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May 15, 2021While 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.” -- Matthew 26: 26-28
In this second bulletin examination of our understanding of our receiving Christ in the Eucharist (see May 8 and 9, 2021), we acknowledge that several of our young parishioners are receiving their first Holy Communion during the months of May and early June. We, the parishioners, clergy and staff at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels Parish congratulate them and share in their joy! On this beautiful occasion, they and their families, as is the whole Church, celebrate as they are now able to receive, and take into their very bodies, Our Lord Himself at every Mass they attend. They receive the real presence of Our Lord. We all rightly rejoice with them on this momentous occasion.
We celebrate that our children are now able to receive Our Lord in His fullness at a time that they can now more fully understand the real presence of Jesus in what they receive. Our children, however, do not necessarily join a Catholic faithful that believe in what we all know – that just as declared by Christ Himself at the Last Supper and as documented by St. Matthew above, and is proclaimed by what our Catholic Church teaches, that the Eucharist is Jesus’s body and blood and is the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1324).
Not long ago, Catholic Online reported a poll that showed that “more than 60 percent of American Catholics say they do not believe in the Real Presence-that Jesus Christ is bodily present in the Eucharist.” The news reporter begged the following questions, “What does this mean? Are U.S. Catholics lacking in faith or poorly catechized, or are there more basic flaws in our current understanding of the Real Presence?” Perhaps Catholics understand the term Real Presence too narrowly.
Pope Francis acknowledged that some in the crowd when Jesus walked the earth were shocked and even scandalized by the Lord’s words: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 5:51-54). But he also said the Lord’s teaching is clear: The Eucharist is neither a symbol nor even a thing, but rather a Divine Person who desires that we live in intimate communion with Him. According to the teachings of the Church -- “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. This presence is called 'real' . . . because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." (CCC, 1374). In this knowledge, we rejoice!
As an Easter people, a people who greet the Risen Lord deeply with our minds, hearts, and souls, we therefore celebrate with the Pope and more than a billion Catholics world wide and our children who will receive Jesus in the spring of 2021, as we proclaim “The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ.”
Yours in Easter joy, Yours in Jesus Christ,
Fr. John
