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Catholicism Week 14Mystery of the Liturgy and the Eucharist - Part 2

In our last class we spent time studying the beginning of Mass, as we looked at the Liturgy of the Word. This week we begin with the Liturgy of the Eucharist starting with the offering. Bishop tells us at this very point in the Mass we are about to experience an encounter. Even in our human encounters we typically begin with some conversation and then very often we sit down to a meal. The Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Mass could be thought of in a very similar way, the difference being, we are encountering Christ Himself, His very presence in the Mass. During the Liturgy of the Word, Christ speaks to us through His Sacred Word, and we respond through our various responses in that part of the Mass, we are talking with each other. Yes, we are really having conversation with Jesus. Then we prepare to participate in a meal with the risen Saviour, Christ our Lord. Jesus is not only the host of the meal welcoming us to His banquet table, He is also the meal itself. Let that sink in for a while. He presents us with a living eternal sacrifice, He offers Himself for us to take into our own bodies to be strengthened and nourished.

Bishop makes this statement that requires some contemplation on our part, “in a world gone wrong, there is no communion without sacrifice.” I really had to think about this for a prolonged moment or two. What is Bishop trying to tell us…and then it dawned on me, in a perfect world no sacrifice in needed, communion between all of us and with God would also perfect, just like it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. But when that perfect world was made imperfect with sin, sacrifice became necessary for communion with each other and with God to become a reality once again. Sin twisted our relationship with God out of shape, to the point that fallen man was only centered on himself, creating a separation from our creator. True worship and entering once again into intimate communion with God required a painful twisting back into shape as we approached God, through some sort of sacrifice on our part. In animal sacrifice man was taking one

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small aspect of God’s creation, and we returned it to its source, God, by the shedding of its blood. That was an act of man showing gratitude to God for man’s own existence and that of the entire creation, that required a blood sacrifice.

Keep in mind, God is perfect, He does not need a sacrifice, God doesn’t need anything. We are the ones that need

sacrifice, we are the ones that need change in our sinful lives in order to restore communion with God in our twisted disordered lives. Sacrifice produces communion, and that is the whole logic behind the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As this part of the Mass begins small amounts of bread, water, and wine are brought forward to the priest to be offered in the Mass. Bread and wine represent wheat and the fruit of the vine, also bringing to mind earth, water, wind, sunshine…all the elements of the cosmos…the entire creation of God. Then the priest speaks these amazing and wonderful words, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness, we have received the bread and wine we offer you.” As we offer the bread and the wine to our Father God, who does not need them, He in turn receives our simple offering and He then blesses them and elevates them to the highest level, transforming simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ Himself.

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If you had any questions about the Mass on earth being joined to the Heavenly Liturgy, the Holy, Holy, Holy should be a clear and resounding answer to that question. “We join our voices with the angels and archangels” …time collapses and the veil between heaven and earth is pulled back, and there is the heavenly hosts singing with us, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord. What a powerful moment, and the best is to yet to come. We are in this eternal moment giving God all the glory, none of that glory comes to us or anyone else, to God be the glory, forever and

ever and ever. And right after we sing that, the priest reinforces words even more…” You are indeed Holy Oh Lord, and all that You have created, rightly gives you praise, for through Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and the working of the Holy Spirit, You give life to all things, and make them Holy.”

Then the priest places his hands over the bread and the wine and implores the Holy Spirit to descend on simple bread and wine, and transform them into the Body and Blood of Jesus, “Therefore Oh Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit, graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration. That they may become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” The priest then begins to speak what is know as the institutional narrative, recalling from the gospels that Jesus took bread and gave thanks. He now dramatically moves from a third person context to first person, quoting directly from the Sacred Scripture and the very words of Jesus, “Take this all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body which will be given up for you.” The priest then picks up the cup of wine, now transformed into the Blood of Christ, again speaking in the third person again describing how Jesus took the chalice of wine and gave thanks…followed once again with the exact words of Jesus, “This is the

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chalice of My Blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins.” The heart of the Catholic faith now tells us that Jesus has in these very moments become truly and substantially present to His people through the transforming of the bread and the wine, into Jesus’ Body, and Blood, Soul and Divinity. I don’t know what you would call that, I call it a miracle.

Bishop’s video then takes us to Capernaum, the city where the events of the Gospel of John chapter 6 take place. For Catholics, this is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. That chapter begins with Jesus feeding the 5000 with five barley loaves and two fish. The multitude was so moved by this great miracle, Jesus could see they were going to take Him by force and make him king. He withdrew where they could not find Him. Later His disciples got in a boat headed to Capernaum, and Jesus followed them walking on the Sea of Galilee. I love this verse, John 6:21 (RSV2CE) 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

The crowd found Him the next day across the Sea of Galilee, and they came seeking more miraculous signs. But Jesus told them to seek Him as the bread of life, not miraculous bread made of barley. He told them that he was the bread come down from heaven, the only bread that could satisfy the longing of their souls. Here is where the sparks begin to fly.

