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Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 05-29-05, Solemnity, Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 05-29-05 | New American Bible

Posted on 05/28/2005 2:01:25 PM PDT by Salvation

May 29, 2005
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Psalm: Sunday 25

Reading I
Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a

Moses said to the people:
"Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,
has directed all your journeying in the desert,
so as to test you by affliction
and find out whether or not it was your intention
to keep his commandments.
He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,
and then fed you with manna,
a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.

"Do not forget the LORD, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
that place of slavery;
who guided you through the vast and terrible desert
with its saraph serpents and scorpions,
its parched and waterless ground;
who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock
and fed you in the desert with manna,
a food unknown to your fathers."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

R. (12) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Cor 10:16-17

Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.


Gospel
Jn 6:51-58

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."




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21 posted on 05/28/2005 7:40:02 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
The Banquet of Corpus Christi - "Why did Jesus give us His Body and Blood?"
22 posted on 05/28/2005 7:54:13 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

We are having a diocesan-wide Mass and Procession this evening in downtown Houston with three different Benediction sites. Just hope it doesn't rain. :-)

Hope you are having a blessed Memorial Day weekend!

23 posted on 05/29/2005 6:19:02 AM PDT by padfoot_lover
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To: padfoot_lover

That sounds wonderful.


24 posted on 05/29/2005 7:01:16 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All

Sunday, May 29, 2005
(Ninth Week in Ordinary Time) The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16
Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
John 6:51-58

No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than zeal for souls.

-- St Gregory the Great


25 posted on 05/29/2005 7:03:21 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
Sunday, May 29, 2005
(Ninth Week in Ordinary Time) The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16
Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
John 6:51-58

No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than zeal for souls.

-- St Gregory the Great


26 posted on 05/29/2005 7:09:26 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Ciexyz
Catholic Culture

 
Collect:
Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

May 29, 2005 Month Year Season

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'"

Where the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is not observed as a holy day, it is assigned to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, which is then considered its proper day in the calendar.


Corpus Christi Sunday
Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ) is a Eucharistic solemnity, or better, the solemn commemoration of the institution of that sacrament. It is, moreover, the Church's official act of homage and gratitude to Christ, who by instituting the Holy Eucharist gave to the Church her greatest treasure. Holy Thursday, assuredly, marks the anniversary of the institution, but the commemoration of the Lord's passion that very night suppresses the rejoicing proper to the occasion. Today's observance, therefore, accents the joyous aspect of Holy Thursday.

The Mass and the Office for the feast was edited or composed by St. Thomas Aquinas upon the request of Pope Urban IV in the year 1264. It is unquestionably a classic piece of liturgical work, wholly in accord with the best liturgical traditions. . . It is a perfect work of art. — (Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Volume 4, by Dr. Pius Parsch)

In the words of St. Thomas:

"How inestimable a dignity, beloved brethren, divine bounty has bestowed upon us Christians from the treasury of its infinite goodness! For there neither is nor ever has been a people to whom the gods were so nigh as our Lord and God is nigh unto us."

"Desirous that we be made partakers of His divinity, the only-begotten Son of God has taken to Himself our nature so that having become man, He would be enabled to make men gods. Whatever He assumed of our nature He wrought unto our salvation. For on the altar of the Cross He immolated to the Father His own Body as victim for our reconciliation and shed His blood both for our ransom and for our regeneration. Moreover, in order that a remembrance of so great benefits may always be with us, He has left us His Body as food and His Blood as drink under appearances of bread and wine."

"O banquet most precious! O banquet most admirable! O banquet overflowing with every spiritual delicacy! Can anything be more excellent than this repast, in which not the flesh of goats and heifers, as of old, but Christ the true God is given us for nourishment ? What more wondrous than this holy sacrament! In it bread and wine are changed substantially, and under the appearance of a little bread and wine is had Christ Jesus, God and perfect Man. In this sacrament sins are purged away, virtues are increased, the soul is satiated with an abundance of every spiritual gift. No other sacrament is so beneficial. Since it was instituted unto the salvation of all, it is offered by Holy Church for the living and for the dead, that all may share in its treasures."

