On the Real Presence of Christ – Part 2
I would like to follow up on the theme I started in my weekly column last week, that is the Holy Mass and the Eucharist and the implication for our spiritual life.
Though all the sacraments are special channels of grace, the Eucharist has the most prominent place among them, or, as The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11). When we come to Holy Mass we enter the Most Sacred space. At Mass the Word becomes flesh again as it is attested by numerous Eucharistic Miracles throughout the world. For that reason Saint John Paul II dedicated entire encyclical to the explanation of the Eucharist. In the introduction he stated,
“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. 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” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 1).
We must remember that there are special moments when physical reality is transcended and assumed into spiritual realm, and the sacraments are an example of that. The clearest example of transcending physical reality was the incarnation of the Son of God, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity became man, yet He remained the Divine Person—Jesus was true God and true man. The two natures have been united in the person Jesus Christ forever. It means that while still walking on earth Jesus the Man was permeated with His divine nature. He was the presence of God among the people. That is why St. John the Baptist and Jesus Himself cried out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7).
So, on practical note, we must prepare ourselves in order to receive the Eucharist worthily, for it is not a cookie that we receive. It is the mysterium tremendum, an awesome and terrible mystery beyond human comprehension—an encounter with The Living God, who stooped down to us and hid Himself under the species of bread and wine. Thus, we cannot receive Holy Communion too frivolously; we must be prepared spiritually. Otherwise, our reception of Holy Communion becomes sacrilegious or a mockery of our faith. No one can truly appreciate the Eucharist if he/she does not want to repent. Thus, those who live in a state of mortal sin as is attested by the Bible and defined by the teaching of the Church, should not receive Holy Communion until they are reconciled with the Church in the sacrament of penance. We need to repent of all the sins, even those that are now widely accepted by society, for example: living in free unions, engaging premarital sex, adultery, committing or promoting abortion—active and passive participation, engaging in active homosexual acts, black magic or fortune-telling practices, contraception, suicidal attempts, blasphemy, deliberately missing mass on holy days of obligation etc.
People who decide to receive the Eucharist without repenting of those sins only delude themselves. It is not real communion for they have already separated themselves from the Church of Christ by the fact of remaining in the state of mortal sin. Moreover, they offend God gravely by an insolent approach toward the sacred mysteries. In other words, they commit the sin of pride, which lies at the basis of all the sins.
Of course one may say that Jesus came to everybody so everybody should have “a right” to receive. It is true, Jesus came to everyone but not everyone was ready or willing to accept Christ’s teaching and then to receive Him. Only those who believed, that is, all who accepted all Jesus’s teaching in its entirety were able to enjoy the graces He bestowed upon them. Notice, that after His resurrection Christ did neither appear to His adversaries nor to anyone who did not believe Him, but only to His disciples. He appeared only to those who believed His Word and followed Him to the Cross.
So if we want to truly enjoy and comprehend the great mystery of the Eucharist let us take seriously what St. Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God” (Romans 12:2).
I strongly recommend to find out more about the Eucharistic miracles, which you can look up on this website http://www.miracolieucaristici.org. I also encourage you to read two great books on the understanding of Holy Mass and the Eucharistic: The Spirit of the liturgy by Joseph Ratzinger and The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn.
I wish you blessed week. Fr. Janusz Mocarski