What Religious Liberty?
The Incredible Ever-Expanding Dead End
Anti-Cure, Anti-Life
Whose Values in
Education?
Toppling
Dominos
Anti-Christians
don't have to be Hypocrites but Many Volunteer
Intolerant Tolerance
The Emperor's
Clothes or a Cheap Tuxedo
The Myth of
Hitler's Pope, Part I
The Myth of
Hitler's Pope, Part II
Embryonic
Stem Cell Research Again
The Madness of
Secularism
"Don't Impose Your
Religion on Me"
Dictatorship of Relativism
Two Babies at Christmas
Living Will or Death
Warrant?
Court Ordered
Slow Motion Torture-Death Sentence
Men in Black
A Lot of Hot Air
The Culture War
Battles
"Stay with us, Lord"
Secular-to-English Dictionary
Moral Guidance for
Catholics in this Election
Christians
Losing America
Stem Cell Wars
Catholic
Pro-Abortion Politicians and Communion
Useful Idiots
Who Killed Jesus?
A Primer on Gay
Marriage
Whose Side are You
on?
Vouchers Revisited
Real and Fake
Cloning Bans
Broken Compasses
No Room in the Inn
Killing Fields
Revisited
Gay but not Merry
Adam and Steve?
The Battle for the Court
Victimless Crimes
More Salt, Please
The Next Big Fight
When Religion
Becomes Evil
Virginity Making a Comeback?
You've Come a Long Way,
Baby
The Incarnational
Approach
The Many Meanings of ACLU
Things Your Media Never Told
You
A Nasty Little Secret
Two Points of View on the Birth of Jesus
You Gotta Kill Them. How Else
Are They Going To Learn?
Perplexing Christmas Questions
How Do You See Christ Today?
Now that there is Another Ewe, will there be
Another You?
What is Conscience Anyhow?
Divorce of Love and Life
What Counts as a Mass?
What is a Covenant?
I Wish I had Your Faith
Are there Too Many Decrees of
Nullity?
Dutch Treats
Ecumenism
Going from Baby Doe to Granny Doe
Comments of Evangelium Vitae
The Exception Corrupts the Rule
Good Morality or
Good Medicine
Generation-X'ers Smart in Every Way But
One
A Matter of Good Breeding
Herod and Pontius Pilate at the
Polls
Hitler's Pope or Righteous Gentile?
The Unknown God
What exactly is wrong with
homosexuality?
Ideology Trumps Science, Reality,
and Common Sense
What Exactly is an Indulgence?
Infallibility and Error in the Church
Pilate Asked, "What is Truth?"
The Truth about Families
New Killing Fields
Choice of Language and Language of
Choice
A Lexicon for Our Day
Why are there so many bodies?
Marijuana, Medicine or Menace?
Medical Research and Ethics
Meditation
"You Taught me well,
Mommie dearest"
Moral Fallout
Neutral on the Wrong
Side
"These are the
Nineties After All"
Many are Wed but Few
are Married
"...Prepare him for
additional obligations"
A Useful Lie
A Partridge in a
Pear Tree
Religious Persecution in
the U.S.?
What Makes a Person a
Person?
The Point of a Point of
View
Politically Correct,
Morally Depraved
Population
Controllers out of Control
Practical Dreamers
Social Progress
through Immorality
Shall we Do Evil for
Goodness Sake?
Reason and Faith
Resurrection Glory
Same Sex Marriages?
Pearl of Great Price
"I used to be
schizophrenic, but we're all right now"
Sexual Morality
Irrelevant in Judging Public Officials?
Undesirable Side Effects
Some News is Good News
SOSSLQ's, not POSSLQ's
Spoils of Splits
Why Attend Mass
Every Sunday?
Is it All Right to Pull
the Plug?
An Appeal for Intolerance
Topics Catechetical
A Voting Catechism
A Moral Guide to
Voting
Vouchers: Has Their Time Come?
What Child is This?
What did they die of?
You are the Man
You may be a liberal
if...
Get Rid of that Worthless
Relative
Planned Un-Parenthood
Weighing Pro-Life Issues
Prior to Voting
|
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by Monsignor James C. Brunner |
Faith Points |
“Stay with us, Lord”
Christmas is called the Incarnation, the Word or the Son of God becoming flesh. There were many motives for the Son of God to make his dwelling among us. Chief among these is that the Son of God assumed our human nature so that he could act in the name of humanity in making up for its rebellion against God and could redeem us. As man he acted in our name; as God his actions had an infinite value, sufficient to pay the debt of our sins.
