A Very Catholic Belief; Why I Believe in The Eucharist

Last Sunday was the Feast of Corpus Christi, as it used to be called.  Now it is referred to as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and celebrates the very Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Bread and Wine.  Anyone who believes in the inerrancy of scripture must consider this seriously after reading chapter six of John’s gospel.  I’d be the first to admit that scripture is not always meant to be read literally in a scientific or historical sense.  After all, the bible is a compendium of books written by inspired writers, revealing the nature and wisdom of God over a period of centuries.  They were not writing about science, but rather, about the Truths revealed by God about the nature of our existence and the existence of God.  Some books are historical, others allegorical, but all contain the Truth of God’s revelation about Himself, salvation history, and they reveal a great deal about our nature as human beings.  The high point of scripture is of course the gospels, because they contain the very words of Jesus Himself who fulfills all of the scripture and prophecy that preceded Him.  Jesus takes revelation to another level, personifying the nature of God in His words and actions.  He not only explains salvation, His life and death is the culmination of salvation history in that He is our salvation.

Chapter six of John’s gospel contains an explanation of the Eucharist in Jesus own words.  When He said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world,"  (John 6:51), He wasn’t speaking metaphorically.  We know this because His detractors, and even His disciples, questioned this and were repulsed by it.  Never the less, Jesus did not recant or soften His words.    In fact, He repeated it solemnly, even preceding is with “Amen, Amen.”

 "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  (John 6:53)

Scripture tells us that some of His disciples left Him over this, but Jesus never waivered.  At the Last Supper, celebrating the Seder meal, which commemorates the Passover, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to the Apostles, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) During the Seder, there are three ceremonial cups of wine shared, each having a specific meaning.  When it came to the time for the cup of salvation, Jesus distributed the wine, saying, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24)   Jesus issued very few direct commands, but this one, “Do this in memory of me,” Is crucial because He was establishing a new and eternal covenant on behalf of all people, with God, The father.  All the previous covenants had been broken by God’s people, but Jesus, acting on behalf of all humanity established a new covenant in His own Body and Blood.   By instituting the Eucharist, Jesus established the fact that He would be present for all time, and in fact this Eucharistic meal would be the physical expression of the “New and eternal covenant” which was sealed in His Body and Blood, made available to all His disciples for all eternity.  All the blood sacrifices offered by the Jews who preceded Jesus, were anticipatory of this culmination of salvation history and the creation of an unbreakable, new and eternal covenant.

The Apostles and early disciples understood this quite well.  Even Paul, who was not present at the last supper wrote,

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”   (1 Cor 10:16)

The Eucharistic was celebrated solemnly and continuously by the apostles, and passed on for generations, who referred to it from the very beginning  as “The Lord’s Supper,” or “The Breaking of the Bread.” (Acts 2:42)  By the end of the first century, the guidelines for celebrating the Eucharist were well-documented, and the rite was an established fact.  The Rite of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in homes, despite persecution from the Romans, but when the emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians in 313 AD, he began building great churches for the celebration of the Lords Supper.   Even now, 2000 years later, the Catholic Mass still follows that same format set down by St. Justin Martyr in 150 AD:  Gathering in prayer of praise and thanksgiving, reading scripture, breaking of the bread and sharing the wine, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, a kiss of peace, and a final blessing. 

The Catholic Mass revolves about the Eucharist which is the sum and summit of our faith.  Going to mass is not about “getting something” from the experience.  It is about worshiping God and being privileged to be in His presence and receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord.  Reception of the Eucharist is more than just a commemoration of Jesus.  In the Eucharist, Jesus re-Presents Himself to us.  We receive not just a token of his memory, but His actual, physical, Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine.  If God is so powerful and almighty as to have created the universe and humanity, He can certainly take the form of Bread and Wine in the continuous fulfillment of the covenant He Himself established for our benefit.   This is our Catholic belief, based on the  words of Jesus Himself, as understood and passed on by the apostles and the successors of those first witnesses who received the Body and Blood in the form of Bread and Wine from Jesus Himself.

I am saddened by the fact that so many Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Fewer than 25 percent of baptized Catholics attend mass regularly, and the percentage is even lower in Europe where society his become predominantly secular.  The consequences seem obvious to me.  People calling themselves Catholic rationalize support for abortion, gay marriage and a host of other activities that are now referred to as “civil rights.”  Could it be that this ‘falling away’ is due in part to disbelief in the Eucharist?   Without the Presence of Jesus in our lives, we are easily lured away by the temptations of the world and our selfish nature.  Without the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are readily duped by the deceits and lies that are the currency of evil.

Receiving the Eucharist is by far the most sacred thing we can do as humans to be close to God Himself.  It is the greatest privilege of my life, knowing that I can receive my God, and that He nourishes me with His very Body and Blood, so that I can become what I eat: part of the Body of Christ.

The Trinity and the Mystery of our Existence

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is one that we cannot humanly comprehend.   There are however, clues to the divine nature of God imbedded in nature.  We cannot arrive at an awareness of God or the Trinity based on our human intellect alone, we must rely on divine revelation.  Of course the most perfect revelation about the nature of God comes from the words and life of Jesus Himself.  He said that when the disciples saw Him, they saw God the Father, explaining, “The Father and I are one.”  (John 10:30)

Jesus revealed The Father to be loving and forgiving, an understanding that led St. John to reveal that, “God is Love.”  (1 John 4:8)  Many people believe this, even if they do not profess or practice one of the mainline Christian religious traditions.   Catholic doctrine offers an explanation based on the divine nature of God in the Trinity.  The Father loves the Son, from all eternity, and the Son loves the Father.   So great is their love for one another that it is manifested in the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  In this respect, the Trinity is a loving relationship of the Three Persons, so powerful that they are One God.  Our human nature reflects this mystery in that we are capable of love.  When a man and woman love one another intimately, they become “one flesh,” and out of that union comes another unique person, the very expression of the love of the parents.   In this way, we humans are privileged to participate in the inner life of the Holy Trinity and the creation of a third, unique person.  St. Pope John Paul II made all this very clear in his amazing catechesis on the nature of our human bodies and human love.  That body of work which was written as a series of weekly talks given at his public audiences, early in his pontificate, is now referred to as the “Theology of the Body.”  In it, the former pope drew on anthropology, physiology, psychology, philosophy, and theology to lay out the true meaning of our masculinity and femininity, and the source of our inherent beauty and dignity as human persons.  The nature of our bodies reveals the very love of God which flows through each of us.  When that love is expressed in the nuptial embrace, it reflects the very nature of the Holy Trinity, which is an intimate loving relationship, so powerful and so fecund that it has the power to create new life. 

Our fertility, a gift from God, is meant to be an integral part of a loving relationship.  It is the total giving of ourselves to another person that forms a bond of love which reflects the permanent and unconditional love of the Trinity. (Nature imitating The Trinity).   Chastity and virginity is a great gift that we give to our spouses in making the permanent commitments that form the basis of marriage, the creation of a family, and the environment in which to raise children born out of that love.

Sadly, modern society has grown so accustomed to separating sex from fertility, that we have all but forgotten that sex and fertility are part of nature, an essential part of God’s plan for human existence and procreation.   Removing or thwarting our fertility makes us less fully masculine or feminine, and contributes to the selfish notion that sex drive is meant solely for our pleasure.  Consequently, casual sexual partners are no more than objects for our satisfaction.  In this worldview, we cut ourselves off from God’s plan for men and women, in that we no longer reflect the nature of the Trinity, rooted in self-giving Love.   Moreover, children are no longer seen as the product of selfless love, but instead, the unfortunate consequence of a “mistake.”  Rather than recognizing unborn children as unique human beings, imbued with the natural right to life, and the right to both a father and a mother, they are treated as commodities.  Consider the millions of embryos fertilized artificially, then frozen, awaiting implantation, used for stem cell research, or merely discarded.  People often think they are “entitled” to have a baby when and if they are ready, whether married or not, regardless of who the father or mother may be.  Sperm banks, egg donors, and surrogate mothers are all commonly accepted as part of the parenting landscape in which people who believe they are entitled to a child, skip over the natural phenomenon of human love, expressed intimately by husband and wife.  This is curious because the very same people who think like this are often big proponents of protecting mother nature, saving the planet from climate change, promoting animal rights, eating organic foods, and going green.  Yet they don’t think twice about chemically shutting down their natural fertility, or killing an unborn baby by dismembering them alive, or scalding them to death with saline solution.   Apparently they feel free to pick and choose when going “natural” is convenient to their lifestyle and aligns with their political views.

