Sharing the Real Presence of Christ Part II

Sharing the Real Presence of Christ (continued  . . .)
 
“I am the Bread of Life . . .”  
 “I am the living Bread . . . “ 
John  6
 
Just as we nourish our bodies with food, we nourish our bodies, minds and souls including our spiritual lives with the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic bread and wine which is transformed into the Lord’s most Holy Body and Blood at Mass.
Through Holy Communion we become what we eat – the Body of Christ. The Divine reality is taken in and received and Jesus continues to live within us as He has made a dwelling place in our very being ever since our Baptism. The Holy Spirit brings us grace as God’s Divine life becomes present in us and is at work transforming us from within. The transformation that occurs on the altar during the consecration at the hands of the priest, is received as the Bread of Life, which is transformed in our bodies becoming part of us as we receive the Divine through the contact of God’s holy reality during Mass the   final transformation has not yet. The final transformation occurs as we go forth from our pews and our churches and we transform the lives of others as we become what we receive and bring Christ to those in need in our communities.

Let us examine what our recent Popes have stated about the Eucharistic miracle of receiving our very personal God in Holy Communion:

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. . . . She joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this     presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with     confident hope. . . . the Eucharist, . . . the sacrament of the paschal mystery, stands at the center of the Church's life. This is already clear from the earliest images of the Church found in the Acts of the     Apostles: “They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and  fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). The “breaking of the bread” refers to the Eucharist. Two thousand years later, we continue to relive that which has been since [the    beginning of] time within the Church”
(Pope John Paul II,  Encyclical Letter,  Ecclesia De Eucharistia, April, 2003).

“In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God's image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27), and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and  freedom.”
(Pope Benedict XVI, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis                       (The Sacrament of Charity, October, 2005).

“The Eucharist is essential for us: it is Christ who wishes to enter our lives and fill us with His grace.” (Pope Francis, (Pope Francis @ Pontifex, 6:28 am, February 28, 2014).
Next Week:  Living out the Real Presence of Christ in our daily lives 

God’s Blessings and His Graces,
Fr. John