Posted on 08/06/2007 3:48:14 PM PDT by NYer
"I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world."
"The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"
"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. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise Him up in the last day."
"For My flesh is meat indeed: and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. 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. This is the bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live forever. These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum." (John 6:48-60)
Lesson 22 of 43.
Lesson 22 of 43.
Hahn begins by describing the first mass he ever attended.
"There I stood, a man incognito, a Protestant minister in plainclothes, slipping into the back of a Catholic chapel in Milwaukee to witness my first Mass. Curiosity had driven me there, and I still didn't feel sure that it was healthy curiosity. Studying the writings of the earliest Christians, I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible - the book I loved above all - was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass."
"I wanted to understand the early Christians; yet I'd had no experience of liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise, but vowing all along that I would neither kneel nor take part in idolatry."
I took my seat in the shadows, in a pew at the very back of that basement chapel. Before me were a goodly number of worshipers, men and women of all ages. Their genuflections impressed me, as did their apparent concentration in prayer. Then a bell rang, and they all stood as the priest emerged from a door beside the altar.
Unsure of myself, I remained seated. For years, as an evangelical Calvinist, I'd been trained to believe that the Mass was the ultimate sacrilege a human could commit. The Mass, I had been taught, was a ritual that purported to "resacrifice Jesus Christ." So I would remain an observer. I would stay seated, with my Bible open beside me.
As the Mass moved on, however, something hit me. My Bible wasn't just beside me. It was before me - in the words of the Mass! One line was from Isaiah, another from Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. I wanted to stop everything and shout, "Hey, can I explain what's happening from Scripture? This is great!" Still, I maintained my observer status. I remained on the sidelines until I heard the priest pronounce the words of consecration: "This is My body . . . This is the cup of My blood."
Then I felt all my doubt drain away. As I saw the priest raise that white host, I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That's really you!"
I was what you might call a basket case from that point. I couldn't imagine a greater excitement than what those words had worked upon me. Yet the experience was intensified just a moment later, when I heard the congregation recite: "Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God," and the priest respond, "This is the Lamb of God . . ." as he raised the host. In less than a minute, the phrase "Lamb of God" had rung out four times. From long years of studying the Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Book of Revelation, where Jesus is called the Lamb no less than twenty-eight times in twenty-two chapters. I was at the marriage feast that John describes at the end of that very last book of the Bible. I was before the throne of heaven, where Jesus is hailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn't ready for this, though - I was at Mass!
Great to quote Scott Hahn on this.
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 6: Angels and Devils
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 7: Human Beings and the Purpose of Life
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 8: Sanctifying Grace
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 9: Heaven
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 10: Mortal and Venial Sin
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 11: Hell
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 12: Purgatory
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 13: Original Sin
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 14: Jesus Christ, Our Savior
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 15: Jesus Christ, True God and True Man
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 16: The Catholic Church is the Only True Church
A Brieft Catechism for Adults - Lesson 17: Qualities of the Catholic Church
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 18: The Pope, the Vicar of Christ
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 19: The Seven Sacraments
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 20: The Sacrament of Baptism
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 21: The Sacrament of Confirmation
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 22: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion)
Bread -- Big B or Little b? [The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist]
The Eucharist: The Sacred Adventure of Life
Early Christians on the Holy Eucharist
Holy Father stresses Need of Devotion to Holy Eucharist outside of Mass: Pope Paul VI
The Fourth Cup: The Sacrament of the Eucharist [Holy Thursday] [Passover]
The Holy Face of Jesus Christ as appeared on the Holy Eucharist
The Reverence due to the Holy Eucharist
New rules on the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday
Devotion to the Holy Eucharist Advances Devotion to Jesus' Person
Vatican: Matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist (April 23, 2004)
CATHOLICS AND BAPTISTS WITNESSED UNUSUAL IMAGES IN BLESSED SACRAMENT
The Discipline of the Eucharist Holy See Releases Redemptionis Sacramentum...
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
THE HOLY EUCHARIST: NOURISHMENT TO FINISH OUR COURSE
LITANY OF REPARATION TO OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
The Disposition of Priests [Valid Mass, Valid Holy Eucharist?]
Grace of the Eucharist is secret to holy priests, says Pope
Area worshipers march to celebrate Holy Eucharist
Custody of Holy Land Concludes Year of Eucharist - In Capernaum, Site of a Key Discourse
Gift Of Life, Gift Eternal: The Most Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
THE HOLY EUCHARIST IS THE WHOLE CHRIST
The Catholic Doctrine of the Real PresenceCatholic Caucus)
This is My Body, This is My Blood
Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament
A series of reflections from St. Peter Julian Eymard Blessed Sacrament(Catholic Caucus)
The Traditional Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Catholic Caucus)
Devotion to the Precious Blood
DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And More on the Precious Blood
Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ
NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST
FORMER PENTECOSTAL RELATES MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
St.Gaspar:Founder of the Society of the Precious Blood[AKA The Hammer of Freemasons]
Since this is an older catechism, there are some things that are out of step with current practice. One example is this question and answer: “How often does a good Catholic receive Communion? A good Catholic receives Communion every Sunday, or every day, if possible, but only once on the same day.” The Church now allows a person to receive a second time each day, provided that the second reception is in the context of attending a whole Mass. Thus, it is possible for a person to receive the first time in a day while passing through a church, and a second time while attending a Mass. The only exception to not receiving more than twice in the same day is when a dying person receives Viaticum.
I love the directness of that answer. It's something "we" tend to forget, in "our" modern sophistication.
Much like the skeptics who disbelieve in Mary's perpetual virginity. God who created the Universe and us from scratch, can do anything.
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