The Church Suffering

As she has done from the earliest days, the pilgrim Church continues to pray for the souls in Purgatory and to offer suffrages for them. The faithful are encouraged to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the faithful departed, and to offer up prayers, sacrifices, and good works on their behalf.

The pilgrim Church on earth also remains in close communion with those who have entered into the glory of heaven. The Church has always believed that the apostles, and Christ’s martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ. She has always venerated them with special devotion, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels. The Church too has devoutly implored their intercession. Veneration of the saints must not be seen as in any way detracting from the true worship of God, but rather as inspiring us to more perfect discipleship and worship.

Our communion with those in heaven, provided that it is understood in the more adequate light of faith, in no way weakens, but conversely, more thoroughly enriches the supreme worship we give to God the Father, through Christ in the Holy Ghost. For by its very nature every genuine testimony of love which we show to those in heaven tends toward and terminates in Christ, who is the “crown of the saints.” Through Him it tends toward and terminates in God, who is wonderful in His saints and is magnified in them.

In every Mass we recall the memory of the angels and saints, and join our voices to theirs in giving praise and thanksgiving to God. They, in turn, inspire us with their devotion and intercede for us, as they offer to God on our behalf the merits which they acquired on earth.

The Real Presence Continued

When some of those present heard these words they were shocked and murmured among themselves, “This kind of talk is hard to endure. How can anyone take it seriously? Eat this man’s body? Drink His blood? Does He think we are cannibals?” Seeing their reaction, Jesus cautioned them that His words are not to be taken in a crudely carnal sense. Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. In other words, when they see Him ascend into heaven, they will not find it so difficult to believe that He gives His Body and Blood in a spiritual way that they cannot now imagine.

Even with this explanation, many of Jesus’ disciples found His words too much to believe; they “broke away and would not remain in His company any longer” (6.66). But instead of retracting His words or explaining them away, Jesus let the unbelieving disciples depart. He is even prepared to let the Twelve leave Him if they will not believe: “Do you also want to leave me?” Speaking in the name of the others, Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter and the other disciples do not understand how Jesus will give His body as real food and His blood as real drink, but they believe in Him, and that is all that Jesus requires of them.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Eucharistic Presence

One of the critical questions that have sharply divided Christians since the Reformation is how to understand the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, High Anglicans, and Lutherans believe that the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ are truly present in the Eucharist, in their proper reality, under the appearance of bread and wine.

The term “real presence” has been used to describe the special mode of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist since the middle ages. The Council of Trent entitled the first chapter of its Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist “The Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.” However, there are in fact other modes of Christ’s presence, each of them “real” in its own way. Several of these are mentioned in the Constitution on the Liturgy:

He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, “the same now offering, through the ministry of priest, who formerly offered Himself on the cross”, but especially in the Eucharistic species.

By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when anybody baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.

He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church.

Lastly, He is present when the Church prays and sings, for He has promised “where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.”

These are not the only ways in which Christ is present to His Church. Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei mentions all of these and adds others: “Christ is present in the Church:

As it performs works of mercy…
As it struggles to reach the harbor of eternal life…
As it preaches…
As it shepherds and guides the people of God…

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching