Eucharist

CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Midnight Mass Homily 2004 – Saint Pope John Paul II” – VaticanVa

December 24, 2018 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Christ, Christmas, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines, Incarnation, Infant Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Christ: God the Son

Saint Pope John Paul II file photo, adapted from image at archives.gov

“… In the Son of the Virgin, ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger’ (Lk 2:12), we acknowledge and adore ‘the Bread which came down from heaven’ (Jn 6:41, 51), the Redeemer who came among us in order to bring life to the world. [] Bethlehem! The city where Jesus was born in fulfilment of the Scriptures, in Hebrew means ‘house of bread.’ It was there that the Messiah was to be born, the One who would say of Himself: ‘I AM the Bread of Life’ (Jn 6:35, 48). In Bethehem was born the One who, under the sign of broken bread, would leave us the memorial of his Pasch. On this Holy Night, adoration of the Child Jesus becomes Eucharistic adoration. …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHWATCH: “[The Multiplication of Loaves and Feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of John] – Pope Benedict XVI Angelus, July 29, 2012” – VaticanVa

July 30, 2018 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Catholic, Christ, Eucharist, Faithwatch, Headlines, Miracles, Pope Benedict XVI

“… the multiplication of the loaves … Jesus later comments on … pointing to himself as the ‘Bread’ which gives Life. Jesus’ actions are on a par with … the Last Supper. He ‘took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated,’ … the topic of ‘bread,’ … shared out, and on thanksgiving (v. 11, in Greek eucharistesas), recall the Eucharist, Christ’s sacrifice for the world’s Salvation. * * * The Eucharist is the human being’s ongoing, important encounter with God in which the Lord makes Himself our Food and gives Himself to transform us into Him. … [F]ive loaves and two fish …. The miracle was not worked from nothing, but from a first modest sharing of what a simple lad had brought …. Jesus does not ask us for what we do not have. … God is capable of multiplying our small acts of love and making us share in his gift. The crowd was impressed by the miracle …. However the people stopped at the material element …. [L]et us ask the Lord to enable us to rediscover the importance of feeding ourselves not only on bread but also on Truth, on Love, on Christ, on Christ’s Body, taking part faithfully and with profound awareness in the Eucharist so as to be ever more closely united with Him. … ‘It is not the Eucharistic food that is changed into us, but rather we who are mysteriously transformed by it. Christ nourishes us by uniting us to Himself ….’ (Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 70). Let us [also] pray … that … bread necessary for a dignified life may never be lacking … that inequalities … be demolished … with sharing and with love. …”

Click here for: “[The Multiplication of Loaves and Feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of John] – Pope Benedict XVI Angelus, July 29, 2012” – VaticanVa

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Encyclical Letter Ecclesia De Eucharistia of His Holiness Saint Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church” – Saint John Paul II/VaticanVa

June 3, 2018 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Sacraments

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope. The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST” – Catechism of the Catholic Church/ VaticanVa

June 18, 2017 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Catechism, Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines

“… 1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”136 “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”137

1325 “The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.”138

1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia” – Saint John Paul II/ VaticanVa 2003

June 18, 2017 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Catholic, Catholic Faith, Christ, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines, Saint Pope John Paul II

The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”.1 “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”.2 Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love. …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Celebrating Corpus Christi A look at the feast’s history, customs and current practices” – Our Sunday Visitor/ Michael R. Heinlein

June 18, 2017 Catholic News Wire - Faith Central - Steve Welsh Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist

“The fact that the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ makes good sense, given the Eucharist’s centrality in the life of the Church, neatly described by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the “sum and summary of our faith” (No. 1327). And there’s the Second Vatican Council’s famous reiteration of this reality in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, calling the Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, No. 11). …”

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