Mini-Conference on the Holy Eucharist. Given at St. Peters South Beloit, Il. June 21, 2014 Feast of Corpus Christi.
This Sunday the Church solemnly celebrates the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, known in Latin as Corpus Christi. This feast celebrates the reality and truth of the real presence of Jesus, Our Lord and Our God, in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist has been a central and constant teaching of the Church since the time of the Apostles. In fact, for over 1500 years all Christians were united in their belief of the Real Presence. So essential is the Real Presence to our faith and to our salvation that is called by Our Holy Mother Church—Mysterium Fidei--THE Mystery of our Faith! (Words we hear after the Consecration at the Mass).
The mystery of the truth that we celebrate today is that Jesus, in His unfathomable love for us, makes it possible that we can experience Him, not only in a picture, or in our mind as a memory, or even only in His Spiritual presence, but Jesus makes it possible that we can experience Him literally in the flesh, along with His blood, and His human heart and soul. Jesus promised He would remain with us until the end of the world and He keeps that promise by being truly present on all the altars and in all the tabernacles of the world. In the Holy Eucharist He is truly Emmanuel—God with Us.
We simply believe in the Real Presence because Jesus has said it to be so. His words are recorded in the Sixth Chapter of St. John’s Gospel. We can’t figure out the true bodily presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, or do a scientific analysis to determine the mechanics behind this great mystery; in fact, all our senses fail us before the reality of the Holy Eucharist; we must, in faith, simply take Jesus at His word. After all He is God, and as God He can neither deceive nor be deceived. Jesus I believe, help my unbelief!
Through the miracle of Transubstantiation which occurs at Holy Mass during the words of Consecration…This is my Body…This is my blood, Jesus Himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the sacred priesthood, becomes truly present among us again in his resurrected Body and Blood, along with His Soul and Divinity. And in this Real Presence Jesus not only remains physically on earth for us, He becomes our heavenly food (only love can explain this). He becomes the way for us to adore the Father in spirit and in truth so that we can actually become one with God. And in this union of the soul with God, the Holy Eucharist becomes the way for the Divine Mercy, and the grace and love of God to flow out into the whole world.
But this Divine Mercy and love can only flow out from the Holy Eucharist to the world through the hearts of those who truly believe; that is, through the hearts of those who have faith and live this faith out by humbly adoring the Holy Eucharist as the true and living God. For as St. Augustine stated we must adore before we receive; in fact, we sin by not first adoring. It is infallible spiritual law that if we don’t adore the Holy Eucharist as God we will come to not believe that the Holy Eucharist is God. But conversely through humble adoration, we come to truly believe, trust and love more deeply and this in turn leads us to a worthy reception of Jesus. And the fruit of this worthy reception is that we become one with Jesus, and through Him one with the Father and the Holy Spirit; and through, with and in this union, we become His instruments of salvation for others. Through our belief, adoration, hope and love of the Real Presence of Jesus, we become literally “Apostles of the Holy Eucharist” becoming ourselves channels of grace and mercy for the conversion and salvation of the entire world.
Faith tells us with certainty that Jesus is really present for you and for me in every Catholic Church where the Holy Mass is validly celebrated by a Catholic Priest and only by a Catholic priest. And Jesus remains really physically present in the flesh, in Person, in the tabernacle even after Holy Mass for us to come and adore Him and so experience Him and His love for us. The more we spend time with Him outside of Holy Mass the more we are enable to participate at the Mass well, the more we can then get out of Mass. For to really communicate with another person I must get to know him, and to get to know him I must spend time with him. I must also be able to be in silence close to him, to hear him and to look at him with love. True love and true friendship always live out of the reciprocity, (or the exchange of looks), of intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that the encounter is lived profoundly, in a personal not a superficial way. The intimate gaze of the lover and the beloved into each other eyes needs no words, and sometimes words get in the way. And so, unfortunately, with regards to the Holy Eucharist, if this personal intimate dimension is lacking, even Holy Communion itself within holy Mass can become, on our part, at the very least a superficial gesture, because our hearts and minds aren't in it; and at the very worst an affront, a sacrilege to God. Nothing so wounds the loving Heart of Jesus than those who carelessly or thoughtlessly receive Him in Holy Communion as if they were merely receiving a thing instead of a Person, a Divine Person, Jesus Himself, God Himself.
Because in the Real Presence, Jesus—God, is still on earth in His Human body as our way to the Father, we too, through faith, can encounter the God made Man as did those few privilege souls who were alive and encounter Him personally when Jesus visibly walked on the face of the earth. We too can spend time with the very person of Jesus and grow in our intimate friendship with Him, in order to become one with the One we love in a Holy Communion, for true love, authentic love always leads to a communion or union of persons.
And so, in a very real sense, we are more privilege than those who saw Jesus visibly on earth some two thousand years ago, for we can encounter Him in an even deeper way by actually receiving His body and blood, by actually receiving His very Person, into our own body and our soul. And here is the great Mystery of the Mystery of our Faith. Through this Holy Communion with Jesus the God-Man, we can become literally “wedded” to God Himself becoming one flesh with Him; we can then become united in love to the Father and Holy Spirit in the Son…this is why the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist is also known as the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb.” Where God literally desires to wed the soul and it makes it possible.
Holy Mass is then, the ultimate wedding (how we should present ourselves before the Bridegroom)! It is where the Bridegroom, Christ, through His sacrifice and real presence in the Holy Eucharist, comes to His Bride the Church (each individual soul) and gives His complete “I do” to His bride (us) by offering Himself totally for us and to us. We, for our part, are called to response to God’s “I do” of love, by responding from the depths of our heart, our own “I do;” that is, by offering ourselves totally to God who gives Himself totally to us.
Like any Marriage, if it is to be a true marriage (and so true love), both the bride and bridegroom must intend to give of their whole selves in loving sacrifice to each other. This is shown by their sincere “I do” before the sacred altar. Their marriage is then consummation when the two become one flesh on their wedding night in the marital act. If one or both of the marriage couple doesn’t give their “I do” or mean their “I do” then the marriage is invalid. The marital act of the Holy Mass is Holy Communion. This “marriage” of God and the soul becomes consummation when Jesus and the Soul become one “flesh” in Holy Communion.
For Holy Communion to fruitful “valid” for us personally and in our lives (and in our world through us), like in a marriage between a man and woman, we must give our “I do” (however imperfect it may be) in loving response to God who gives His “I do” through the gift of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Practically, we give our “I do,” the offering of ourselves, by an interior act of our will, placing our hearts on the paten at Holy Mass at the offertory (St. Pius X) to offered by the priest along with the host to God (the more we do this, the more perfectly our “I do” becomes). (This is what is really meant by full and active participation at Mass to which Vatican II so rightly called the faithful…it is primarily and essentially and interior participation of contemplation of God. And contemplation is all about obtaining union; if we fully understood what and who Holy Communion is we would die of joy).
So the question for us today is, “will you and I in faith, be there really present for Jesus who is really present for us; will you and I spend time with Him; will you and I keep Him company and adore, trust and love Him in the Holy Eucharist? Can we not watch just one hour with Him in prayer at least once per week outside of Mass? If we really believe that He is truly present on our altars and in our tabernacles, we will come and spend time with Him whenever and however much we can; in fact, we would even risk our lives in love for Love Himself, as so many others have, for through the centuries in even in our own day to be in the Eucharistic presence of Jesus. It's really a matter of love-His for us and ours for him in return.
Like a man and woman the more time they spend with each other the more they fall in love and the more they move toward the marriage vows and the valid consummation of those vows…so too, the more time we spend with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist the more we fall madly in love with Him and the more we desire to offer Him our all at each and every Holy Mass in order to be wedded to the Bridegroom—Jesus, God in the flesh; and as a result, the more fruitful it is when we consummate our offering of ourselves to him by receiving His body into our ours, the more we become as one with Him.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life-He is Love Itself in Person, and He waits in the tabernacle as a prisoner of love for those who would, in love, come and adore Him and adore the Father through Him in the Holy Spirit? Let us then worship Him and pray to Him on behalf of all those who neither do not believe, or believe and ignore and so do not love. Let us receive Him in Holy Communion with faith, reverence, purity and love, let us never receive Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin, or as if it were merely some kind of special bread…Let us go to confession regularly. And before we receive Him, let us first offer ourselves fully to Him in love, in response to Him offering His total self to us in the Holy Eucharist so that we may become “Apostles of the Holy Eucharist to the world, becoming living tabernacles taking Jesus and His divine Mercy out into the world…this is by the way the only way God’s Mercy and grace will go out into our world…through Eucharistic believers, Eucharistic adorers, Eucharistic hopers and Eucharistic lovers!!!!
