Eucharist

Read more about the article Our Father Who Art in Heaven

Our Father Who Art in Heaven

Over the years several Protestant friends have inquired about why Catholics have the body of Christ on the cross in our churches.  Our Protestant brothers and sisters display an empty cross in their churches because Christ resurrected from the dead.  For Catholics though, the cross means nothing without the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  The crucifix (Christ’s body on the cross) is central to our faith because His death saved us from our sins.  The shape of the church itself is a crucifix with the altar and tabernacle containing Christ at the head, and we the faithful sitting in the body. This is the simple answer, but it goes much deeper than this.

Jesus did not only die for our sins so that we could go to Heaven, He left us the gift of the Eucharist so that we could become one with Him and thus become adopted children of God.  We the created become members of His uncreated family. At any Catholic church we are home. All Latin rite churches throughout the world have the same readings and the same prayers each day.  No matter where we are, we can walk into a Catholic church and pray the Mass without knowing the language.  This is the unity of one family.  It reflects the unity of the Trinity as one family. After the Our Father, we exchange the Sign of Peace with our brethren signifying that we forgive one another, which is another sign of unity, before turning to the altar and asking Jesus to forgive us for our own sins in the Lamb of God prayer. In presenting ourselves for Holy Communion we communicate our oneness in belief. When we partake of the Eucharist — the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus — we all become one with one another just as all the branches are part of the same vine.  In the Eucharist, we receive the crucified and risen Christ and become one with Him, receiving a share in His inheritance as sons and daughters of God.

Jesus alludes to this plan when He teaches the disciples to pray “Our Father Who art in Heaven” and when He reveals how this becomes possible in John chapter 6, known as the Bread of Life discourse:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in Me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from Heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn 6:53-58)

His teaching become clear at the Last Supper when He says, “This is My body…This is My blood.”  At the Consecration during the Mass, the priest prays His words from Scripture: “This is My Body which will be given up for you” and “This is the chalice of My Blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”  When Jesus took human form to fulfill the covenant between God and Man which will stand forever, He did not separate Himself from His divinity. Instead, He humbled Himself to share in our humanity, and He elevated us to share in His divinity.

In the Catholic Mass, which is offered every hour of every day somewhere in the world, Christ’s sacrifice is re-presented in a non-bloody manner.  The priest, who through the sacrament of Holy Orders is in persona Christi1, presents Christ’s sacrifice to the Father on behalf of the whole world.  It is this continual offering of Himself to the Father that brings us the Mercy that sustains our sinful world. After transubstantiation2 the priest stretches out his arms in prayer, in the same position Christ stretched out His arms on the cross, and offers the prayer Jesus taught us calling God “Our Father.”  He stands in persona Christi, arms outstretched, acting as mediator for all of us.  

If the resurrection had not occurred, our faith would be meaningless. As Catholics it is vital for us to attend the sacrifice of the Mass every Sunday because every Sunday is a celebration of His Resurrection. We come together to strengthen our faith and partake in our Eucharistic Lord now for the nourishment of our souls and also that we may be resurrected on the last day, when we will receive glorified bodies just as Christ’s body is glorified.

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #1548.

[2] CCC, #1376.

Continue ReadingOur Father Who Art in Heaven
Read more about the article And The Word Was Made Flesh

And The Word Was Made Flesh

In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through Him. What has come into being in Him was life, life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it. The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; He was coming into the world. He was in the world that had come into being through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.  But to those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in His name who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God Himself. The Word became flesh, He lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory that He has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:1-5, 9-10, 12-14)

The daily reading for New Year’s Eve is the Gospel of John Chapter 1, which precedes the Feast Day of Mary, Mother of God and the infancy narrative from the Gospel of Luke in which the angels announce the Savior to the shepherds.  Encountering these two readings back to back reveals the sublime truths that John conveys.

