218. The right way to honor the Lord present in the bread and wine.

The right way to honor the Lord present in the bread and wine.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 218

Ave Maria series

218  What is the right way to honor the Lord present in the bread and wine?

Because God is truly present in the consecrated species of bread and wine, we must preserve the sacred gifts with the greatest reverence and worship our Lord and Redeemer in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  [1378-1381, 1418]

Upper left, a tabernacle in which vessels containing the consecrated Hosts are reserved between Masses in a Catholic Church, and lower right, The Blessed Sacrament, presented in a monstrance.…..218

If there are consecrated hosts left over after the celebration of Holy Eucharist, they are kept in sacred vessels in the tabernacle.  Since the Most Blessed Sacrament is present in them, the tabernacle is one of the most venerable places in every church.  We genuflect before any tabernacle.  Certainly, anyone who is really following Christ will recognize him in the poorest of the poor and serve him in them.  But he will also find time to spend in adoration before the tabernacle and offer his love to our Eucharistic Lord.

Tabernacle (Latin tabernaculum=hut, tent): In a way reminiscent of the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle developed in the Catholic Church as a prominent, richly ornamented place for preserving the Most Blessed Sacrament (Christ in the form of bread).

Monstrance (Latin monstrare=to show: a sacred object used to display Christ in the form of consecrated bread on special occasions for adoration by the faithful.  In this photo the consecrated host contained within the glass windows of the monstrance is being carried by the priest in procession.

[1378-1381, 1418]

The presence of Christ by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit

1378  Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."(Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei 56)²⁰⁸ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1379  The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass. As faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharistic species. It is for this reason that the tabernacle should be located in an especially worthy place in the church and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. --CCC

1380  It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end,"(John 13:1)²⁰⁹  even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us,(compare Galatians 2:2)²¹⁰   and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love:

The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease. (Pope St. John Paul II, Dominicae cenae, 3)²¹¹–CCC

1381  "That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,' says St. Thomas, 'but only by faith, which relies on divine authority.' For this reason, in a commentary on Luke 22:19('This is my body which is given for you.'), St. Cyril says: 'Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie.'"(St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theolgia III,75,1; compare Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei 18; St. Cyril of Alexandria, In Luc. 22,19:Patrologia Graeca 72,912; compare Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei 18.)²¹²--CCC

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore 
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, 
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart 
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived; 
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed; 
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do; 
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.(St. Thomas Aquinas (attr.), Adoro te devote; tr. Gerard Manley Hopkins.)²¹³--CCC

IN BRIEF

1418  Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. "To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord" (Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei 66). –CCC

Church  Tabernacle

Church Monstrance

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time November 11, 2018

A woman and two children on the street. --Catholic News Agency photo

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time November 11, 2018
Lectionary: 155

Reading 1   1 KINGS 17:10-16

In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city,a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,"Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink." She left to get it, and he called out after her,"Please bring along a bit of bread." She answered, "As the LORD, your God, lives,I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jarand a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks,to go in and prepare something for myself and my son;when we have eaten it, we shall die." Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose.  But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,'The jar of flour shall not go empty,nor the jug of oil run dry,until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'" She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well;the jar of flour did not go empty,nor the jug of oil run dry,
as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.

Responsorial Psalm   PSALM 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

Reading 2   HEBREWS 9:24-28

Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands,a copy of the true one, but heaven itself,that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly,as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuarywith blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedlyfrom the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the agesto take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once,and after this the judgment, so also Christ,offered once to take away the sins of many,will appear a second time, not to take away sinbut to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

Alleluia   MATTHEW 5:3

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MARK 12:38-44

In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robesand accept greetings in the marketplaces,seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.  They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretextrecite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasuryand observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in morethan all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,her whole livelihood."

People  Suffering Catholic News Agency

217. The Church is what happens daily in a mysterious way at the altar.

The Church is what happens daily in a mysterious way at the altar.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 217

Ave Maria series

217  What happens in the Church when she celebrates the Eucharist?

Every time the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she stands before the source from which she herself constantly springs anew.  By “eating” the Body of Christ, the Church becomes the Body of Christ, which is just another name for the Church.  In the sacrifice of Christ, who gives himself to us, body and soul, there is room for our whole life.  We can unite everything—our work and our sufferings, our joys—with Christ’s sacrifice. If we offer ourselves in this way, we are transformed: We become pleasing to God and like good, nourishing bread for our fellowmen.  [1368-1372, 1414]

A priest (foreground) and an extraordinary lay minister distribute communion on a military base.…..217

Again and again we grumble about the Church, as though she were just an association of more or less good people.  In reality the Church is what happens daily in a mysterious way at the altar.  God gives himself to each one of us individually, and he wants to transform us through communion with him.  Once we are transformed, we are supposed to transform the world.  Everything else that the Church is besides that is secondary.  126, 171, 208

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 12:26

[1368-1372, 1414]

The sacrificial memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church

1368  The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire. She unites herself to his intercession with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with his offering. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edlition