"My dearly beloved, is it not beyond human power to express the ineffable delicacy of this sacrament in which spiritual sweetness is tasted in its very source? in which is brought to mind the remembrance of that all-excelling charity which Christ showed in His sacred passion? Surely it was to impress more profoundly upon the hearts of the faithful the immensity of this charity that our loving Savior instituted this sacrament at the last supper when, having celebrated the Pasch with His disciples. He was about to leave the world and return to the Father. It was to serve as an unending remembrance of His passion, as the fulfillment of ancient types —this the greatest of His miracles. To those who sorrow over His departure He has given a unique solace."


Symbols: The usual symbol for the Holy Eucharist is a chalice, with a host rising out of it. The chalice is shown with a hexagonal base, as a rule, symbolizing the Six Attributes of the Deity (power, wisdom, majesty, mercy, justice and love), and with a richly wrought stem of gold, studded with precious stones. The host is shown as the typical circular wafer, upon which may be imprinted the letters I. N. R. I., from which proceed rays of light, symbolical of the Real Presence, in, with, and under the bread and wine.

An altar, upon which is set a cross, two or more candles in their tall candlesticks, a chalice and a ciborium, is another symbol often seen.

Things to Do:


27 posted on 05/29/2005 7:13:15 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
by Fr. William Saunders

Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders
Holy Sacrifice, Living Sacrament
05/28/05


My son, who made his First Holy Communion this spring, had a very upsetting experience. His friend, who attends a different parish and who also was making his First Holy Communion, said to my son, "Oh, it’s just bread and wine." My son was crushed, because he has been taught that Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Jesus. I reassured him of the truth, but am I missing something?

In This Article...
Source and Summit of the Whole Christian Life
Open Your Eyes and Recognize the Lord
No Ordinary Food and Drink

Source and Summit of the Whole Christian Life

As Catholics, we firmly believe that the Real Presence of Christ is in the Holy Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis) asserts,

The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it. For in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ Himself, our Pasch and the living bread which gives life to men through His flesh — that flesh which is given life and gives life through the Holy Spirit" (#5).
For this reason, the Council referred to the Holy Eucharist as the source and summit of the whole Christian life (Lumen Gentium, #11).

Our belief in the Holy Eucharist is rooted in Christ Himself. Recall the beautiful words of our Lord in the Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel of St. John:
I Myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world. Let Me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood real drink. The man who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the Father Who has life sent Me and I have life because of the Father, so the man who feeds on Me will have life because of Me (Jn 6:51, 53-57).
Note that none of this language is symbolic — Jesus meant what He said. Moreover, even when there was grumbling and objections, and even after some disciples abandoned our Lord because of this teaching, Jesus nowhere said, "Oh please, stop. I really meant this symbolically." Our Lord stood by His teaching.

The meaning of Bread of Life Discourse becomes clearer at the Last Supper on the first Holy Thursday. There Jesus gathered His apostles to share what was literally His last supper. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus took unleavened bread and wine — two sources of basic nourishment. He took the bread, blessed it, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to the Apostles, saying, "Take this and eat it; this is My body." He took the cup of wine, gave thanks, gave it to His Apostles and said, "All of you must drink from it for this is My blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." If we extracted the words of consecration recorded in the Last Supper accounts of the Gospels and distilled them, we would have the words of consecration used at Mass. (Cf. Mt 26:26-30; Mk 14:22-26; and Lk 22:14-20.)

Think of those words! Jesus was not just giving to the Apostles blessed bread and wine. He was giving His whole life — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He was giving His very self. How true that was! The next day, Jesus's body hung upon the altar of the Cross. His blood was spilled to wash away our sins. As priest, He offered the perfect sacrifice for the remission of sin. However, this sacrifice was not death-rendering but life-giving, for three days later our Lord rose from the dead conquering both sin and death. Yes, the perfect, everlasting covenant of life and love with God was made by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Open Your Eyes and Recognize the Lord

This whole mystery is preserved in the Most Holy Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Mass. We too take unleavened bread and wine, two sources of nourishment. By the will of the Father, the work of the Holy Spirit, and priesthood of Jesus entrusted to His ordained priests, and through the words of consecration, that bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Yes, the bread and wine do not change in characteristics — they still look the same, taste and smell the same, and hold the same shape. However, the reality, "the what it is," the substance, does change. We do not receive bread and wine; we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We call this "change of substance" transubstantiation, a term used at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and asserted again by our Holy Father in Ecclesia de Eucharistia (#15). Therefore, each time we celebrate Mass, we are plunged into the whole everpresent, everlasting mystery of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, and share intimately in life of our Lord through Holy Eucharist.

In Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul highlighted these very points:

At every celebration of the Eucharist, we are spiritually brought back to the paschal Triduum: to the events of the evening of Holy Thursday, to the Last Supper, and to what followed it. The institution of the Eucharist sacramentally anticipated the events which were about to take place, beginning with the agony in Gethsemane (#3).
Moreover, in and through the Holy Eucharist, our late Holy Father taught that we can contemplate the face of Christ because He is truly present:
To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize Him wherever He manifests Himself, in His many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of His Body and Blood. The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by Him she is fed and by Him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a "mystery of light." Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: "their eyes were opened and they recognized Him" (#6).
The Catholic Church has always cherished this treasure. St. Paul wrote,
I received from the Lord what I handed on to you, namely, that 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. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper, He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." Every time then you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes! (I Cor 11:23-26).

No Ordinary Food and Drink

During the days of Roman persecution, to clearly distinguish the Eucharist from the cultic rite of Mithra and to dispel Roman charges of cannibalism, St. Justin Martyr (d. 165) wrote in his First Apology,

We do not consume the Eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Savior became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilate of its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of His own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.
Later, the Council of Trent in 1551 addressed the heretical views of the Reformers. Remember Zwingli and Calvin believed that Christ was present only "in sign"; Luther believed in consubstantiation whereby the Eucharist is both body and blood, and bread and wine; and Melancthon believed that the Eucharist reverts back to just bread and wine after Communion.

Trent's Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist specified,
In the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, after the consecration of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly, really, and substantially contained under the appearances of those perceptible realities. For there is no contradiction in the fact that our Savior always sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven according to His natural way of existing and that, nevertheless, in His substance He is sacramentally present to us in many other places.
Therefore, no faithful, knowledgeable Catholic would say that the Holy Eucharist is just bread and wine or even just symbolizes the Body and Blood of Christ. Yes, we pray for grace that we may believe more strongly each day in this precious gift of Christ Himself. Perhaps we should dwell on the words of Thomas Aquinas in Adoro Te Devote,
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore;
masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more.
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart:
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.


Fr. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls and a professor of catechetics and theology at Notre Dame Graduate School in Alexandria. If you enjoy reading Fr. Saunders' work, his new book entitled Straight Answers (400 pages) is available at the Pauline Book and Media Center of Arlington, Virginia (703/549-3806).

(This article courtesy of the
Arlington Catholic Herald.)



28 posted on 05/29/2005 7:16:46 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation
Homily of the Day


Homily of the Day

Title:   "I'll Always Be Here for You"
Author:   Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:   Sunday, May 29, 2005
 


Jn 6:51-58

A man was walking down the street when he passed a house and saw a child on the porch, stretching to reach the doorbell. No matter how hard the little fellow tried, he couldn't reach that bell. So the man called out, "Hey, there, let me give you a hand." And he came up on the porch and rang the bell.

"Thanks, mister," said the tyke with a huge smile. "Now, let's run.."

Running away is a temptation that comes to us all. Sometimes, just for a moment, even the bravest of us would like to run away as hard and fast as we can because life seems just too much: work, family, friends, tests, contracts, TV, our own selves. Some days all of them or any one of them can make us want to run far and fast and let someone else clean up the mess. "Forget love and duty. I don't care what happens, just get me out of here!"

We've all thought it or said it, and sometimes we've done it. The temptation to run is real, and because it is real, it gives birth to a powerful kind of fear, the fear of being abandoned and left all alone.

