Posted on 04/17/2015 11:56:11 PM PDT by Steelfish
EWTN Video Former Lutheran Minister Discusses Her Conversion Mon. Apr. 20 at 8:00 PM ET
Tue. Apr. 21 at 1:00 AM ET
Fri. Apr. 24 at 1:00 PM ET
JAMIE AND JACK MCALEER Former Lutheran Jamie McAleer explains what made her seek out the Catholic Church, while Jack McAleer discusses what called him back. Hosted by Marcus Grodi.
(Excerpt) Read more at ewtn.com ...
The Journey Home is wonderful. Very inspiring.
The guests who share their stories and graciously open their hearts to us come from all walks of life.
The theological discussions get me thinking, giving me a new perspective on my own beliefs.
The shows provide interesting historical and sociological insights, too.
I especially like hearing the stories of guests from other countries.
Christians refer to Heaven as home. That’s where our desire is.
Question, is how does one get there?
Without belief in the Eucharist, everything else is pure vapidity.
A teaching of the Catholic Church which is absolutely fundamental and central to the life of the individual and the Christian community is that of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. And as with many of the things which are defined formally by Tradition, there is also Scriptural support, such as we have in the Gospel of St. John: 6:47
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 6:48 I am the bread of life. 6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 6:50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.”
6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus now doubles-down and does not try to correct his literal meaning.
6:53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 6:54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Now these words of Jesus which were spoken in the course of his ministry anticipate the institution of the Eucharist in the context of the final Passover Supper which Jesus shared with His apostles. And the Church, from the very beginning, has continued to repeat the words of consecration spoken by our Lord at that supper with the firm conviction that Christ is truly present in some manner in the consecrated Bread and Wine, now Body and Blood.
A sign of the reality of Presence of Christ in the Eucharist may be seen in what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in which he not only repeated the words and actions of the Last Supper but notes the punishment upon those who unworthily receive the Holy Eucharist:
11:23 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, 11:24 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.” 11:25 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.” 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 11:27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 11:28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 11:29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
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