Another motive was a desire for a communion between God and humanity. God longs for the creature: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name.” (Is. 4:15-16) The creature also longs for God: “O God, you are my God— for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, like a land parched, lifeless, and without water.” (Ps. 63:2) The birth of the Son of God in Bethlehem fulfilled in an unexpected way the desire for communion with God. In the Eucharist which Jesus established he deepens the communion between God and humanity.
Through the Eucharist Jesus becomes the source of the vitality and unity of the Church which is his body. The Church’s durability is unique in history. Some have guessed that the Church has lasted for 2,000 years because of its organization. But other governments and empires have been well organized. We can think of the empires of Alexander the Great and Rome. Neither lasted twenty centuries although they had armies at their command and were not inhibited by moral scruples in their use. The real reason for the Church’s vitality and unity is the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is responsible for the vitality of the Church. One of the richest substances in the world is blood plasma. The blood carries the rich plasma through a network of arteries and veins that reaches each cell in the body. The blood gives each cell whatever it needs for nourishment and also removes waste matter from the cells resulting in a purifying effect.
The nutritional effect on the Church can be found in John 6:53-58. There are a dozen references to eating and drinking in these verses.
Just as the blood in our bodies purifies its cells so does the Eucharist purify the members of the Church. The Eucharist separates us from sin since we receive Christ who was “handed over for us” and we drink the blood that was poured out “for the forgiveness of sins.” The Eucharist removes venial sins because it increases love of God. It lessens inclination to sin because of the increase of charity. It revives our love so that we can break disordered bonds with creatures and root ourselves in Christ. The Eucharist helps preserve us from future sins because the more we grow in friendship and love with Jesus the harder it is for us to break these relationships. The Eucharist not only purifies our souls but it will also heal our bodies. Each time we receive the Eucharist we receive a pledge of a glorious resurrection. “I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn. 6:54)
As the Eucharist is the life-giving blood of the Church the Mass is the great heart of the Church. If the Mass were to cease and the heart of the Church would no longer pump the blood of the Eucharist to nourish its members the Church would die. We have assurances from Jesus that this will never happen to the entire Church, but there are areas of the Church that have all but died.
The Eucharist is the source of the unity of the Church. Paul tells us, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” (I Cor. 10:16-17) Members of the Body of Christ the Church who receive the Eucharist are more closely united to one another than they are to their own parents, children, brothers, or sisters. A Catholic in Texas who receives the Eucharist is more closely united to a pygmy chief in Africa who receives than he is to his own brother who does not receive. Recipients share a common body and blood, that of Jesus. So without the Eucharist the Church would soon disintegrate just as the Greek and Roman Empires did no matter how well organized it seems to be.
The Holy Father has declared October 2004 to October 2005 as the Year of the Eucharist. In his Apostolic Letter entitled Mane nobiscum Domine (Stay with us, Lord) he mentions certain attitudes and programs that will make our communion with God closer. He states that Sunday Eucharist must be observed as the day of the risen Lord and of the gift of the Spirit, a true weekly Easter. (#8) We are to recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread (Lk. 24:35). Before breaking the bread for the Emmaus disciples he instructed them (Lk. 24:27). His words “burned” in their hearts and awakened in them a desire to have Jesus remain with them. (#11-#12) The Eucharist must be well celebrated with all ministers carrying out their assigned tasks. (#17) There is a need to cultivate a lively awareness of Christ’s real presence. (#18) When the Emmaus disciples asked Jesus to stay with them he found a way to remain in them through the Eucharist. (#19)
The Holy Father states that the Eucharist is the source of Church unity and its greatest manifestation. (#21) At each Eucharist Christians should measure themselves against the ideal which the Acts of the Apostles sets as the model for every age. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) (#22) At Sunday mass, Christians relive with particular intensity the experience of the Apostles on the evening of Easter, when the Risen Lord appeared to them (cf. Jn. 20:19).” “During this year of grace, priests in their pastoral ministry should be even more attentive to Sunday Mass as the celebration which brings together the entire parish community, with the participation of different groups, movements and associations.” (#23) As the Emmaus disciples set out immediately after they had seen the Lord Christians who meet Jesus in the Eucharist should give themselves to testimony and evangelization. The dismissal at the end of Mass is a charge given to Christians, inviting them to work for the spread of the Gospel and the imbuing of society with Christian values. (#24 and #26) Our Eucharistic celebrations will be judged as authentic to the degree that concern for those in need will mark us as true followers of Christ. See Jn. 13:35; Mt. 25:31-46. (#28)
Each Eucharist is a renewal of the Incarnation. Christmas happens every day.
(Published December, 2004)
