While
they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it
to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took
a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of
you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many
for the forgiveness of sins." (Mt 26:26-28; cf. Mk 14:22-24, Lk 22:17-20,
1 Cor 11:23-25)
On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus
instituted the most important doctrine of our faith, which is the source and
summit – the Holy Eucharist, the REAL PRESENCE. Using ordinary bread and wine
while partaking of the Passover meal, Jesus wanted to give of himself to the
world as a continual yet visible sacramental presence until he would come
again. Jesus knew that as the darkness of the night prevailed, he would be
captured and within 12 hours, he would die a horrible death. Thus, the doctrine
he would establish would be his presence within the world that would transcend
time and space while at the same time remaining within time and space until his
ultimate return. In that way, humanity would always share in his real presence,
while he would ascend into heaven and be out of sight.
I had the pleasure of seeing the existing relic of the Eucharistic Miracle that occurred at Santarem, Portugal. This miracle happened back around 1266 A.D. and occurred from an act of sacrilege by a jealous wife. Here is a photo of the miracle below, which can still be seen today.
https://www.piercedhearts.org/treasures/eucharistic_miracles/santarem.htm
Learn more about the Real Presence at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops web site with frequently asked questions about the Real Presence: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/the-real-presence-faqs
Here
are just a few words of what the early Church Father’s had to say about the Real Presence:
“I have no taste for corruptible food
nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the
flesh of Jesus Christ . . . and for drink I desire his blood, which is love
incorruptible” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).
“For not as common bread nor common
drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate
by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as
we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the
Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and
flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus”
(Justin the Martyr, First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).
“The bread and the wine of the
Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were simple bread
and wine, but the invocation having been made, the bread becomes the body of
Christ and the wine the blood of Christ” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical
Lectures 19:7 [A.D. 350]).
. . [Since you are] fully convinced
that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste,
but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the
taste would have it so, . . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and
put a cheerful face on your soul” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
22:6, 9 [A.D. 350]).
“Formerly, in an obscure way, there
was manna for food; now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the
flesh of the Word of God, as he himself says: ‘My flesh is true food, and my
blood is true drink’ [John 6:55]” (Origen, Homilies on Numbers 7:2 [A.D. 248]).
And from the Council of Ephesus we
read:
“We will necessarily add this also.
Proclaiming the death, according to the flesh, of the only-begotten Son of God,
that is Jesus Christ, confessing his resurrection from the dead, and his
ascension into heaven, we offer the unbloody sacrifice in the churches, and so
go on to the mystical thanksgivings, and are sanctified, having received his
holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ the Savior of us all. And not as
common flesh do we receive it . . . but as truly the life-giving and very flesh
of the Word himself.” (Session 1, Letter of Cyril to Nestorius [A.D. 431]).
Also, a highly recommended book on the
subject in depth is one by Joan Carroll Cruz entitled: Eucharistic Miracles and
Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints, published by Tan Books. This
book goes into detail on many of the Eucharist Miracles whereby God has
provided visible proof of this incredible reality that we hold so dear – the
Real Presence.
Remember – The Eucharist is the
greatest gift God could ever give to humanity and the Church while we are on
our earthly pilgrimage towards eternity. The Eucharist is heaven on earth. It
strengthens the soul unseen for the sojourn towards our heavenly homeland like
food maintains the body in our daily life.
Even the angels of darkness (demons)
fear it, for they can see it for what it really is.
Thus, Jesus is always with us – He has
never left us. For those of you who harbor unbelief – open your hearts again,
and let that unbelief fade away like water runoff, and let the light of the Son
shine through to touch your dormant benevolent soul once again to “see” the
Face of God held suspended in the beauty and power of the Eucharist – in the
Mass – in time and space where heaven meets earth.
* * * * *
Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651 - https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct13.html
...Concluded.
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