In the catacombs the Church is often represented as a woman in prayer, arms outstretched in the praying position. Like Christ who stretched out his arms on the cross, through him, with him, and in him, she offers herself and intercedes for all men. –CCC

1369   The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church. The bishop of the place is always responsible for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentioned to signify his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance of deacons. The community intercedes also for all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:

Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated under [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted it.(St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8:1;Sources Chrẻtiennes 10,138)¹⁹¹ –CCC

Through the ministry of priests the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is completed in union with the sacrifice of Christ the only Mediator, which in the Eucharist is offered through the priests' hands in the name of the whole Church in an unbloody and sacramental manner until the Lord himself comes.(Presbyterorum Ordinis 2 § 4)¹⁹²–CCC

1370   To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ. –CCC

1371   The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified,"(Council of Trent (1562): Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1743)¹⁹³   so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ:

Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I simply ask you to remember me at the Lord's altar wherever you are.(St. Monica, before her death, to her sons, St. Augustine and his brother; Conf. 9,11,27:Patrologia Latina 32,775.)¹⁹⁴ –CCC

Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep, and in general for all who have fallen asleep before us, in the belief that it is a great benefit to the souls on whose behalf the supplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is present. . . . By offering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if they have sinned, we . . . offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and so render favorable, for them and for us, the God who loves man.(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5,9,10:Patrologia Graeca 33,1116-1117)¹⁹⁵–CCC

1372   St. Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to an ever more complete participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we celebrate in the Eucharist:

This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for us in his Passion, to make us the Body of so great a head. . . . Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we who are many are one Body in Christ" The Church continues to reproduce this sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein it is evident to them that in what she offers she herself is offered.(St. Augustine, De civ Dei, 10,6:Patrologia Latina 41,283; compare Romans 12:5)¹⁹⁶–CCC

IN BRIEF

1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.—CCC

Sacrament  Eucharist  A priest

216.Christ is mysteriously but really present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Christ is mysteriously but really present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 216

Ave Maria series

216  In what way is Christ there when the Eucharist is celebrated?

Christ is mysteriously but really present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  As often as the Church fulfills Jesus’ command, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24), breaks the bread and offers the chalice, the same thing takes place today that happened then: Christ truly gives himself for us, and we truly gain a share in him.  The unique and unrepeatable sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is made present on the altar; the work of our redemption is accomplished.  [1362-1367]

The Last Supper by Carl Henry Bloch..... 216

TRANSSUBSTANTIATION (from Latin trans=through, and substantia=essence, substance): the theological term used to explain theologically how Jesus can be present under the appearance of the gifts of bread and wine in the Eucharist.  Whereas the “substances” (meaning the “essences”) of bread and wine are changed by the working of the Holy Spirit at the words of consecration into the Body and Blood of Christ, their outward “species” or forms remain the same.  Jesus Christ is really but invisibly present in what looks like the bread and wine as long as the appearances of bread and wine are preserved.

[1362-1367]

The sacrificial memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church

1362 The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1363   In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. (compare Exodus 13:3)¹⁸⁴  In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them. –CCC

1364   In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.(compare Hebrews 7:25-27)¹⁸⁵  "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."(Lumen Gentium 3; compare 1 Corinthians 5:7)¹⁸⁶–CCC

1365   Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."(Luke 22:19-20)¹⁸⁷  In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."(Matthew 26:28)¹⁸⁸ –CCC

1366   The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present)the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:

[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.(Council of Trent (1562): Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1740; compare 1 Corinthians 11:23; Hebrews 7:24, 27)¹⁸⁹–CCC

1367   The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."(Council of Trent (1562) Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2: Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1743; compare Hebrews 9:14,27)¹⁹⁰ –CCC

215. Christ himself acts in every celebration of the Eucharist.

Christ himself acts in every celebration of the Eucharist.  

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 215

Ave Maria series

215  Who leads the celebration of the Eucharist?

Actually Christ himself acts in every celebration of the Eucharist.  The bishop or the priest represents him.  [1348]

Christ of the Eucharist by Juan Juanes. 16th-century depicts the Valencia Chalice......128.....215

It is the Church’s belief that the celebrant stands at the altar in the person of Christ, the Head (Latin; in persona Christi capitis).  This means that priests do not merely act in Christ’s place or at his command; rather, on the basis of their ordination, Christ himself, as Head of the Church, acts through them.  249-254

[1348]

The movement of the celebration

1348  All gather together. Christians come together in one place for the Eucharistic assembly. At its head is Christ himself, the principal agent of the Eucharist. He is high priest of the New Covenant; it is he himself who presides invisibly over every Eucharistic celebration. It is in representing him that the bishop or priest acting in the person of Christ the head (in persona Christi capitis) presides over the assembly, speaks after the readings, receives the offerings, and says the Eucharistic Prayer. All have their own active parts to play in the celebration, each in his own way: readers, those who bring up the offerings, those who give communion, and the whole people whose "Amen" manifests their participation. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

JP  Sacrament Christ of