS. Missae
Sacrificio", Chapter 1; cf. Canon 2). And so, Pope John Paul II
teaches, the Eucharist is "the principal and central reason-of-being of
the Sacrament of the priesthood, which effectively came into being at
the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together with it"
("Letter To All Bishops", 24 February 1980).

The word "remembrance" is charged with the meaning of a Hebrew word
which was used to convey the essence of the feast of the
Passover--commemoration of the exodus from Egypt. For the Israelites
the Passover rite not only reminded them of a bygone event: they were
conscious of making that event present, reviving it, in order to
participate in it, in some way, generation after generation (cf. Exodus
12:26-27; Deuteronomy 6:20-25). So, when our Lord commands His
Apostles to "do this in remembrance of Me", it is not a matter of
merely recalling His supper but of renewing His own Passover sacrifice
of Calvary, which already, at the Last Supper, was present in an
anticipated way.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 9:11b-17

First Miracle of the Loaves and Fish

[11b] And He (Jesus) welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God,
and cured those who had need of healing. [12] Now the day began to wear
away; and the Twelve came and said to Him, "Send the crowd away, to go into
the villages and country round about, to lodge and get provisions; for we
are here in a lonely place." [13] But He said to them, "You give them
something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two
fish--unless we are to go and buy food for all these people." [14] For there
were about five thousand men. And He said to His disciples, "Make them sit
down in companies, about fifty each." [15] And they did so, and made them
all sit down. [16] And taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up
to Heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set
before the crowd. [17] And all ate and were satisfied. And they took up
what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Commentary:

11-17. Jesus replies to His disciples knowing very well what He is
going to do (cf. John 6:5-6)--thereby teaching them little by little to
trust in God's omnipotence. On this miracle see the notes on Matthew
14:14-21; 15:32; 15:33-38; Mark 6:34; 6:41; 6:42; 8:1-9; and John
6:5-9; 6:10; 6:11; 6:12-13.

[Matthew 14:14-21 states:

14-21. This episode must have occurred in the middle of springtime,
because the grass was green (Mark 6:40; John 6:10). In the Near East
loaves were usually made very thin, which meant it was easy to break
them by hand and distribute them to those at table; this was usually
done by the head of the household or the senior person at the meal.
Our Lord follows this custom, and the miracle occurs when Jesus breaks
the bread. The disciples then distribute it among the crowd. Here
again we can see Jesus' desire to have people cooperate with Him.]

[Matthew 15:32 states:

32. The Gospels speak of our Lord's mercy and compassion towards
people's needs: here He is concerned about the crowds who are following
Him and who have no food. He always has a word of consolation,
encouragement and forgiveness: He is never indifferent. However, what
hurts Him most are sinners who go through life without experiencing
light and truth: He waits for them in the sacraments of Baptism and
Penance.]

[Matthew 15:33-38 states:

33-38. As in the case of the first multiplication (14:13-20), the
Apostles provide our Lord with the loaves and the fish. It was all
they had. He also avails of the Apostles to distribute the food--the
result of the miracle--to the people. In distributing the graces of
salvation God chooses to rely on the faithfulness and generosity of
men. "Many great things depend--don't forget it--on whether you and I
live our lives as God wants" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 755).

It is interesting to note that in both miracles of multiplication of
loaves and fish Jesus provides food in abundance but does not allow
anything to go to waste. All Jesus' miracles, in addition to being
concrete historical events, are also symbols of supernatural
realities. Here abundance of material food also signifies abundance of
divine gifts on the level of grace and glory: it refers spiritual
resources and eternal rewards; God gives people more graces than are
strictly necessary. This is borne out by Christian experience
throughout history. St. Paul tells us that "where sin increased, grace
abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20); he speaks of "the riches of His
grace which He lavished upon us" (Eph 1:8) and tells his disciple
Timothy that "the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith
and love that are in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 1:14).]

