Thought of the Day May 31, 2021 The Eucharist
This week in preparation for the
celebration of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus, my reflections will be
on the Eucharist. It is sad to say that only a third of Catholics in the United
States profess that the Eucharist is the real Body and Blood of Jesus under the
appearance of bread and wine. The theological term is transubstantiation.
Unfortunately, many believe that is a symbol, representing the Body and Blood
of Jesus. What do you believe?
The Church’s teaching is based on
the words of Jesus in the 6th chapter of John. Jesus clearly says that he would
give us his Body and Blood to eat and drink. At the Last Supper narratives of
Matthew, Mark and Luke, he confirms this. Later Paul will reaffirm this
teaching in his First Letter to the Corinthians. This has been the consistent
teaching of the Church over the centuries.
This is what the Catechism
of the Catholic Church says:
“The
essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on
which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the
words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my
body which will be given up for you. . . This is the cup of my blood. . .
“By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity” (CCC 1412-1413).
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