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SUNDAY HOMILY: The Happy Priest - The Treasure of the Eucharist
By Fr. James Farfaglia
6/2/2013
Catholic Online


Our belief in the Real Presence must permeate all of our actions when we are in church.  Sacred silence, reverent genuflections and proper attire for worship are all manifestations of deep reverence and faith. We must also keep in mind the grave importance to receive Holy Communion in the state of grace.

The Feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that we possess an immense treasure.  When a Catholic priest takes a little piece of unleavened bread and repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, "This is my body", and when he takes a small of amount of wine in a chalice and says, "This is my blood", the bread is no longer bread and the wine is no longer wine.

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Transubstantiation cannot be proved through scientific experimentation.  If we were to respectfully examine a consecrated host using a microscope, the physical attributes of bread would be obvious.  If we were to do to the same with the precious blood, the physical attributes would be that of wine.
 
Transubstantiation belongs to the reality of faith.  Faith does not contradict reason.  Instead, the gift of faith that we receive at Baptism, gives us a superior vision.
 
Transubstantiation means "change of substance", or "change of reality."  When the priest repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, the bread is no longer bread, and the wine is no longer wine.  Instead, the entire substance of the bread and the entire substance of the wine have been changed into the substance of The Body and Blood of Christ. 

Transubstantiation occurs only by the power of God, and in a way that we cannot empirically detect.  We know that transubstantiation takes place through the certainty of faith.

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As early as 110 A.D., St. Ignatius of Antioch said: "Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God.  They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2-7:1).
 
Around the year 151 A.D., St. Justin wrote to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius these words: "We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. 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" (First Apology 66).

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All of a sudden lots of ordinary people began coming in off the streets; rank-and-file type folks.  They came in, genuflected, knelt and prayed.  Their simple but sincere devotion was impressive.

Then a bell rang and a priest walked out toward the altar.  I remained seated; I still wasn't sure if it was safe to kneel.  As an evangelical Calvinist, I had been taught that the Catholic Mass was the greatest sacrilege that a man could commit - to re-sacrifice Christ - so I wasn't sure what to do.

I watched and listened as the readings, prayers and responses - so steeped in Scripture - made the Bible come alive.  I almost wanted to stop the Mass and say, 'Wait.  That line is from Isaiah; the song is from the Psalms.  Whoa, you've got another prophet in that prayer'.  I found numerous elements from the ancient Jewish liturgy that I had studied so intensely.

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Our belief in the Real Presence must permeate all of our actions when we are in church.  Sacred silence, reverent genuflections and proper attire for worship are all manifestations of deep reverence and faith.

We must also keep in mind the grave importance to receive Holy Communion in the state of grace.  There is a direct connection between the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession.  It is a sacrilege to receive Holy Communion while being in the state of mortal sin.

"To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment.  St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: 'Whoever, therefore, eats of the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.  Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself' (1 Cor 11: 27-29).  Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to communion" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1385).

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And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"

Romans 10:15



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May the Blessed Mother Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help guide men who are spiritually discerning a life of Holy Order.

May these men be encouraged by the Holy Spirit, prayers of support, and the Divine Graces from the Eternal Living God.

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