[Mark 6:34 states:

34. Our Lord had planned a period of rest, for Himself and His
disciples, from the pressures of the apostolate (Mark 6:31-32). And He
has to change His plans because so many people come, eager to hear Him
speak. Not only is He not annoyed with them: He feels compassion on
seeing their spiritual need. "My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). They need instruction and our Lord wants to
meet this need by preaching to them. "Jesus is moved by hunger and
sorrow, but what moves Him most is ignorance" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 109).]

[Mark 6:41 states:

41. This miracle is a figure of the Holy Eucharist: Christ performed it
shortly before promising that sacrament (cf. John 6:1ff), and the
Fathers have always so interpreted it. In this miracle Jesus shows His
supernatural power and His love for men--the same power and love as
make it possible for Christ's one and only body to be present in the
Eucharistic species to nourish the faithful down the centuries. In the
words of the sequence composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Mass of
Corpus Christi: "Be one or be a thousand fed, they eat alike that
living bread which, still received, ne'er wastes away."

This gesture of our Lord--looking up to Heaven--is recalled in the
Roman canon of the Mass: "And looking up to Heaven, to You, His
almighty Father." At this point in the Mass we are preparing to be
present at a miracle greater than that of the multiplication of the
loaves--the changing of bread into His own body, offered as food for
all men.]

[Mark 6:42 states:

42. Christ wanted the left-overs to be collected (cf. John 6:12) to
teach us not to waste things God gives us, and also to have them as a
tangible proof of the miracle.

The collecting of the left-overs is a way of showing us the value of
little things done out of love for God--orderliness, cleanliness,
finishing things completely. It also reminds the sensitive believer of
the extreme care that must be taken of the Eucharistic species. Also,
the generous scale of the miracle is an expression of the largesse of
the Messianic times. The Fathers recall that Moses distributed the
manna for each to eat as much as he needed but some left part of it for
the next day and it bred worms (Exodus 16:16-20). Elijah gave the
widow just enough to meet her needs (1 Kings 17:13-16). Jesus, on the
other hand, gives generously and abundantly.]

[Mark 8:1-9 states:

1-9. Jesus repeats the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and
the fish: the first time (Mark 6:33-44) He acted because He saw a huge
crowd like "sheep without a shepherd"; now He takes pity on them
because they have been with Him for three days and have nothing to
eat.

This miracle shows how Christ rewards people who persevere in following
Him: the crowd had been hanging on His words, forgetful of everything
else. We should be like them, attentive and ready to do what He
commands, without any vain concern about the future, for that would
amount to distrusting Divine Providence.]

[John 6:5-9 states:

5-9. Jesus is sensitive to people's material and spiritual needs. Here
we see Him take the initiative to satisfy the hunger of the crowd of
people who have been following Him.

Through these conversations and the miracle He is going to work, Jesus
also teaches His disciples to trust in Him whenever they meet up with
difficulties in their apostolic endeavors in the future: they should
engage in them using whatever resources they have--even if they are
plainly inadequate, as was the case with the five loaves and two fish.
He will supply what is lacking. In the Christian life we must put what
we have at the service of our Lord, even if we do not think it amounts
to very much. He can make meager resources productive.

"We must, then, have faith and not be dispirited. We must not be
stopped by any kind of human calculation. To overcome the obstacles we
have to throw ourselves into the task so that the very effort we make
will open up new paths" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ is Passing By", 160).]

[John 6:10 states:

10. The evangelist gives us an apparently unimportant piece of
information: "there was much grass in the place." This indicates that
the miracle took place in the height of the Palestinian spring, very
near the Passover, as mentioned in verse 4. There are very few big
meadows in Palestine; even today there is one on the eastern bank of
the Lake of Gennesaret, called El-Batihah, where five thousand people
could fit seated: it may have been the site of this miracle.]

