…beholds the Body of Christ shining like the sun at noonday…

We read in the life of St. John of Facundo, a noted member of the Augustinian Order, that he never on any account omitted saying Mass, and in fact, urged by his great longing to offer the Holy Sacrifice and receive Our Lord, he said it every morning at the earliest hour possible. He was, however, so slow in celebrating that the server used to go away and leave him at the altar, and at last no one could be found to serve his Mass. The Saint then went to the prior, and entreated him to order the brothers to do so. But the prior spoke sharply to him, saying, "Why do you give the brothers so much trouble by being so long over your Mass? I shall rather enjoin upon you henceforth to say Mass like other priests." John did as he was commanded, but obedience cost him so much that he went again to the prior and, throwing himself at his feet, begged him to withdraw his command. The prior would not consent to do this until John had confided to him in Confession the reasons which made it impossible for him to say Mass more quickly. Having heard them, he no longer hesitated to tell the brothers that they must serve Father John’s Mass, even though their patience was somewhat taxed. Furthermore, the prior, having obtained permission from the Saint, communicated his secret to another father, to whom he said: "You may believe me when I say that the reason why our Father John says Mass so slowly is that God reveals to him the profound mysteries that are accomplished in the Mass – mysteries so sublime that no human intelligence is capable of grasping them. The secrets he disclosed to me concerning them were of so tremendous a nature that I was overwhelmed with awe and almost swooned. It is certain that Christ frequently manifests Himself visibly to this father, speaking with him as one speaks to a friend, and showing him His five sacred wounds, from which proceeds a light of exceeding brightness, which, shed upon the Saint, quickens both body and soul, so that he experiences no need of earthly nourishment. He also beholds the Body of Christ shining like the sun at noonday and perceives its infinite beauty and glory. Such are the lofty and divine things he is privileged to know, mysteries which it is not given to man to fathom, much less to utter. Since I have thus been made aware of the immense benefits accruing to mankind by the celebrating or assisting at Mass, I have made a firm resolution never to omit saying or hearing Mass and to do my utmost to induce others to do the same." From these noteworthy words which the prior uttered we see clearly that solemn mysteries are contained in the Holy Mass and we ought to reverence it most profoundly. (excerpt from The Incredible Catholic Mass)

If we have eyes to see

The Blessed Spirit of God — so transcendent that we cannot have even one idea about him that is literally so — has filled our ordinary, blissful or bored, death-aimed life with the glory of the risen flesh of Jesus. If we have eyes to see, we see him in every face we meet, including our own; or ears to hear, we hear him in both tears and laughter; or mouth to taste, we taste him in every bite of food we eat and every bit of earth we kiss.

"Anyone who eats this bread will live forever." Already, because our flesh and the Master’s are one, we are in eternal life. Our ragged bodies, vessels of hope and anguish, ash heaps and icons, crazy with loss and speechless with love, already are transformed so that when we touch one another, we touch — our Lord and our God! We only need to keep coming to the table, day after day after day until the end, when we will see with our own eyes Jesus’s flesh in our own.

If we keep coming, then even before our eyes are clear enough to see the full glory of our own flesh, we will find that the Master has laid his table for us by every tree, in the middle of every moment, in the silent core of every heart. Jesus has spread out his banquet of love in my brother’s flesh, in my sister’s, in my own. "Come," he says. So I will eat and drink, and I will live forever.

From Circling the Sun: Meditations on Christ in Liturgy and Time by Fr. Robert D. Pelton

Eyes of the spirit

"And just as He appeared before the holy Apostles in true flesh, so now He has us see Him in the Sacred Bread. Looking at Him with the eyes of their flesh, they saw only His Flesh, but regarding Him with the eyes of the spirit, they believed that He was God. In like manner, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, let us see and believe firmly that it is His Most Holy Body and Blood, True and Living.
For in this way our Lord is ever present among those who believe in him, according to what He said: "Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world." (Mt. 28, 20)
- St. Francis of Assisi

St. Joseph, the patron and the model of your life of adoration

"At Nazareth Joseph’s days were filled with work which necessarily took him away at times from his Infant God. During these hours Mary replaced him, but when evening brought him home again, he would pass the entire night in adoration, never tiring, only too happy for the chance to contemplate the hidden riches of Jesus’ divinity. For he pierced the rough garments the Child wore, until his faith touched the Sacred Heart. In profound adoration he united himself to the special grace of each one of the events in the life of Jesus. He adored our Lord in His hidden life and in His Passion and Death; he adored in advance the Eucharistic Christ in His tabernacles: there was nothing that our Lord could hide from Saint Joseph. Among the graces which Jesus gave to His foster-father — and He flooded him with the graces attached to every one of His mysteries — is that special to an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament. That is the one we must ask of St. Joseph. Have confidence, strong confidence in him. Take him as the patron and the model of your life of adoration."

- St. Peter Julian Eymard

Eucharist, the Mystery of Faith

Is it any wonder the Church calls the Eucharist, Mysterium Fidei, the Mystery of Faith? Those who accept the Real Presence accept by implication all the cardinal mysteries of Christianity. They believe in the Trinity, in the Father who sent the Son and in the Son who sent the Holy Spirit. They believe in the Incarnation, that the Son of God became man like one of us. They believe in Christ’s divinity since no one but God could change bread and wine into His own body and blood. They believe in the Holy Catholic Church which Christ founded and in which through successive generations is communicated to bishops and priests the incredible power of making Christ continually present among us in the Blessed Sacrament. They believe, against all the betrayals by the Judases of history and all the skepticism of Christ’s first disciples, in an unbroken chain of faith ever since Peter replied to Christ’s question whether he and his companions also wanted to leave the Master. What a chance Christ took. "Lord," Peter looked around, "whom shall we go to?" (And he spoke for all of us.)" You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know, that you are the holy one of God." Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., "The Eucharist and Sanctity" http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/realpres/e_and_s.html

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.” This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Caper’na-um. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” (John 6:52–67)

Welcome!

Do you believe that the Eucharist is REALLY the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ?  The same Jesus who at the Last Supper, surrounded by His apostles, gave us the Eucharist?  The same Jesus who gave His life on the cross for us?  The same Jesus who was resurrected from the dead as He said He would?

What you will find here are the words of the Church Fathers, words of the Popes and words of Scripture that support the fact that the Eucharist REALLY IS the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Check back as I research the archives to see what the Church believes and teaches about Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.