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Tuesday Oct 23, 2018
Sunday Sep 30, 2018
Tuesday Sep 25, 2018
Sunday Sep 16, 2018
Tuesday Sep 11, 2018
Tuesday Sep 11, 2018
Every First Friday of the Month, the Alliance of the Two Hearts has Mass at 8:30 pm here at Ascension, followed by Adoration, Confession, and many prayers until Midnight when another Mass is celebrated. I was the celebrant for the 8:30 pm Mass and this was my homily for that Mass.
Sunday Aug 26, 2018
Sunday Aug 26, 2018
Bulletin Articles mentioned in the homily
Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist Part 1
Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood in the Gospel in John 6. He refers to Himself as the Bread from Heaven. When many disciples were disgusted with the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, they grumbled about it. Surely, Jesus couldn’t mean really eating His flesh, could He? Jesus responded by using even stronger language to make His point that He means His real flesh and blood, not a sign or symbol. The crowd then dispersed and many of them returned to their former way of life. It seems Jesus would rather have the crowd believe that they must eat His real flesh and drink His real blood, and leave Him, then have them stay and believe that He meant it only figuratively.
Our tradition hold His Real Presence as well. Early Church Fathers such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle, and St. Irenaeus, who was a disciple of St. Polycarp (a disciple of St. John the Apostle), held in their teaching that the Eucharist is really Jesus Christ. That He is truly present in what appears to be bread and wine. The idea that the Eucharist is only a sign or symbol was condemned as heresy in the 11th century, because the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is infallibly taught by the Council of Trent in the 16th Century.
Still it can be difficult for us to accept this teaching. St. Thomas Aquinas can help us. First, we can know by faith and by our sense of sound that it is different. When the priest speaks the words of Christ “This is my Body” and “This is the chalice of my Blood” we know that what once was bread and wine is now Jesus Christ. The substance changes. A substance is what a thing is. “Sub” meaning under and “stance” meaning stand. What stands under the appearance is what a thing is. Usually the appearance corresponds to what it is, but not so with the Eucharist. (To be Continued…)
Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist Part 2
(Continued from the previous bulletin…)
Let us think of a manikin covered in a ski suit. What is it? A manikin. We see the height as well as the positioning of the arms and legs and the color, texture, and size of the ski suit on the manikin. What if we came back later and saw what looked like the same manikin based on the height, position, etc but without our knowing it a person of the same height put on the ski suit and stood where the manikin was. What is it? This time it is a person, although he appeared to be the same as the manikin. It’s not a perfect analogy, because if you remove the mask you can see the person, and with the Eucharist all that you can physically see is the appearance of the bread, but hopefully this expresses the idea of the appearances remaining while the substance changes.
Someone might object to this since it still looks like bread, so it seems that the Eucharist is deceiving us. This is a good objection, but it is not deception in that what we see is the real appearances of bread since only the substance, not the appearances, was changed. Remember the manikin, and how the appearance was the same even though the second time it was a person not a manikin. God upholds the appearances with the substance of bread no longer being present. So, we can think of the Eucharist as a double miracle, first that bread and wine become Jesus Christ, and secondly, that the appearances remain.
Thanks be to God, for the second miracle of the appearances of bread and wine remaining. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ as He commanded us to do. Also, if the Eucharist wasn’t really Jesus, then we would be worshiping unleaven bread instead of God, which is idolatry and breaks the first of the Ten Commandments. So, let us thank God for the gift of Jesus Christ truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist.
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
Sunday Aug 19, 2018
Friday Aug 17, 2018
Tuesday Jul 31, 2018
Monday Jul 23, 2018
Tuesday Jul 03, 2018