We know only too well our own temptation to run, so it's only a short hop to the other side of the equation. What if everybody gets fed up with me, and runs away and leaves me all alone? What if God finally gets fed up with me, and leaves me all alone forever and ever? What if...?

The eucharist is the Lord's answer to that terrifying "what if." In giving us his own body and blood to be eaten as often as we need it, Jesus is saying, "I'll always be here for you, and I'll never run away. Whenever you come to me, I'll nourish your spirit. I'll make you strong when you're weak. I'll be medicine for your heart, and I'll heal you on the inside when you've been wounded there."

That's the promise Jesus made when he first gave us his body and blood, and it's the promise he renews every time we receive the eucharist.

And what does he ask in return? Only that we not run away, not run away from our commitments or our challenges, not run away from ourselves or our need to change, and most especially, that we not run away from those who need us.

At the moment of communion, as the host is held up before us and the priest speaks aloud, "The Body of Christ," the Lord whispers to our hearts: "I'll always be here and always be enough for you. So promise me you'll never run away."

And we answer, "Amen. Yes, Lord. I know you are here; and you will always be enough for me. I promise I'll never run away. Amen, Lord. Amen."

29 posted on 05/29/2005 4:15:08 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
 
 
 

Sunday May 29, 2005   Corpus Christi

Reading I (Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a)  

Reading II (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Gospel (St. John 6:51-58)

 Today we celebrate one of the most important of all of the feasts in the Church’s year. It is the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ truly present among us in the Holy Eucharist. The importance of this feast is evident just from what it is, but it is far more important today than it ever has been because the belief of Catholics in the Real Presence of Jesus is at perhaps its lowest point ever in the Church’s history, at least among Catholics in America. We live in a scientific society, and we think that we have to be able to gauge everything in some sort of scientific way. If we cannot see it, hear it, taste it, touch it, if we cannot gauge it with some sort of computer accuracy then we are not going to believe that it is real. 

When we look at what Moses told the people about what God had done thirty-five hundred years ago out in the desert, he tells them that God put them out there to test them, to test them by affliction. The only thing that is being afflicted with the Eucharist is our senses, and it is because they cannot grasp the reality of what is there. So God is not testing us now with affliction; He is testing us with faith. He is asking us to believe in something we cannot see or touch or taste or smell or hear. Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, but we cannot sense Him there. God is testing us to see if we are going to remain faithful, just like the people of old. Moses told them that God tested them with affliction in order to see that it was their intention to keep the commandments. Well, God is testing us now with faith to see if it is our intention to really, truly believe what it is that He has said. 

There are lots of things we can talk about with the Eucharist. We can look at the second reading today from 1 Corinthians, where Saint Paul says, Is not the cup that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? We can look at what Our Lord says in the Gospel when He tells us, Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He goes on to say that His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink, and that anyone who eats the bread that He will give – which is His flesh for the life of the world – will have life eternal. We could talk all about how it is not an accidental change (that means that after the consecration the Eucharist still looks like a piece of bread and tastes like a piece of bread, still looks like wine and tastes like wine, but the reality has changed). We all know the teaching of transubstantiation to describe what happens in the Eucharist, how the substance (which is the underlying substructure that makes a thing what it is) has changed, so that which makes bread what it is has changed into that which makes Jesus Christ Who He is. It is not an exterior change, thanks be to God; otherwise, we would be cannibals, if that were the case. It is, however, a real change that takes place.  

In the Eucharist, the fullness of the Person of Jesus Christ is there. When you receive a host, you do not receive a “piece” of Jesus. The Real Presence means “the Body, the Blood, the Soul, and the Divinity of Christ.” The Body, the Blood, and the Soul are His humanity, just like ours. His divinity is exactly what it says: His Divine Nature, the fullness of His Divine Person. And because it is a substantial presence of Our Lord, if you break the host in half, you do not receive less of Jesus. If you were to receive a hundred hosts, you would not receive more of Jesus. In each host is the fullness of Christ. If you break the host, even though there is less of the physical matter, the substantial reality remains the same now in both halves. There is not less of Jesus that is there. 

We can talk about all these things, and they are all true. You can look at that beautiful sequence that we all just read aloud, the Lauda Sion, and all of those points Saint Thomas Aquinas makes regarding the Eucharist. They are all true. You can read all about the Eucharist in the Catechism, and it is all true. Still, we can walk away and say, “But I don’t believe.” The most brilliant theologian in the world who could explain the Eucharist better than everyone, if he does not have faith, what good is it? To know all of the teachings and not believe does not do a thing for us. God is testing us, not on the knowledge in our heads, but on the faith within our hearts. He is asking us now in this age where we think we have to be able to prove everything scientifically (which is totally foolish, anyway) to go beyond the senses, to go beyond any kind of objective test or proof that we can look at because we cannot.  

Oh, sure, we can look at things and say, “Well, there are a couple of occasions in history where in fact there have been external changes in the Eucharist, where the piece of bread actually has become a piece of human flesh,” and we can talk all about the scientific elements of it. We can talk all about the many, many, many times that the host has begun to bleed and has sometimes saturated the altar cloth with human blood. You can ask yourself, “When was the last time you bit into a sandwich and it began to bleed?” Bread does not bleed. But that is not going to make us believe either.  

All of the Eucharistic miracles are not the reason why we believe. We believe because Jesus Christ is God, and because He spoke the words. He is the One Who has told us that this is what we have to do. We believe because it is the gift of Jesus Christ, and that is something that must be in our hearts, not in our heads. The old saying is Fides quarens intellectus, which is “Faith seeking understanding,” not “Understanding seeking faith.” We do not understand first and then come to believe. The other old saying is For those with faith, no proof is necessary; and for those without faith, no proof will ever be sufficient. You can have all the intellectual knowledge about the Eucharist that you want and still not believe because your head is not going to tell you what is there – only your heart can. 

So my challenge to you today, and for every single day when you receive Holy Communion, is to go back to your pew, kneel down, and close your eyes. Do not look at the people receiving Communion; they are not God. You have Jesus right inside of you; look at Him. You cannot look at Him with your eyes. The ears of the body cannot hear Him. Your fingers cannot touch Him. But the eyes of your soul can see Him. The ears of our soul can hear Him. Your heart can touch Him. We need to go beyond our senses and we need to be able to look with our soul. It is there in the depths of our being, where we can close everything else out and unite ourselves with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that the real proof for the truth of Jesus truly present in the Eucharist is demonstrated. And the greatest miracle, the greatest proof of all, is the change that happens in our lives. Once again, all you have to do is look at all the bread you have eaten over the course of your life. I can guarantee you that there is not one single piece of bread that has made a change in your life. It cannot. But the Bread of Life is different. All we need to do is look at the countless saints throughout history. Look at friends and family members and our own selves, and see that we have been touched, we have been changed, because that is no longer a piece of bread – it is the reality of Jesus Christ. 

If we want to look at the Church’s faith in the Eucharist, all we need to do is ponder the reality that if that piece of bread which is sitting upon the paten right now is not changed into Jesus Christ then each and every one of us is going to be condemned for eternity because we are guilty of idol worship. We kneel and pray to Jesus truly present in the Eucharist, and if we are kneeling and praying to a piece of bread then we have all violated the First Commandment and for two thousand years the Church has been in violation of the First Commandment, if that would be the case. And truly it is not, because the reality is that at the moment of consecration and from that point forward Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.  

If we have failed to recognize Him there, it is only because we are trying to understand with our minds or we are trying to grasp with our senses. In the Eucharist, neither one will be sufficient. We have to be able to understand and grasp Him with our hearts because it is in the heart that He gives Himself to us. It is heart speaking to heart, not mind to mind, or mouth to ear. It is heart to heart. If we recognize Jesus in our hearts, if we are willing to unite ourselves with Him in our hearts, then our lives will change. If we walk away from Mass week after week wondering how it is that our lives are not changed if this is God truly present in the Eucharist, do not blame the Eucharist. If my life has not changed, it is my fault, not the fault of Jesus. He is there in the Eucharist in a passive manner. Therefore, I have to open my heart. I have to be willing to listen to His voice speaking in the silence of my heart. I have to be willing to be obedient to Him, Who is calling me to Himself. If I refuse to do those things, that is not His fault. He is there truly present whether I am willing to accept it or not. He is there in my heart when I receive Him in Holy Communion whether I am willing to unite myself to Him or not. He is calling me to deeper holiness whether I am willing to do it or not. There is nothing lacking on His part because absolutely everything is given, the fullness of His Person. What more could we ask? 