In the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus actually allows almost all of His first followers to leave Him when they cannot accept that He would give them His flesh as real food and His blood as real drink. This was the great apostasy as told in John 6: 66. Yes, that’s right 666. Even worse one of the twelve stayed and didn’t take Jesus at His word, and that person was Judas…Judas later received Holy Communion without faith at the first Mass, the Last Supper and John tells us that as a result Satan entered into Him.
Judas, ironically one of the first bishops and priest who received the great power to confect the Eucharist, didn’t believe in the Holy Eucharist and so did not love the Lord and so betrayed Him. Millions today have also walked away from this Truth—the Mystery of Faith, sadly many of them have walked away not knowing what, better Who the Eucharist is; this is the great apostasy in our own day as prophesized by the Virgin Mary at Fatima, the great Apostasy of Eucharistic unbelief, leading to a failure to adore, hope and love…
Today is our chance, however, to express our faith, our hope and trust, our love for Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist, the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and to beg pardon for those who don’t. It all begins with our own faith, hope and love of Jesus’ Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist; but to increase our faith, hope and love we need to come on bended knee whenever and as often as we can before Jesus’ Eucharistic presence and adore Him as the true and living God among us hidden in the little white Host…The Eucharist is God; God is the Eucharist!!!
Let be ever more aware that Jesus is constantly in our midst and with us. His true presence is a concrete, close presence among our homes; it must become for us as a “beating Heart” within our families, our parish), our city, and our country. In fact, the Holy Eucharist must become our heart. What a blessing it is for you here at St. Peter’s to have a Eucharistic Chapel…where you and families can come 24/7 to sit before your Lord and God begging for His help and blessings for your families, your parish and our world. Maybe to start with, you won’t be able to sit for a whole hour. How about as a beginning, trying to just stop in and sit for just ten minutes with Jesus who loves you so much. Even the smallest gesture of love on our part does not go unnoticed or forgotten by God. Prayer in faith and with trusting love and adoration before the Holy Eucharist is the most efficacious prayer of all, because it is prayer before God incarnate.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first of creatures to offer to God her total “I do” in response to God’s “I do.” She did this in her yes, her fiat, her total offering of herself to God by allowing Jesus to be conceived by the Holy Spirit in her womb. This offering of herself was “consummated at the foot of the cross.” Where her heart and Jesus Heart became as one, beating as one. She will help us, if we turn to her, to be truly present at the foot of the cross at each and every Holy Mass. She will help us to give God our “I do” our total fiat, total yes to God at Mass.
The truth is, we can be afraid to give ourselves totally to Jesus. Maybe our faith, hope and love for Jesus seems too weak to be able to do such a thing. What do we do?….we must turn to the Blessed Mother for Help. If, at Holy Mass, we give our heart to Jesus through the Virgin, she will place them on the paten for us. Then Jesus will receive our heart as if it was Mary’s own. Acceptable to Jesus He will present them as acceptable to God the Father almighty. Then our souls will be open to receive the very Heart of Jesus at Holy Communion so that our Communion will bear the fruit of becoming “one” with God Himself. Like the Virgin’s Immaculate Heart our heart and God’s heart will also beat as one. We will then be able to fulfill the First Commandment. And by doing so, we will be able to fulfill the Second because, transformed by Love into love, we will be enabled to take Jesus, the Mercy and Love of the Father in Person, out into the world to our brother and sisters, because Jesus and His love will be alive in us. He will live again in the world in us through us and with us because we will live in Him through Him and with Him…We will then truly be apostles of the Eucharist and instruments of God’s mercy and love to a poor and starving world…Only in this way will our world be renewed…saved…
O’ Most Holy Trinity I adore Thee…My God, My God, I love Thee truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar! Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I give myself fully to Thee. Amen.
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