Transubstantiation
What now happened at Holy Mass is "a miracle above all miracles!" - as St. Thomas Aquinas thought. Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly and really present under the appearances of bread and wine, through the words of the Transubstantiation prayer uttered by the priest.
come praise the Lord
Jesus is present among us, on the altar, as the crucified and risen Lord. "What the angels watch with trembling and what they dare not fearlessly look at, because it is surrounded by the splendor of immeasurable light, we are fed by this, so that we become one flesh with Christ" (John Chrysostom). Come and worship the Lord!
Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical on the Eucharist Mysterium Fidei, spoke of the "unspeakable mystery of faith", the "gift of the Eucharist", the "most holy mystery", "the heart and focal point of the liturgy". And the Second Vatican Council explains: " At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.(Sacrosanctum Consilium, No. 47).
The whole Mass it is a renewal, awareness and memorial of the sacrifice of the Cross which reaches its highest point in Transubstantiation and Holy Communion. Jesus appears among us with the same love for his Father and for us with which he sacrificed himself for us on the cross, only in a bloodless way.
The Sacramental Presence of Christ
We have been preparing for this most important moment in the Holy Mass for a long time. We repented of our sins. We praised and give glory to God. We listened to His word and pondered it. We professed our faith and addressed our prayers to the Lord. We have brought to the altar the sacrificial offerings under which the Lord is now. Together with these gifts, we have given ourselves to Him. We cleansed our soul once more through the lavabo gesture – when the Priest washes his hands with water. In prayer over the gifts, in the preface and acclamation Sanctus, we opened our hearts more and more to the coming of the Lord. Now he is here, on the altar among us: come, let us bow down to the Lord. We should approach this Mystery with great reverence and humility, and above all with a grateful and loving heart.
At the Foot of the Cross
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). Let us close our carnal eyes and let us open the eyes of the heart! Let us move in spirit to Calvary, where Jesus, dying for three hours in great suffering, gave his life for us on the cross! Let us hear the words: "This is my body, which will be given up for you ... This is the cup of my blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many, for the remission of sins." Let us allow this great love of the Lord to penetrate our hearts.
It is love to the end, even to the sacrifice of one's life; love to the point of shedding blood - for me and for everyone for whom I pray now. As a priest, I allow myself to hold the host and the chalice up for a long time during the elevation. This is how I adore my Lord and I thank Him. I offer Jesus to the Father for all the things that are in my heart; I am asking for forgiveness of sins, for conversion, for peace, for the living and the dead, whom I mention by name before the Father. I do not want to forget anyone I have ever promised my prayers to, I do not want to forget anyone I have met during the days of my life, retreat or during pilgrimages! I also pray for everyone who has read or will read my articles in any magazines and my e-mails. I feel responsible for everyone in some way. May Jesus give them His love, grace and strength. His love and his goodness have no limits.
Last Words
"I Thirst!" - cried the Lord (Jn 19:28). How much the Lord Jesus is thirsty for souls who would love Him, who would associate their suffering with His suffering, who would be ready to sacrifice their lives for the salvation of people! Of course, we cannot at the same time forget what St. John Chrysostom said: "You want to honor the Body of Christ? Then do not overlook the fact that this Body is naked. Do not worship the Lord in the house of God, in a church full of silk garments, if you do not see Him outside, where he suffers cold and nakedness. " The love of the Lord on the cross enables us to find and love him in prayer, at Mass, and also in our brothers and sisters.
"I thirst!" So, let us help Jesus save people so that they may have eternal life! "It is finished."(Jn 19:30).
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"(Luke 23:46). The Lord Jesus changed our death through his death; it became the gateway to the eternal homeland in heaven, to the eternal glory of the Father. God is our Father and we are His children through Jesus Christ. Even at the moment of our death, we cannot fall lower than into the loving arms of our Father. During the Holy Transubstantiation, Jesus in a special way transcends space and the barrier of time, the area of death is broken, what was on the other side is now on this side! Come on, let us praise the Lord!
God's "risk"
Every Holy Mass it is a memorial of Christ's sacrifice. He offers himself to the Father with us and for us. Everyone who participates in the Eucharistic Sacrifice must also be ready to surrender himself/herself completely to God with all that he/she is and has, also with their various crosses and sufferings, with all the people for whom we are responsible.
This means that God assumed three risks: the creation of man, the Incarnation of his Son and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. All this comes from the infinite love of God the Father and the action of the Son in the Holy Spirit. Come on, let us praise the Lord!
After the Transubstantiation, Jesus is still present as long as the Eucharist is preserved, waiting for us in tabernacles of churches around the world. How strongly this presence of Christ was experienced by Sister Edith Stein, a Carmelite woman who was converted from Judaism and murdered in the concentration camp in Auschwitz, who wrote: “The Savior's delight is to be present among human children and he promised to stay with us until the end of the world. He fulfilled this promise through his sacramental presence at the altars. Here He is waiting for us, and you might think that people will rush to these sacred places. The simple sense of this truth of faith dictates that we should have our home here and move away from here only when our duties require it from us, and we should daily accept these duties from the hands of the Eucharistic Savior and put the completed works of the day back into His hands ”.
Commentary on Today Gospel – Mt 13:41-53
The parable of the sorting of fish, some of which are fit for good use and the other only to be thrown away, is to warn us that it is possible to materially belong to the Church and to be rejected in God's judgment.
It has never been taught in the Church that if you are Catholic you will definitely be saved. The Church teaches: Rejoice that you are a Catholic, that you have such clear and simple access to the authentic teaching of God that you can even daily use these sources of grace, which are the sacraments; if you follow God's word in your life and strive for God's grace, you will be saved.
Also, the last council, according to today's parable of the sorting of fish, warns us that we will not be saved if we are bad Catholics. " He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a "bodily" manner and not "in his heart."(Lumen Gentium, 14)
Let us also comment on the words of the Lord Jesus, that the teacher of the Word of God "is like a family father who brings out new and old things from his treasury." In the full sense, this teacher is himself, the Son of God, who taught us to read with all respect the Old Testament as the authentic and never-aging word of God, and at the same time from his divine treasury he brought out the Gospel for us, the joyful news that God wants his children to have.
It is worth remembering few advises that the Fathers of the Church have already suggested to us, so that our reading of the Old Testament may be truly Christian. Let us try to read the Old Testament with the eyes of Jesus, in the light of His Gospel. Then the water of the Old Testament turns into an authentic wine, which has the power to permeate us with the Holy Spirit. One of the Fathers expresses the same thought by comparing the Old Testament to the paschal lamb: it should not be eaten raw; it must be baked in the fire of the Holy Spirit.
I admit that the most appealing to my heart is the reference to the famous episode from the Last Supper: When we listen to either the Old Testament or the New Testament, let's try to put our head on the chest of Jesus. In the attitude of love and entrustment to the Lord Jesus, the Word of God will embrace us especially and authentically.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george