[John 6:11 states:

11. The account of the miracle begins with almost the very same words
as those which the Synoptics and St. Paul use to describe the
institution of the Eucharist (cf. Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke
22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25). This indicates that the miracle, in
addition to being an expression of Jesus' mercy towards the needy, is a
symbol of the Blessed Eucharist, about which our Lord will speak a
little later on (cf. John 6:26-59).]

[John 6:12-13 states:

12-13. The profusion of detail shows how accurate this narrative
is--the names of the Apostles who address our Lord (verses 5,8), the
fact that they were barley loaves (verse 9), the boy who provided the
wherewithal (verse 9) and, finally, Jesus telling them to gather up the
leftovers.

This miracle shows Jesus' divine power over matter, and His largesse
recalls the abundance of messianic benefits which the prophets had
foretold (cf. Jeremiah 31:14).

Christ's instruction to pick up the leftovers teaches us that material
resources are gifts of God and should not be wasted: they should be
used in a spirit of poverty (cf. note on Mark 6:42). In this
connection Paul VI pointed out that "after liberally feeding the
crowds, the Lord told His disciples to gather up what was left over,
lest anything should be lost (cf. John 6:12). What an excellent lesson
in thrift--in the finest and fullest meaning of the term--for our age,
given as it is to wastefulness! It carries with it the condemnation of
a whole concept of society wherein consumption tends to become an end
in itself, with contempt for the needy, and to the detriment,
ultimately, of those very people who believed themselves to be its
beneficiaries, having become incapable of perceiving that man is called
to a higher destiny" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Address to Participants at the
World Food Conference", 9 November 1974).]

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

FEAST OF THE DAY

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also
known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which translates from
Latin to "Body of Christ." This feast originated in France in the mid
thirteenth century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope
Urban IV in 1264. This feast is celebrated on the Thursday following
the Trinity Sunday or, as in the USA, on the Sunday following that
feast.

This feast calls us to focus on two manifestations of the Body of
Christ, the Holy Eucharist and the Church. The primary purpose of
this feast is to focus our attention on the Eucharist. The opening
prayer at Mass calls our attention to Jesus' suffering and death and
our worship of Him, especially in the Eucharist. At every Mass our
attention is called to the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in
it. The secondary focus of this feast upon the Body of Christ as it is
present in the Church. The Church called the Body of Christ because
of the intimate communion which Jesus shares with his disciples. He
expresses this in the gospels by using the metaphor of a body where
He is the head. This image helps keep in focus both the unity and
the diversity of the Church.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is commonly used as an opportunity for
public Eucharistic processions, which serve as a sign of common
faith and adoration. Our worship of Jesus in His Body and Blood
calls us to offer to God our Father a pledge of undivided love and an
offering of ourselves to the service of others.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The Blessed Sacrament is the first and supreme object of our
worship. We must preserve in the depths of our heats a constant and
uninterrupted, profound adoration of this precious pledge of Divine
Love. -St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

TODAY IN HISTORY

1231 Death of St. Anthony of Padua
1999 Four Society of the Divine Word (SVD) martyrs are beatified by
Pope John Paul II

TODAY'S TIDBIT

One common way of celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi is by
having a Eucharistic procession. Such a procession is often
accompanied by events such as Eucharistic exposition to heighten
the awareness and devotion of the Faithful concerning the Eucharist.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray for the perseverance of all discerning a vocation to priestly or
religious life.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is commonly used as an opportunity for public Eucharistic processions, which serve as a sign of common faith and adoration. Our worship of Jesus in His Body and Blood calls us to offer to God our Father a pledge of undivided love and an offering of ourselves to the service of others.

John Paul II's Homily on Feast of Corpus Christi

Eucharist: Source and Summit of Our Being and Action

1. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

With these words St. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that the "Lord's supper" is not only a convivial gathering, but also — and above all — the memorial of the redeeming sacrifice of Christ. Whoever takes part — the Apostle explains — unites himself to the mystery of the death of the Lord, in fact, becomes his "herald."

There is, therefore, a very close relation between "celebrating the Eucharist" and proclaiming Christ. To enter into communion with him in the Pasch memorial means, at the same time, to become missionaries of the event that the ritual realizes. In a certain sense, it means to render it contemporary at all times, until the Lord returns.

2. Dear brothers and sisters, let us relive this wonderful reality of today's solemnity of Corpus Domini, in which the Church not only celebrates the Eucharist, but carries it solemnly in procession, proclaiming publicly that the sacrifice of Christ is for the salvation of the whole world.

Grateful for this immense gift, the Church draws close to the Most Holy Sacrament because it is the source and summit of our being and action. "Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit!" The Church lives from the Eucharist and knows that this truth does not only express a daily experience of faith, but encloses in a synthetic manner the nucleus of the mystery that she herself is (see encyclical letter "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," 1).

3. Ever since, with Pentecost, the People of the New Covenant "began their pilgrim journey toward the heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to articulate their days, filling them with confident hope" (ibid.). Thinking specifically about this, I wished to dedicate to the Eucharist the first encyclical of the new millennium and I am now happy to announce a special Year of the Eucharist. It will begin with the World Eucharistic Congress, planned from October 10-17 in Guadalajara (Mexico), and will end with the next ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will be held in the Vatican from October 2-29, 2005, and whose theme will be "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church."

Through the Eucharist, the ecclesial community is built as a new Jerusalem, principle of unity in Christ between different peoples and nations.

4. "You give them something to eat" (Luke 9:13).

The Gospel page we heard a short while ago gives an effective image of the profound connection existing between the Eucharist and this universal mission of the Church. Christ, "the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51; see Gospel Acclamation), is the only one who can satisfy man's hunger at all times and in all parts of the earth.

However, he does not want to do it alone and so, as in the multiplication of the loaves, involves the disciples: "And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd" (Luke 9:16). This miraculous sign is a figure of the greater mystery of love that is renewed every day in the holy Mass: Through the ordained ministers, Christ gives his Body and Blood for the life of humanity. And all those who nourish themselves worthily at his table, become living instruments of his presence of love, mercy and peace.

5. "'Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem!' — Sion, praise the Savior, your guide and shepherd, with hymns and canticles."

With profound emotion we feel this invitation to praise and joy resound in our hearts. At the end of the holy Mass we will carry the Divine Sacrament in procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Contemplating Mary, we will understand better the transforming force that the Eucharist possesses. Listening to her, we will find in the Eucharistic mystery the courage and strength to follow Christ the Good Shepherd and to serve him in our brothers.

Alleluia ping please

Thanks, Rock doc!

Got it!

Did anyone have a procession this morning? Just curious.

Catholic Poland celebrates The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) - see the pictures -

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ. PING

TODAY IS Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ. PING

The word Among Us

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Meditation
Luke 9:11-17

The Body and Blood of Christ

From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis:

O my Lord Jesus Christ, you command me to draw near to you confidently, and to receive the food of immortality, if I desire to obtain eternal life and glory. You say, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” Oh, sweet and lovely word in the ear of the sinner, that you, Lord God, invite the poor and needy to the Communion of your most holy body and blood! But who am I, Lord, that I should presume to approach you? Heaven and earth cannot contain you, yet you say, “Come, all of you, to me.”

What does this most gracious condescension mean, this most lovely invitation? How shall I bring you within my house, seeing that I so often have sinned in your most loving sight? Angels and archangels stand in awe of you, the saints and just men fear you, and yet you say, “Come, all of you, to me”! If you had not said this, Lord, who would believe it true? And if you had not commanded, who would dare approach?

O God, invisible Creator of the world, how wondrously you work with us, how sweetly and graciously you deal with those to whom you offer yourself in this Sacrament! O admirable and hidden grace of the Sacrament, which only Christ’s faithful ones know! In this Sacrament spiritual grace is conferred, lost virtue is regained in the soul, and the beauty which was disfigured by sin returns again. So great sometimes is this grace that, from the fullness of devotion, not only the mind but also the frail body feels filled with greater strength.