Everything was created through The Word, Jesus.  God the Father, Creator, created through the spoken word which is Christ Himself and life was given to creation through the Holy Spirit.  When we read scripture aloud at Mass, we are encountering Jesus as The Word.  When we truly understand that we are not merely reading a book but are meeting with The Lord, our attention shifts and our hearts open to receive Him.  At every Mass, we can be like the shepherds who sought Him in Bethlehem.  Our longing to receive Him is a gift from The Father to prepare our hearts to receive His Son.  We can take hold of the words of scripture and plant them firmly in our hearts to become God’s own children, and share in the inheritance of His Only Begotten Son.  The Word is how Moses, David, the Prophets, and holy men and women in the Old Testament encountered Our Lord.

Even greater blessings come to us because The Word was made flesh. Gabriel the Archangel came and greeted Mary with “Hail, full of grace.” Mary, through Her life of continual prayer, had built a cathedral in Her heart, a cathedral so beautiful that God Himself chose to live there.  Gabriel greets Her as his queen and Mary is so humble that She only asks how God wishes Her to serve Him.

Jesus came to dwell among us as one of us, not by coming in majesty, but by becoming a baby born of a woman and into a family.  He chose to subject Himself to the commandment “Honor thy father and thy mother” because the family is God’s gift to us; it is His plan that parents offer their time and labor for bringing up souls that honor God, and that children honor their parents for these sacrifices.  God gives women the supreme gift of being companions with Him on the intimate journey of the creation and nurturing of human life.  Jesus chose to create His own mother, save Her from the stain of sin at Her Immaculate Conception, and then asked Her if She would be willing to become His mother.  This demonstrates the humility of God, the sacredness of human life, and the value God places on motherhood.  As Catholics, we love Mary because Jesus loves Her and we honor Her because Jesus honors Her.  In all things, we strive to imitate Our Lord.

Jesus came into the world and the world did not recognize Him.  Many today still do not recognize His presence among us.  He is with us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist.  Mass is not a social event; it is a divine event.  It is a celebration of God with us, God sharing His divine life with us, nourishing our souls with Himself.  When we understand this and prepare our hearts accordingly, it is then that we too can say that our souls see Him in His glory, the glory that He has from the Father as Only Son of the Father.  What is hidden from world we see in grace and truth.

Continue ReadingAnd The Word Was Made Flesh
Read more about the article This Is My Body

This Is My Body

Today is Easter Sunday, one of my favorite days of the year.  For Catholics, we celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, but Easter is especially joyful.  After preparing during Lent with sacrifices, fasting, almsgiving, repentance, forgiveness, and prayer, we experience a deeper connection with each other, with Our Lord, and with the Mass.  As our pastor explained in his homily how we are all connected to “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” I felt such gratitude for the gift of faith.  Then I thought about what I have not done to share this gift with others.

A few weeks ago I returned a phone call to a friend.  When I mentioned that my phone is silenced when I am in church, she responded, “You went to church on a Thursday? To pray?”  When I responded that I went to Mass, she said, “Your church has services every day?”  I started thinking deeply about what we had said and I realized that my shortcomings were staring me right in the face.  Each conversation we have at some point turns to Scripture and she always shares her love for Jesus.  I leave the conversation feeling elevated, my burden of the day lifted.  I have known my friend Myrna all my life and she has the gift of joy which she readily shares with me and everyone she meets.  How is it that I have been such a poor friend that I have never shared my witness, my testimony, with her? Why have I never told her why I go to Mass?

As Catholics, we use the shorthand – “going to Mass.”  We say it so casually, we ourselves often forget that we are “going to participate in The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”  Yes, we are active participants and yes, it is a sacrifice.  In every Mass, Jesus is on the altar offering Himself to the Father for us.  We begin the Mass with Scripture (the Liturgy of The Word), which always includes at least one passage from the Old or New Testament, a Psalm, and a Gospel reading.  We then follow with the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the gifts of bread and wine are presented to the Father.  The angels who sang the Hosanna announcing to the shepherds the birth of Christ, are again present with us when we sing Hosanna right before Jesus comes again to be physically present.  The priest acting in the person of Christ says “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.”  At this moment, the miracle of transubstantiation (change of substance) takes place.  While the appearance remains bread and wine, the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Jesus Himself is re-presenting His sacrifice on the Cross to the Father.  Every day.  Immediately after, the priest offers Jesus’s sacrifice in prayer for the whole world.  When we are at Mass, we participate by joining our prayers to Jesus’s prayers in interceding for the whole world. It is this daily offering of Jesus to the Father that brings mercy to our world and has kept back the Hand of Justice.  Every Mass is an encounter with Jesus Himself face to face.

