"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."Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!Thank you
Most interesting, the people you meet and the things you can learn here while taking a break from lawn mowing.
From the Lauda Sion sequence:
Dogma datur Christianis,
quod in carnem transit panis,
et vinum in sanguinem.
Quod no capis, quod non vides,
animosa firmat fides,
praeter rerum ordinem.
(This is a dogma given
to Christians that bread is
changed into Jesus' flesh,
and wine into his blood.
What you do not understand,
what you do not see, a lively
faith confirms in a super-
natural manner.)
Sub diversis speciebus,
signis tantum, et non rebus,
latent res eximiae.
Caro cibus, sanguis potus:
manet tamen Christus totus
sub utraque specie.
(Under different species,
which are but signs, not
real things, a priceless
treasure lies hidden.
His flesh is food, his blood
is drink: yet Christ remains
entire under each species.)
A sumente non concisus,
non confractus, non divisus,
integer accipitur.
Sumit unus, sumunt mille,
quantum isti, tantum ille,
nec sumptus consumitur.
(He who partakes of him
neither severs, nor breaks, nor
divides him; he receives him
entire.
Whether one or a thousand
receive him, one receives as
much as a thousand do: and when
received he is not diminished.)
Sumunt boni, sumunt mali:
sorte tamen inaequali,
vitae, vel interitus.
Mors est malis, vita bonis:
vide paris sumptionis
quam sit dispar exitus.
(Both the good and the wicked
receive him: but with the unequal
result of life or death.
He brings death to the unworthy,
and life to the just: see how unlike
are the effects of a like communion.)
Fracto demum sacrmento
ne vacilles, sed memento
tantum esse sub fragmento
quantum toto tegitur.
Nulla rei fit scissura:
signi tantum fit fractura,
qua nec status nec statura
signati minuitur.
(Then indeed when the bread is
broken, doubt not, but remember that
there is as much in one fragment
as lies hidden in the whole.
There is no division of the substance
itself, but only a breaking of the
species, by which neither the state
nor the size of the substance signified is altered.)
whole piece here: http://www.sjbrcc.org/praise.html