Some twenty-five or twenty-seven hundred years ago now, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, and He said to Ahaz, who was a faithless and horrible king in Israel: Ask for a sign. Make it as high as the sky or as deep as the netherworld; ask anything that you want of God. If God came to us and said the same thing, which one of us would ever, ever say, “I want You to humble Yourself so that I can receive You into my own self in the form of a piece of bread”? It would be beyond our wildest imagination, and none of us would ever even dare to suggest that God should lower Himself and humble Himself to that extent. And because we would never even ask, God, Who is more generous than we could ever even ask Him to be, has done exactly that. He has given Himself to us in the form of a piece of bread. He Who is almighty is there in a passive form waiting now for us to accept the gift that He has given, the greatest gift that humanity could ever be given in this world because it is the gift of God Himself.  

Rather than showing Himself through extraordinary signs and wonders, He is asking us for faith. He has put us into this desert of a world and He is afflicting our senses by asking us to go beyond what is external, beyond what is sensible, and asking for an act of faith. Only when that act of faith is given will the fullness of understanding follow. And when that act of faith is made, then the greatest Eucharistic miracle of all will happen: Our lives will be changed and we will become holy. That is what the Lord is looking for. He is there ready and willing to do all these things in us. Now all that He is asking of us is that we would do what is necessary. We have to be the ones who are active and make an act of faith. 

Today Jesus looks at each one of us just as He looked at Thomas, His apostle, two thousand years ago. From the Blessed Sacrament right there in front of us and in the words that He will speak in our hearts in just a few minutes when we receive Him, as He spoke two thousand years ago, so He tells us the same today: Doubt no longer but believe. 

*  This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.


30 posted on 05/29/2005 8:26:02 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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**If we have failed to recognize Him there, it is only because we are trying to understand with our minds or we are trying to grasp with our senses. In the Eucharist, neither one will be sufficient. We have to be able to understand and grasp Him with our hearts because it is in the heart that He gives Himself to us. It is heart speaking to heart, not mind to mind, or mouth to ear. It is heart to heart. If we recognize Jesus in our hearts, if we are willing to unite ourselves with Him in our hearts, then our lives will change.**

This has certainly happened with me. I have a friend who does not understand my understanding. I think I will use this reasoning with her.


31 posted on 05/29/2005 8:37:49 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
The Word Among Us


Sunday, May 29, 2005

Meditation
John 6:51-58



It is an awesome thing to reflect on the power and intimacy available to us in the Eucharist. The mere thought that eating and drinking in faith enables us to abide in Christ should be enough to leave us speechless. Let’s listen to Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the papal household, as he explains abiding in the Lord:

“An atheist philosopher once said: ‘Man is what he eats,’ meaning that everything in us is reduced to the organic and material components of the human body. Once again, without knowing it, an atheist has expressed the Christian mystery in the best way. Because of the Eucharist, a Christian is truly what he eats.

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). In biblical language, the words “body” and “blood” indicate Jesus’ entire life—or better still, his life and death—not just different dimensions of who he is. This truth can lead us to a life-changing conclusion: There is no moment or experience in Jesus’ life that we cannot relive and share in communion. In fact, his whole life is present to us every time we receive his body and blood. And that is how we become what we eat.

Isn’t that astounding? At every Mass, Jesus gives himself to us completely. As we stay close to him, our lives become so entwined with Jesus’ that his thoughts, his desires, and his attitudes become ours. Ultimately, abiding in Christ means becoming the very one we receive. At Mass and in prayer today, dwell on these truths. Let them sink into your heart. And even more importantly, let the Holy Spirit fill you with a deeper desire to be in complete communion with Jesus.

“Jesus, how awesome you are! You who became flesh for us that we might receive you, abide in you, and be transformed by your whole life.”

Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16; Psalm 147:12-15,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17



32 posted on 05/29/2005 8:53:26 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Sunday, May 29, 2005 >> Body and Blood of Jesus
 
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Psalm 147
John 6:51-58
View Readings
 
FAITH AND CONSEQUENCES
 
“He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has life eternal and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood real drink. The man who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.” —John 6:54-56
 

When we receive Holy Communion and when we celebrate this solemn feast of Corpus Christi, we are making a great act of faith. (St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that faith in the body and blood of Jesus is the greatest act of faith.) Today we publicly profess our faith that:

  • what appears mere bread and wine is really the body and blood of Jesus, because He said so,
  • the Bible as given and interpreted by the Church is true and authoritative,
  • the Church is “the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Tm 3:15), including the awesome truth of the Eucharist,
  • we are in a communion of blood brotherhood and sisterhood with all who receive Holy Communion worthily (see 1 Cor 10:17),
  • we should view all other people as called to be in eucharistic communion with us, and
  • Communion is therefore the essence and center of our lives.

To have faith in the revelation that we can and must receive the body and blood of God dramatically reconfigures our lives in every detail. On this feast of Corpus Christi, accept God’s grace to make an act of eucharistic faith that is greater than ever before and most pleasing to the Lord.

 
Prayer: Father, make my whole life revolve around preparing for Mass, praying the Mass, or living the Mass.
Promise: “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.” —Dt 8:3
Praise: “O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.”
 

33 posted on 05/29/2005 9:02:08 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All

Code: ZE05052704

Date: 2005-05-27

Father Cantalamessa on the Many Dimensions of Communion

A Eucharistic Reflection by Pontifical Household Preacher

ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In his commentary on this Sunday's readings, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the Pontifical Household, talks about the Eucharist as a mystery of communion.

* * *

John (6:51-58)

The Cup and the Bread of Life

The feast of Corpus Domini assumes an altogether special significance in the Year of the Eucharist. One of the fruits that Pope John Paul II (it is still difficult to believe that he is not among us) expected from this year was "to revive Eucharistic wonder in Christians," namely, wonder before the "divine enormity" (Paul Claudel) that is the Eucharist.

In the second reading of today's feast, St. Paul writes: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" The Eucharist is therefore fundamentally a mystery of communion. We know different types of communion.

One, very intimate, is that between us and the food we eat, because it becomes flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. I have heard mothers say to their children, when they hug them in their arms and kiss them: "I love you so much that I could eat you!" It is true that food is not a living and intelligent person with whom we can exchange thoughts and affection, but let us suppose for a moment that the food is the living and intelligent one himself, would we not then finally have the perfect communion?

This is precisely what happens in Eucharistic communion. In the Gospel passage Jesus says: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. ... My flesh is real food. ... He who eats my flesh has eternal life." Here, food is not a thing, but a living person. We have the most profound, though also the most mysterious, of communions.

Let us look at what happens in nature in the realm of nutrition. It is the strongest vital principle which assimilates the less strong. It is the vegetable that assimilates the mineral, the animal that assimilates the vegetable. This law is also verified in the relations between man and Christ. It is Christ who assimilates us to himself; we are transformed into him, not he into us. A famous atheist materialist said: "Man is what he eats." Unwittingly, he gave the best definition of the Eucharist. Thanks to it, man truly becomes what he eats, namely, the body of Christ!

After St. Paul's initial text we then read: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." It is clear that in this second case the word "body" no longer indicates the body of Christ born of Mary, but "all of us," it indicates that greater body of Christ which is the Church. This means that Eucharistic communion is always also communion among ourselves. All of us eating from the one food, form only one body.

