Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Eucharistic Table

Here is what happens when the bread turns into the Body: the texture of the bread remains bread and the make-up of the wine remains wine. But the Body of Jesus will appear mysteriously in it in a real sense. The same real sense as he is present in the communities and in His Church.

Jesus' presence in the Eucharist is a mystery. The most beautiful mystery of our faith. This is the teaching of the Church. This presence is the same, the presence of the Lord Jesus, in the communities and in the Church itself. How could this be a different presence if the Lord is One? (Shema, Israel...) 

About the mystical presence of the Lord in the Eucharist: 
1386 In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom the faithful pray in the same spirit: "O Son of God, bring me into communion today with your mystical supper."
About the unity of the Mystical Body: 
1396 The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body - the Church. (...) "If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord." 
About the sacraments:
1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments.
(The Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Jesus' presence in the Eucharist is a mystery. It is true, it is the teaching of the Church. St. John Chrysostom tells us to pray: "O Son of God, bring me into communion today with your mystical supper." (1386)

Jesus is present in the Eucharist in a real sense. The Catechism adds "which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too". (1374) The protestants do not acknowledge the real presence.

The uniqueness of the presence in the Eucharist is unique among the sacraments. That is what 1374 says.

This presence of the Lord extends to the communities and to the Church proper through the Mystical Body (1396). We are members of the Mystical Body and experience the same Lord, who is One.

"If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord." (1396) The  table of the Lord is the Eucharistic table.

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