“Thanks be to you, O good Jesus, Eternal Shepherd, that you see fit to refresh us poor exiles with your precious body and blood, and to invite us to partake of these holy mysteries by the invitation from your own mouth, saying, ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.’” (Book IV, 1)

One Bread, One Body

All Issues > Volume 20, Number 4

<< Sunday, June 13, 2004 >>

Body and Blood of Christ

Genesis 14:18-20
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Psalm 110
Luke 9:11-17

View Readings

GOD BROKEN-HEARTED AGAIN

“The Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread, and after He had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you.’ ” —1 Corinthians 11:23-24

At the Last Supper, Jesus first gave us His body and blood on the night He was betrayed. This was a harbinger of Masses to come. Jesus’ greatest gift, the gift of His own body and blood, is often rejected when we refuse to believe in the Eucharist or when we have attitudes of selfishness at Mass. How heartbreaking to Jesus when He sees us trying to make the Mass fit conveniently into our lives rather than radically transforming our lives to center them on our eucharistic Lord!

Jesus is the most rejected, divorced, and abused Person Who has ever lived. Yet He keeps coming back for more. He makes Himself so vulnerable when He faithfully and constantly changes bread and wine into His body and blood. The Lord appears to be a masochist, a “glutton for punishment.” However, Jesus exposes His broken heart to further brokenness because He is God, Who is Love (1 Jn 4:8, 16). Love loves unconditionally. Love loves even if hated and crucified in return.

On this solemnity of the body and blood of Christ, decide to accept the grace to love our eucharistic Jesus. Offer your body as a living sacrifice (Rm 12:1) so that His body and blood will no longer be disbelieved, ignored, and pushed even further into the margins of so many people’s lives. Make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Prayer: Jesus, I will suffer anything so as to never reject You.

Promise: “Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven, pronounced a blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to His disciples for distribution to the crowd. They all ate until they had enough.” —Lk 9:16-17

Praise: “Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore. O make us love Thee more and more.”

Adoration Tally Presented to Pope by Vocation.com

Bishop Calls for Perpetual Adoration of Eucharist

What I learned From a Muslim about Eucharistic Adoration

PERPETUAL ADORATION [The Monks of the Adoration]

Thank you, brother.

Did anyone have a procession this morning?

This evening. By candlelight. The bells were ringing at 9:45 pm. It was really beautiful. About 13 altar BOYS, most of whom received on the tongue, about a dozen seminarians, two deacons, six priests, two bishops and clouds of incense at Mass and then the procession. We even had two girls with the flower baskets and all. And a police escort around the block (they blocked the streets off).

We did! We attended Mass (which is Novus Ordo) in Sugarland, Texas at Saint Theresa with Father Reynolds...

A Really awesome priest!

My wife and I went to Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia, which is the oldest parish in the Commonwealth (established 1795).

A beautiful old church, with a refreshingly un-liberal stance on things liturgical!

Sounds wonderful!

Saint Theresa and their priest BTTT!

You are forotunate. I think these sort of things are coming back.

Hopefully we will have one next year!

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Substance Transformed

06/14/04

The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the communion wafer and the altar wine are transformed and really become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever met anyone who has found this Catholic doctrine to be a bit hard to take?

If so, you shouldn’t be surprised. When Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood in John 6, His words met with less than an enthusiastic reception. “How can this man give us His flesh to eat? (verse 52). “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (verse 60). In fact, so many of His disciples abandoned Him over this that Jesus had to ask the Twelve if they also planned to quit. It is interesting that Jesus did not run after His disciples saying, “Don’t go — I was just speaking metaphorically!”

