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The truth about the Eucharist
As Catholics we have the obligation to go to Mass every Sunday. But do we really know why we go to Mass every Sunday? Or have we become, as someone said, “Agnostics that just happen to go to Mass?”
A friend told me that an important moment of growth in his commitment to the faith occurred when an agnostic philosopher was invited to give a lecture to a group of Catholics where my friend was.
The agnostic opened his lecture by saying, “You Catholics do not know what you’re saying… You say that Jesus is God!” and pounding on the table, the agnostic lecturer repeated, “you say that He is God!”
What impressed my friend was that an agnostic seemed to understand better than the Catholics who God is — someone absolutely perfect, all-powerful, eternal, creator of the universe — and thus, how radical and revolutionary our faith is.
But we not only believe that Jesus is God. We believe that that God made into a man, wanted to remain with us permanently, with all of him remaining substantially in the form of bread and wine, in two inert material objects, which we call the Eucharist.
Because we Catholics have lost the sense of wonder or the awareness of what this means, on Nov. 14 of last year, we United States bishops published the document, “Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist.”
“As bishops and shepherds of the Catholic faithful in the United States of America, we recognize our responsibility to nurture the faith of our Catholic brothers and sisters in this most wondrous mystery — Jesus’ Real Presence in holy Communion,” we said in the document.
In it, we reminded not only about the indescribable greatness of this mystery that is at the center of our Christian life, but we explained how to be more worthy to receive this gift that we cannot contemplate routinely nor take as a “right,” without an awareness of what it means to us.
Above all, the Eucharist is — and we cannot stress this too much — the true Body and the true Blood of Christ. The church has traditionally employed the word “transubstantiation” to describe the change that takes place. The substance (what something is) of bread and wine is totally changed into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. While the appearances of bread and wine remain, the Risen Lord Jesus is actually present, and so it is he who is actually received in holy Communion — Body and Blood, soul and divinity.
In this way, “the Risen Lord Jesus comes to dwell personally within us, and so we share in his life and friendship.”
That is why not all of us are always worthy to receive this sacrament.
As we bishops explained, “We should strive to receive holy Communion regularly, gratefully, and worthily. We may find ourselves in situations, however, where an examination of our conscience before God reveals to us that we should refrain from partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ.”
What would prevent us from receiving Communion? Above all, mortal sin, which constitutes a rejection of communion with God and destroys the life of grace within us.
Objectively, certain thoughts, actions, and omissions entail grave sinful matter. As Catholics, we are obliged to form our consciences regarding what constitutes grave matter in accordance with the church’s teaching.
The bishops’ document does not make a complete list of thoughts and actions that involve grave matter, but offer some examples we should review to make sure that, we are well prepared to receive holy Communion worthily.
The Ten Commandments, the precepts of the church and the works of mercy are incomparable guides for discerning our necessary preparation for receiving Jesus Christ in our hearts.
It is also necessary to be in communion with the church that includes communion with one another and with the teachings of the church: “In receiving holy Communion, we are united to Jesus and thus to one another.”
At the same time we should keep in mind that even if we feel that we have to refrain from receiving the Eucharist for whatever reason, we are welcome to participate in the sacrifice of the Mass and unite ourselves spiritually to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
In the next column, we will review how to better prepare ourselves to receive this gift from God and how to get the greatest spiritual benefit from it, especially in these days of lent, a propitious time for our conversion.
I pray that we Catholics in San Antonio will more and more become a eucharistic community, increasingly worthy of receiving Communion and increasingly sanctified by it.
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