Every day Jesus is offering Himself to the Father for our salvation and offering Himself to us in the Eucharist.  In this way He gives us a share of His Body, His Blood, His Soul, His Divinity.  This is the key to eternal life.  In Heaven, we are continually aware of His Presence with us.  He invites us to live Heaven on Earth.  He invites us into His Presence every day.  He awaits us with love and graces to help us advance in holiness.  Every communion received worthily, with love, increases our love for Him.  It is in these moments when I invite Him into my heart that I have prepared for Him as best as I am able, that I feel the intimate presence of Him, Who loves me so tenderly.  In these moments, I touch eternity and I am one with Him on Earth as I will be in Heaven.  This is why I am Catholic.

Continue ReadingThis Is My Body
Read more about the article Return to Me with Your Whole Heart

Return to Me with Your Whole Heart

Even now, says the LORD,
            return to me with your whole heart,
            with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
            and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
            slow to anger, rich in kindness,
            and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2:12-13)

This was the first reading for Ash Wednesday. God speaks to us through Scripture and also through the natural world.  It is no coincidence that Lent begins in the winter and yields to Easter in the Spring.  God uses these cycles to call us back to Him, to deepen our connection to Him.  If we approach Lent the way we approach a garden, we can yield beautiful flowers in the garden of our hearts.

First, we begin with weeding.  The biggest weed is gossip. Weeding needs to continually be looked after just as we need to continually mind what comes out of our mouths. This is difficult for all of us, but we can ask St. Joseph for help with this.  St. Joseph had a major secret – his betrothed was pregnant and the baby wasn’t his.  He was devastated by this, but instead of telling anyone, he kept it to himself, preserving Mary’s reputation.  In the end he found out that he had misjudged the situation, but he had caused no harm to Mary in the process.  Gossip is difficult to overcome, especially when we think we are in the right, but St. Joseph can teach us how to receive the gift of silence.

Second, we must get rid of all the large rocks in our garden.  Some of them are quite big and heavy because as we carry resentment for past wrongs the rocks grow larger and heavier with each passing year.  Forgiveness cannot be achieved alone, so St. Theresa of Calcutta is there to help.  She would often beg for food for the poor.  One day she brought a child into a bakery and asked for bread.  The shopkeeper spit in her face.  She calmly said, “Thank you for that gift for me. Now how about some bread for this child?”  The child received the bread. She understands well how to react with humility and forgiveness in the face of wrongdoing and she can help us get rid of those rocks.

We must then add amendments to our soil so it will be a healthy place for our plants.  Even after forgiving others, some wounds are very deep and still need healing.  Psychologists say that the greatest thing they do for their patients is listening to them.  In our culture listening is a lost art.  How often have we tried to have a meaningful conversation with someone who was constantly checking every alert on their cell phone?  How often have we done that to others?  To heal these deep wounds, we need to take them to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Spending time with Him in the silence, pouring our hearts out to Him and giving Him time to speak to our hearts when we are silent and listening to Him, allows Him to heal these wounds.  He will ask us to pray for those who caused the wounds, but this is part of our healing process so it needs to be done.

We are then ready to plant our seeds.  Almsgiving and acts of kindness and charity are the best seeds to plant because they are not only planted in our hearts, but also in the hearts of those around us. Water the garden thoroughly with prayer, especially the Rosary.  Gentle pruning is required as well, so we fast to help us get rid of those bad habits that keep wanting to grow back.

Just as flowers need to be fed, our “miracle-gro” is frequent reception of the Eucharist, daily if possible, and Confession. When Easter arrives our daffodils will bring us joy as they blossom and our roses will bring us peace when they bloom.   Those around us will also enjoy the beauty of our garden, but most importantly, Jesus will join us on our porch swing and make His home with us.

Continue ReadingReturn to Me with Your Whole Heart

End of content

No more pages to load

Older Posts