John 6:48–59 (RSV2CE) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread

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which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

These are the words that so offended the Jews present in that crowd, they had been told since childhood that eating the flesh of a man was evil, they were confused and extremely offended. Throughout the Old Testament there are various commands not to eat the flesh of animals with blood. Here is a human being saying that He was the bread come down from heaven, and that they must eat his flesh and drink His blood. I can truly see some of them covering their ears. This was the perfect time for Jesus to correct Himself if His words were not to be taken literally, but instead as symbolic. But He didn’t…Jesus doubled down.

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in

him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.” 59 This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Caperna-um.

When the crowd objects to the physical realism of what Jesus was saying, Jesus intensifies even more what He is saying. The word he used for “eating his flesh” was not the normal word used for humans eating flesh, the word Jesus used was the one describing the way animals gnaw flesh while they are eating. In one 24-hour day, scores of his disciples in that crowd went from wanting to make Jesus

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King, to now turning their backs on Him and never following Him again. It is so interesting to me, the many Protestants that proudly take the Bible literally, except for John chapter 6. That still amazes me, and this chapter is still separating Christians to this very day.

John 6:66–71 (RSV2CE) 66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him. 67 Jesus said to the Twelve, “Will you also go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71

He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was to betray him.

Then Bishop Barron takes us to the Cathedral in Orvieto, Italy. Jackie and I were there three years ago, I could have sat across from the front of that church and just looked at all that was built into the front of that Cathedral all day long…and never taken it all in. In 1263 a priest named Peter Prague was on pilgrimage to Rome and stopped in the tiny village Bolsena to celebrate Mass. He had doubts about the validity of the Mass and especially the real presence of the Body and the Blood. Right after the words of consecration, blood began to flow from the host and run down his hands and arms onto the corporal on the altar. He was so confused and emotionally moved he went immediately to Orvieto where Pope

Urban IV was, confessing his sin and throwing himself on the mercy of the Church. The Pope then sent a delegation to Bolsena to retrieve that corporal and bring it back to Orvieto, where it is to this very day. Pope Urban

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initiated a new feast in the Church after this eucharistic miracle, I think you have heard of it, Corpus Christi, celebrating the Body of Christ. The Pope commissioned a new “Office” to be composed, songs and hymns, for the new feast of Corpus Christi, and guess who was there in Orvieto ready to compose those beautiful songs and hymns for the new Office, Thomas Aquinas…wouldn’t you know it. Thomas Aquinas loved the Mass and especially the Eucharist.

Thomas is the one that came up the word, transubstantiation, describing what happens to the bread and wine after the words of consecration. Transubstantiation does not tell us how that happens, just what takes place. I would like to simplify that understanding a bit this morning. I admit, I get confused when Thomas uses words like accidents and substance. Bishop helped me in understanding transubstantiation by using words like reality and appearance. Simply put, the deepest reality of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Jesus, but the appearance of the bread and wine remains the same. It really comes down to…do you believe it or not. That doubting priest that had Jesus’ blood running down his hands and arms quickly became a believer. Blessed are those that do not see, and yet believe. I love the example that Bishop used to acknowledge that sometimes reality and appearance are not the same in our every day lives, not just during the Mass. Looking at the stars, we are not seeing the stars that are there right now, but instead stars that were there, because it has taken the light of those stars millions of years to finally reach us…and many of them no longer exist, even though we see their light here and now.

Bishop then goes into an important discussion of the power of words, using the example of someone at a party coming up to you and saying, “you’re under arrest” and everybody gets a chuckle. But if that person that comes up to you has policeman’s badge and uniform and has been duly sworn to uphold the law, his words are very different…you really are under arrest, his words has changed reality. That is just considering human words, but now consider the words that

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God Himself speaks. He spoke the universe into existence with His words. The prophet Isaiah said it very well, Isaiah 55:10–11 (RSV2CE) 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I intend, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Jesus is the word of God made flesh, His words are God’s words, and they changed reality. “Lazarus come forth”, and the dead came back to life, “little girl get up”, and the girl got up. The night before He went to the cross, He took bread and spoke these words, “this is My body”. And then he took and cup of wine and spoke these words, “this chalice is the chalice of my blood”. These are divine words

spoken by the Son of the Living God. Doubt them if you want, but I will believe them for the rest of my life on this earth.

“Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, Oh God Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.” The priest is in essence offering to the Father, the living and eternal sacrifice of the Son, in the Holy of Holies. Not with the blood of goats and bulls, but with the divine blood of Jesus Himself. Adam and Eve suffered from a bad meal eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But reality has changed for you and me here at the banquet table of Our Lord Jesus. Now his sons and daughters are invited to come and eat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Now we receive the bread come down from heaven that strengthen us and nourish for our journey on this earth. Then we are blessed and sent forth… “go forth the Mass has ended”. In other words, go change your world.

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