How did the early Church interpret these challenging words of Jesus? It is interesting to note that one charge the pagan Romans lodged against the Christians was cannibalism. Why? You guessed it: They heard that this sect regularly met to eat and drink human blood. Did the early Christians say: “Wait a minute, it’s only a symbol!”? Not at all. When trying to explain the Eucharist to the Roman Emperor around 155 AD, St. Justin Martyr did not mince his words: "For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him...is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.”

Not many Christians questioned the Real Presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist until the Middle Ages. In trying to explain how bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, several theologians went astray and needed to be corrected by Church authority. Then St. Thomas Aquinas came along and offered an explanation that became classic. In all change that we observe in this life, he teaches, appearances change, but deep down, the essence of a thing stays the same. Example: if, in a fit of mid-life crisis, I traded my mini-van for a Ferrari, abandoned my wife and 5 kids to be beach bum, got tanned, bleached my hair blonde, spiked it, buffed up at the gym, and took a trip to the plastic surgeon, I’d look a lot different on the surface. But for all my trouble, deep down I’d still substantially be the same ol’ guy as when I started.

St. Thomas said the Eucharist is the one instance of change we encounter in this world that is exactly the opposite. The appearances of bread and wine stay the same, but the very essence or substance of these realities, which can’t be viewed by a microscope, is totally transformed. What was once bread and wine are now Christ’s Body and Blood. A handy word was coined to describe this unique change. Transformation of the “sub-stance”, what “stands-under” the surface, came to be called “transubstantiation.”

What makes this happen? The power of God’s Spirit and Word. After praying the epiclesis for the Spirit to come, the priest, who stands in the place of Christ, repeats the words of the God-man: “This is My Body; This is My Blood.” In Genesis 1:1 the mighty wind that is the Spirit of God whips over the surface of the water and God’s Word resounds. “Let there be light” and there was light. It is no harder to believe in the Eucharist than to believe in Creation.

But why did Jesus arrange for this transformation of bread and wine? Because He intended another kind of transformation. The bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ which are, in turn, meant to transform us. Ever hear the phrase “You are what you eat"? The Lord desires us to be transformed from a motley crew of imperfect individuals into the Body of Christ, come to full stature.

Our evangelical brethren speak often of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. But I ask you, how much more personal and intimate can you get? We receive the Lord’s Body into our physical body that we may become Him whom we receive!

Back in the days of Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi, the pope decided to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi — because such an awesome gift deserves its own feast.

Lk 9:11-17
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
11	Which when the people knew, they followed him: and he received them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and healed them who had need of healing.	quod cum cognovissent turbae secutae sunt illum et excepit illos et loquebatur illis de regno Dei et eos qui cura indigebant sanabat
12	Now the day began to decline. And the twelve came and said to him: Send away the multitude, that, going into the towns and villages round about, they may lodge and get victuals; for we are here in a desert place.	dies autem coeperat declinare et accedentes duodecim dixerunt illi dimitte turbas ut euntes in castella villasque quae circa sunt devertant et inveniant escas quia hic in loco deserto sumus
13	But he said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said: We have no more than five loaves and two fishes; unless perhaps, we should go and buy food for all this multitude.	ait autem ad illos vos date illis manducare at illi dixerunt non sunt nobis plus quam quinque panes et duo pisces nisi forte nos eamus et emamus in omnem hanc turbam escas
14	Now there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples: Make them sit down by fifties in a company.	erant autem fere viri quinque milia ait autem ad discipulos suos facite illos discumbere per convivia quinquagenos
15	And they did so and made them all sit down.	et ita fecerunt et discumbere fecerunt omnes
16	And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed them: and he broke and distributed to his disciples, to set before the multitude.	acceptis autem quinque panibus et duobus piscibus respexit in caelum et benedixit illis et fregit et distribuit discipulis suis ut ponerent ante turbas
17	And they did all eat and were filled. And there were taken up of fragments that remained to them, twelve baskets.	et manducaverunt omnes et saturati sunt et sublatum est quod superfuit illis fragmentorum cofini duodecim