July 29 - The Happy Priest Reflects on the Miracle of the Eucharist

Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

A casual glance at the daily news provides ample evidence of the worldwide chaos caused by many who have rejected God. Rapidly accelerating violence, unbridled hedonism, heedless consumption of resources and rampant corruption, now exceeding previously unimaginable dimensions have resulted from the actions of those who have foolishly tossed aside the truth of Jesus Christ to indulge in their own insatiable proclivities.

Jesus remains with us in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church. His Real Presence is celebrated and adored in the monstrance placed in every chapel dedicated to Perpetual Adoration. He is with us, not just spiritually, but sacramentally as well. This is the miracle of the Eucharist.

When a Catholic priest takes a little piece of unleavened bread and repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, "This is my body," and when he takes a small of amount of wine in a chalice and says, "This is my blood," the bread is no longer bread and the wine is no longer wine.

At every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we participate in a marvelous miracle, the miracle called, in the Latin or Western Catholic Church, Transubstantiation. Belief in the truth of this Mystery of the Faith dates back to its instituion by Jesus Christ Himself. It is affirmed by the unbroken witness of the Apostolic Fathers and the magisterium of the Church.

"The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend. 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 - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be real too, but 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" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1374).

Transubstantiation means "change of substance", or "change of reality." When the priest repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, the bread is no longer bread, and the wine is no longer wine. Instead, the entire substance of the bread and the entire substance of the wine have been changed into the substance of The Body and Blood of Christ.

The Fathers of the Church give witness to the fact that Jesus did not give us a symbol of himself, but rather he empowered his Church to continue his presence throughout the world.

In every Catholic Church or chapel we can come to Jesus as we are: weak, small, sinful and limited because he is truly and really there waiting for us. If Jesus can feed the crowds with the loaves and the fish, if Jesus can change bread and wine into himself, just think what he can do with you if you bring him what you have.