2432AFC080924 – The Really Real Reality – ← 😊 PODCAST LINK
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John 6:51 – 51 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.”
1 Kings 19:8 – 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
Psalm 34:8 a – 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
Ephesians 5:1-2 – 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Genesis 8:21 – 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor*, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
* han-nî-ḥō-aḥ rê-aḥ→ a quieting, soothing, tranquilizing, savory – רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ odor of soothing (to God)
May Peace always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd! Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes as I continue with the recuperation after my 10-day stay at Kauaʻi Veterans’ Memorial Hospital (KVMH). The care I received there was actually the best hospital stay I’ve ever had, and I’ve got more than a few under my pillow. There is still much to be done with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and possible respiratory therapy assistance. Nonetheless, I am significantly improved, and grateful to have regained at better altitude.
Today’s message, as you might expect, will be foreshortened. I ask you to review these Key Verses as you consider the following personal testimony.
If you are not a Christian, none of this will make any sense, and that’s OK. It is a testimony, not a diatribe, so you can choose when, if, and/or how to tune in or out. If you are a non-Catholic Christian, you may find this discomforting; some might even find it insulting or completely wrong-headed. If you are a Catholic Christian, you’ve probably (or most certainly should have) heard this before. The topic is The Real Presence of Christ. Back in the 80’s, a survey from the Pew Research Center stated that about 35% of American Catholics (and perhaps in other places, an even lower percent) were willing to state they believed in the Real Presence. As recently as last year, a similar poll indicated that ratio flipped 180° so that now an estimated ⅔ of American Catholics profess to believe in the Real Presence. That, for me, is totally-wonderful news. It is my observation that the emphasis on the primacy of the Eucharist over the past 5 years from the Ambo and in sessions for faith formation has brought about this result. I can categorically state that since the day the water of Baptism first hit my shiny pate, the Real Presence, also sometimes termed the True Presence, is a Really Real Reality. Now, what is meant by The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist?
This Mystery of Faith states that the entire Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus the Christ of God is completely present in the elements offered during the Eucharistic Prayer – the simple unleavened bread that is offered becomes the Most Holy Body of Christ, and the wine offered becomes the Most Precious Blood of Christ. How? It’s a Mystery – an Action of God that is utterly incomprehensible. The bread does not become a sliver of meat one might gag on, and the wine does not become a drizzle of blood in the mouth. The species offered become the Gifts Given at the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper of the Lord. Older Catholics will recall the tongue twister word TRANSUBSTANTIATION. The simplest way to describe that is that the bread and wine are metaphysically transformed into the actually Resurrected Body and Blood of Christ. It is passed on to us from The Apostle Paul who states he himself received it from the Lord. It can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-27 –
The Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Partaking of the Supper Unworthily
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.
This formula is first presented in the Gospels. We’ll look at the Gospel of the Apostle Mark as an example: Mark 14:22-25 – 22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
The Mystery of the Real Presence also states that the entire Real Presence of Christ is completely present in both species – e.g., the bread and wine once they are consecrated by the Priest – so that if one were to receive just a speck of the consecrated Bread as the Body of Christ, that speck would convey to the one consuming it in Faith the entire Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Same for just a sip of the consecrated wine as the Precious Blood of Christ. “Impossible” some might say. I’ve also heard words like preposterous, ridiculous, sheer superstition, and even blasphemy. That’s OK. This is my Testimony, and I have written all of the above (which is far more than I thought I had in me) to tell you:
This is the Really Real Reality. That’s my account, I believe it, and I’m sticking to it.
The image you see in the location where the Key Verse Key is usually posted is call a Monstrance. It is used to display a consecrated host – a wafer of unleavened bread which IS the True Presence of Jesus the Christ of God. the Monstrance – from the Latin monstrare – to show, → Monstrance → Demonstration or proof. We are often invited to sit quietly before the Monstrance and to meditate on and give adoration to the True Presence of Christ. My testimony is that this is a powerful experience to reflect on the absolutely Perfect Love that made the Salvation of God in Christ Jesus personably accessible – that is, if one believes in the Real Presence of Christ. If one does not, for whatever reason, then one is just sitting in front of a pretty bauble with a piece of bread showing. That would be a very great and very sad loss in my estimation.
Thank you for your attention if you’ve gotten this far. Know that wherever you “come down” in this spectrum of belief, God still loves you (me too), and Christ still died for you and offers you all of him. We know that we become what we eat, and when we eat the Body and Blood of Christ, we become part of the Body of Christ – that is, the Church – and take the next best step to becoming wholly whole. We shall be fed on the Living Bread come down from heaven, and then get up and journey toward our Lord unhindered as was Elijah. The reality of the Real Presence is how and why we taste and see the Goodness of the Lord. Having consumed Love, we become Love and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Because when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor*, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. There is a point in the Eucharistic Prayer where the Body and Blood of Christ are elevated above the Altar. Seeing this, my heart and soul quietly pray, “My Lord and my God! My Jesus, I Love Thee (↔ Music Link) Open hearts believe, and those who believe receive.
That is The Really Real Reality of the Holy Eucharist, and that is my testimony based on the Absolutely Perfect Plan.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