What is the consequence? That we cannot have true communion with Christ if we are divided among ourselves, if we hate one another, and are not disposed to reconcile with each other. "If you have offended a brother," St. Augustine said, "if you have committed an injustice against him, and then you go to receive Communion as though nothing had happened, perhaps full of fervor, you are like someone who sees a friend arrive whom he has not seen for a long time. He runs to meet him, throws his arms around his neck, and stands on tiptoe to kiss his forehead. ... But, while doing this, he does not realize he is stepping on his friend's feet with shoes of nails. Our brothers, in fact, especially the most poor and abandoned, are Christ's members, they are his feet still resting on earth."

When giving us the host, the priest says: "The body of Christ," and we respond: "Amen!" Now we know to whom we say "Amen" -- that is, "Yes, I receive you" -- not just Jesus, the Son of God, but also the one who is next to us.

[Italian original published in Famiglia Cristiana; translation by ZENIT]


34 posted on 05/29/2005 9:06:27 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation
Jn 6:51-58
# Douay-Rheims Vulgate
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. ego sum panis vivus qui de caelo descendi
52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane vivet in aeternum et panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita
53 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? litigabant ergo Iudaei ad invicem dicentes quomodo potest hic nobis carnem suam dare ad manducandum
54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. dixit ergo eis Iesus amen amen dico vobis nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis et biberitis eius sanguinem non habetis vitam in vobis
55 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem habet vitam aeternam et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die
56 For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. caro enim mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus
57 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him. qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem in me manet et ego in illo
58 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. sicut misit me vivens Pater et ego vivo propter Patrem et qui manducat me et ipse vivet propter me

35 posted on 05/29/2005 11:10:04 PM PDT by annalex
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To: annalex

The Gathering of the Manna

Dieric Bouts the Elder
1464-67
Oil on wood
Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven


36 posted on 05/29/2005 11:12:33 PM PDT by annalex
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To: annalex
The Body of Christ?

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Other Articles by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.
The Body of Christ?
05/30/05


The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the wafer and the wine really become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever met anyone who finds this 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, the response was less than enthusiastic. “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" (V 52). “This is a hard saying who can listen to it?” (V60). In fact so many of His disciples abandoned Him that Jesus asked the Twelve if they also planned to quit. Note that Jesus did not run after the deserters saying, “Come back! — I was just speaking metaphorically!”

It’s intriguing that one charge the pagan Romans lodged against Christians was that of cannibalism. Why? They heard that this sect met weekly to eat flesh and drink human blood. Did the early Christians say: “Wait a minute, it’s only a symbol!”? Not at all. When explaining the Eucharist to the Emperor around 155AD, St. Justin 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 till the Middle Ages did theologians really try to explain how Christ’s Body and Blood became present in the Eucharist. After a few theologians got it wrong, St. Thomas Aquinas came along and offered an explanation that became classic. In all change that we normally observe, 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 kids to be a tanned beach bum, bleached and spiked my hair, buffed up at the gym, and took a trip to the plastic surgeon, I’d look a lot different. But for all my trouble, deep down I’d still substantially be the same confused, middle-aged dude as when I started.

St. Thomas said the Eucharist is the one change we encounter that is exactly the opposite. The appearances of bread and wine stay the same, but the very essence of these realities, which can’t be viewed by a microscope, is totally transformed. What starts as bread and wine becomes 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 Spirit and the Word. After praying for the Holy Spirit to come (epiklesis), the priest, who stands in the place of Christ, repeats the words of the God-man: “This is my Body; This is my Blood.” Sounds like Genesis 1 to me: the mighty wind (read “Spirit”) 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 than the Eucharist can you get? We receive the Lord’s Body into our physical body that we may become Him Whom we receive!

Such an awesome gift deserves its own feast. And that’s why, back in the days of Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi, the pope decided to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi.


Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs
www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.

(This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)


37 posted on 05/30/2005 5:22:36 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation; All



Dear Salvation and All,


This awesome Homily on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by our Beloeved Father Robert J. Altier will always be a definite and awesome reminder of his great love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as well as a keepsake for me.

This Thread on Corpus Christi Sunday 2005 will always be cherished by me.


38 posted on 03/09/2006 11:51:59 AM PST by MILESJESU (Father Robert Altier's Homilies Rock. He was and is a Man of God and a True Soldier of Jesus Christ)
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