One final thought on all this, a musing on my part about the nature of God’s Love.  You won’t find this anywhere in Catholic doctrine, but what if the Love of God is the very energy that created the universe?  Scientists still argue about what caused the “Big Bang.”  The tremendous energy that created all matter and sent it hurtling out into space is a “mystery” par excellence.   Could it be that what we think of as energy is in fact the very Love of God?  Physicists now agree that the tiniest particles of matter are at their root, really tiny little packets of energy.  What we know to be atoms and elements, are comprised of neutrons and electrons that are themselves made up of little packets of energy, mysteriously held together by various forms of electromagnetic force.  Even within an atom, the space between neutron and electrons is huge, making them mostly just empty space, much the way there is so much space between the planets and the sun, or our solar system and the rest of the Milky Way.  Maybe, just maybe… the energy that forms and holds atoms, and planets, and stars in their stabile state of existence, hurtling through space, is The Love of God.   If this is the case, then we ourselves, made up of atoms and molecules and cells that grow mysteriously and replace themselves on their own, are quite literally the embodiment of The Love of God!  

This may sound a bit too much like pantheism, but I’m not suggesting that we ourselves are God, or that nature is God.  Rather, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the intelligence behind the grand design of all existence, and they created it out of their Love, their energy.  Moreover, we and everything that exists, owe our existence to The Love of God, the Holy Trinity. 

 

Pentecost: Why We Need the Holy Spirit More Than Ever

Although we think of Pentecost as the Christian celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Church, the Jewish feast of Pentecost predates Christianity by many centuries.  Referred to as Shavu’ot, it is celebrated 50 days after Passover and commemorates the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mt. Sinai.  The Torah is comprised of the first five books of the Bible, or the books of Moses, also called the Pentatuch.   To this day, Shavu’ot is celebrated 50 days after Passover, signifying spiritual redemption from the bondage of idolatry and sin, through the law as given to Moses.   And of course Christians celebrate Pentecost 50 days after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, marking the birth of the fledgling Church.

Throughout salvation history, ancient events and celebrations served as precursors to the coming of Christ and of the Holy Spirit.  The Passover prefigured Jesus’ passing over death and brining about our salvation, and Shavu’ot anticipated the coming of the Holy Spirit, not only fulfilling the law but taking our spirituality to a higher plane by strengthening our soul with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Whereas the Mosaic law set down guidelines for specifically how to live a moral life, Jesus calls us to go beyond the letter of the law, to love even our enemies, and forgive over and over again.  Living up to this higher standard set by Jesus is only possible because He sent us the Holy Spirit to strengthen and embolden us with the spiritual gifts necessary to live and love as closely as possible to the way God loves us.  On our own, it would be impossible to love one another the way God loves us, but with the aid of the Holy Spirit we can come much closer.

In the weeks leading up to Pentecost, Jesus told His disciples over and over again that the Holy Spirit would come, calling Him the “Advocate” (John 15:26), and “The Spirit of Truth” (John 16:12).  Catholic doctrine counts seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which are: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.  Briefly, Wisdom is considered the first and highest gift because it enables us to recognize the Truths of our faith as being more important than the things of this world. Understanding helps us grasp the meaning of the Truths of our faith.  Counsel helps us make good prudential judgments in the light of the Truths of our faith.  Fortitude, sometimes called courage, helps us follow through on our judgments.  Knowledge helps us see the circumstances of our life, the way God sees them, putting things in perspective.  Piety gives us the willingness to serve God, rather than only our selfish desires. Finally, Fear of the Lord gives us the desire not to offend God, and to be mindful of the consequences of our actions, out of love for God, not just a sense of duty.

