Understand The Times, International

COMMENT BY UTT:

In an address to the Quebec Eucharistic Congress, Cardinal Tomko made the following statement:

"Jesus is the gift of God, he is the food that feeds us and fulfills us and allows us life in eternity. The Eucharist is a person, not an object, not a dead gift. Maybe we should ask not what is the Eucharist, but who is the Eucharist?"

If you are not a Catholic, you may not understand what Tomko has stated. You see it is a fact that the Roman Catholic Jesus, also known as the Eucharistic Jesus, is a wafer that that is believed to be Jesus. According to Roman Catholic belief, this wafer, by some mysterious process is transformed into the actual body of Jesus Christ without changing appearance. This belief lies at the heart and core of the Roman Catholic mass � this process called transubstantiation requires a priest � a Roman Catholic priest!

So, now you know what Tomko meant when he said - the Eucharist is a person, not an object. Further, Roman Catholics are instructed to worship and adore this object when it is placed in a container called a monstrance. This is called Eucharistic adoration.

Now here�s the point: What if the Eucharist is actually an object and not a person? There is a biblical commandment that demands that no person worship or adore any object. Worshipping an object believed to be God or a god is called idolatry. Idolatry is an abomination unto God.

June 16 - Cardinal: Eucharistic congress helps Catholics examine life's purpose

Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- When people pause and question the purpose of their lives, they "yearn for a spiritual answer," said Slovakian Cardinal Jozef Tomko at the opening Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. A eucharistic congress "allows us to encounter" these questions and "examine the meaning of our life and death," said the cardinal.

Jesus is the gift of God, he "is the food that feeds us and fulfills us and allows us life in eternity," said Cardinal Tomko. "The Eucharist is a person, not an object, not a dead gift. Maybe we should ask not what is the Eucharist, but who is the Eucharist?"

The answer to this question, Cardinal Tomko said, is Jesus in the sacramental form of bread and wine "to indicate he wanted to become our food and sustain our life."

The cardinal also said Jesus' words at the Last Supper, "Do this in memory of me," are not only a memorial but a command to do what he has done and to use those same words at Mass.

The history of Quebec, which is celebrating the 400th anniversary of its founding this year, and the global participation of the congress were highlighted throughout the more than three-hour Mass. More than 12,000 people are participating in the conference's weeklong conferences, lectures and liturgies. Although 75 percent of the participants are Canadians, pilgrims came from more than 70 countries.

At the end of the Mass, the Eucharist was placed in a monstrance, which was hoisted atop the youth-inspired Ark of the New Covenant -- an icon-covered chest that had been carried on foot to the more than 70 dioceses and eparchies in Canada. Four clergymen carried the ark and monstrance outside of the arena to one of the several eucharistic adoration chapels, where pilgrims can pray throughout the week.