John 6:48-51 “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Today's episode talks a bit about what we believe about the Eucharist as Catholics. It also talks about how we can prepare for the Eucharist each and every week before going up for Communion. It also mentions Eucharistic Adoration and how great it is. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Eucharist
John 6:48-51 “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Today’s verse is a difficult teaching. It is one that turned a lot of those following Jesus away from Him. They could not comprehend it, and it did not make any sense to them. It is one that many religions disagree on as well. In the Catholic Church, we believe that the Eucharist becomes the actual body of Christ during mass. We believe that during mass, the priest has the power, through the Holy Spirit, to change the wine and bread into the blood and body of Christ. I do not have all the history of where this came from, but I do know that right here in this verse, Jesus said, “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The word we use for when the bread and wine are changed to the body and blood of the Eucharist is transubstantiation. This means the change by which the substance (though not the appearance) of the bread and wine in the Eucharist becomes Christ’s real presence—that is, his body and blood. This is an amazing miracle that takes place at each and every mass all around the world. The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about the Eucharist and why we believe all that we believe. In CCC 1336, it says, “The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: “This is a hard saying” who can listen to it? The Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery, and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. “Will you also go away?” The Lord’s question echoes through the ages as a loving invitation to discover that only he has “the words of eternal life” and that to receive the faith of the gift of the Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.
My goal today is not to try and convince anyone of the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. My goal is to just talk about how beautiful it is that we get to actually have the body and blood of Jesus as part of our Mass. When we go up for Communion, we are receiving Christ into our bodies. We should prepare our bodies in a similar way that we would prepare a house if we were to have a guest. We must get rid of any mortal sins that we are carrying around. If you missed mass, you must go to Confession before receiving Christ into your body. I know sometimes this can be hard for us because if we truly understand that it is Christ in the Eucharist, then we understand the power of the Eucharist. It can be difficult to find a place and time to go to Confession, or at least that is what the enemy wants us to think. In all actuality, there is probably confession going on most days within a 30-minute radius of you.
However, the enemy makes it very difficult for us to go to Confession because He knows how good it is for our souls. At the time Confession is being offered, we will often forget or have completely random things come up. Every time that we find it is offered, it seems very inconvenient. That is the enemy; don’t let Him fool you. The temptation to go to the Eucharist, even though you have missed Mass, is very strong. We tell ourselves we will go to Confession soon, but we don’t want to miss our chance to receive the graces that go along with Communion. I get it; I have thought the same way in the past. The problem is it is not about us; it is about Christ, and it is about being obedient to the laws of our church. The Church has told us that it is a sin to go to communion when we have a mortal sin on our conscience, and missing Mass is a mortal sin. That means when we go to communion after having missed mass, before confessing in the Sacrament of Confession, then we are sinning again. Do we really want to bring Christ into our bodies when they are not ready?
Another way to prepare ourselves for receiving Christ is to be aware of how amazing it is that His presence is in the Eucharist and be reverent on the way up to the person dispensing it and also on our way back to our seat. Think about how amazing Jesus is and how much He sacrificed for us on the way up to communion. On your way back to your seat, thank Him for all He has done. I heard Dr. Edward Sri talk at a conference once, and He said every time he receives the Eucharist, he says, “Thank you, Lord, please remain in me until I am able to receive you again.” I started saying that on my way back to my seat or right after I got there. Church can be distracting, especially when everyone is walking up to communion. We might be tempted to check out who is at Mass that day and what they are wearing. What if instead of doing that, we just spent the time with our heads down thinking about and talking to God about how amazing He is? Wouldn’t that be a better use of our time?
Another amazing thing we get to do as Catholics is Eucharistic Adoration. Since we believe the Eucharist is the very real presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we can sit and adore Him. If you have not ever gone to Eucharistic Adoration, I recommend you give it a try. You get to sit in the room and adore Jesus. There is no set thing you have to do when you spend time with Him, either. You can pray, you can talk to Him, you can write in your prayer journal, and you can ask Him to help you work on something. For instance, I will go to adoration to write some of my talks or to work on my book. You can also sit there and do nothing. I will admit this is the hardest for me. It is hard for me just to go and sit with Him. I feel guilty like I should be doing something. However, He loves it when we just sit with Him.
I hope you enjoyed today's look at the Eucharist. I received this verse from the Lord yesterday, and yet I was unsure what exactly He wanted me to say about it. I was also unsure if I should talk about it as I know many people who listen to this, and yet they are not Catholic. However, I felt the Lord wanted me to talk about it, and today, I feel He gave me a lot more info about what He wanted me to say. If you are Catholic and you are listening, I hope this episode helps give you a bit more reverence for what is actually going on at Mass and how you can prepare your body a bit to receive the Eucharist. I hope it gave you some ideas of what to do on your way up to communion and what to do afterward. I hope this is only the beginning and that you explore more about it on your own. If you are not Catholic, I hope this provided you with a bit more insight into why we believe what we believe, and I am always happy to answer any questions you may have.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing. Thank you for the gift of your son. Thank you that He not only came to walk the Earth to teach us, not only did He sacrifice His life to save us, but He also is alive and well in the Eucharist, which, in some parts of the world, is available to us each and every day. Thank you so much for Eucharistic Adoration as well. Thank you for giving us so many opportunities to adore you and glorify you. Lord, help us to see that we should prepare our bodies for you each week. Help us to see what we are doing that might get in the way of us receiving you in a state of grace. Convict our hearts to change anything that is not right, Lord. We love you tons, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I spoke with the retreat house yesterday to see if I could go and take some photos to upload to the retreat registration site. She said she would be happy to send me some photos. She said the new beds will be delivered this week. She said there were lots of enhancements this summer for sure. I am getting so excited as the retreat is just five weeks away! If you have not signed up yet and want to come, please consider signing up soon, as it will be helpful for planning purposes if I know how many people will be coming. You can always sign up now and pay later. That way, I will have a head count. CLICK HERE for retreat info and registration. I look forward to getting to spend the weekend with some of you! I look forward to bringing you another witness tomorrow as well. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!