Notice how the Gifts of the Holy Spirit all revolve about acceptance of the Truths of our faith?  Perhaps this is why Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “The Spirit of Truth.”  During the time between His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He loves us.  And how much did He love us?  One look at a crucifix says it all.  He loved us even to the point of sacrificing His life for our salvation.  If we are to follow His command to love one another with self-sacrificing love, we need the help and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to enable us to love even when we don’t feel like loving or forgiving.  When we react to our circumstances and the disappointments of life, purely on the basis of human emotion, we are bound to fail, disappoint and frustrate ourselves, and those around us.  On the other hand, when we are mindful of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and call on them to guide our reactions and our judgments, we are much more likely to succeed in loving and forgiving one another. 

The Wisdom of God far exceeds the conventional wisdom of the world because it is rooted in Truth, as revealed in scripture and in nature (His creation) itself.  In our increasingly secular society, what goes for spirituality is often nothing more than feel-good psychology.  Any worldview based primarily on individual freedom and personal fulfillment is merely idolatry of the self.  When the Truths of faith are ignored, downplayed, or out rightly denigrated, the consequences are severe.  One of the worst case examples of this occurred in Nazi Germany after World War I.   Germany was still recovering from a devastating defeat and  Hundreds of thousands of Germans starved to death in the aftermath of the war which included a blockade, preventing food from being shipped into war-ravaged Germany.  According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to accept responsibility for starting the war and required to pay economic reparation, to the tune of $132 Billion Marks.  They resorted to printing money.  This led to hyper-inflation and eventually the default of the government while people were starving because the cost of food had become prohibitive.  Unable to respond, Germany’s borders were altered and they were forced to cede land to Poland, France and Czechoslovakia, as well as give up their colonies in Africa to the Allies.  The general consensus by the German people was that the treaty was unfair, and this was the primary thrust of Hitler’s rise to power.  He and the Nazi party decried the unfairness of the treaty and he was democratically elected to right those wrongs.  (This is probably the best example of democracy without morality resulting in mob rule.   The people were anxious to recover and assert themselves and their nation as a world power, and in the process they fell victim to the appeal of the Nazi propaganda.  Hitler convinced his people that they could perfect humanity and enhance their nation by culling out undersireables, and taking back what they lost after World War I.  This rapidly escalated from limiting the rights of Jews, to segregating them, outlawing them, and finally murdering them in a holocaust that took 11 million lives.  How did Hitler manage to persuade people to follow his malicious lead?  He took over the media and education in order to indoctrinate people on the importance of nationalism, while appealing to their sense of pride in their race.

So what, you may ask does any of this history have to do with Pentecost?  It is my perception that our own government is trending down this same path, lured by the appeal of secular values in which the Truths of faith are increasingly considered “unfair” in that they impinge on personal freedom.  Even our president has stated that he would not want his daughter “punished with a baby” if she made a mistake.  The value of human life has been degraded as lower than the value of personal convenience.  Religious convictions are ignored and demeaned by our government which requires everyone to pay up (tax dollars and insurance premiums) for contraceptives and abortion.  Like the German Jews of the 1930s, Christian’s rights are being limited and our beliefs outlawed.   Expressing religious convictions about abortion and marriage is now considered tantamount to violating civil rights.  Pro-Life groups have been singled out by the IRS for audits and prevented from receiving non-profit status.  Christian employers are being fined exorbitantly for failure to violate their convictions.  Similar to post WWI Germany, America is racking up debt at an unprecedented rate.  And finally, our government, which seems to have control over the media, is trying to take over education and health care.  In short, the Truths of our faith are under attack and religious freedom is being abrogated.

It is up to Christians to uphold the Truths of our faith.  For this we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to contend with an increasingly secular society and government that is attacking the tenets of our faith, levying taxes and penalties on people of religious conviction who disagree with the government over the issues of abortion and marriage.  The Supreme Court is scheduled to announce a verdict on the HHS mandate this month, but even if the high court’s decision upholds religious freedom and overturns the mandate, our faith is still under attack on many fronts.  We need the Holy Spirit more than ever.