Monday-Thursday: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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The Eucharist is the Heart of the Church
(Excerpt from Pope St. John Paul II’s homily at the close of the 46th International Eucharistic Congress in Wroclaw, June 1, 1997)
“Christ has died. Christ is risen.
Christ will come again in glory.”
These words contain the very essence of the Eucharistic mystery. In them we find what we bear witness to and share in every day as we celebrate and receive the Eucharist.
In the Upper Room, Jesus effects the consecration.
By virtue of His words,
the bread –
while keeping the external appearance of bread –
becomes His Body,
and the wine –
while maintaining the external appearance of wine –
becomes His Blood.
This is the Great Mystery of Faith! This is the Living Bread Which Came Down From Heaven!”
(Excerpt from Pope St. John Paul II’s homily continued.)
“I Am the Living Bread” (John 6:51).
The message of John’s Gospel completes the
liturgical picture of this great
Eucharistic mystery that we are celebrating today.
The words of John’s Gospel are the
great proclamation of the Eucharist,
after the miraculous multiplication of bread,
near Capernaum.
Anticipating as it were the time
even before the Eucharist was instituted,
Christ revealed what it was.
He spoke thus:
“I Am the Living Bread which came down from heaven;
if anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever;
and the Bread which I shall give for the life of the world
is My Flesh” (John 6:51).
And when these words brought protests from many who were listening Jesus added:
“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;
he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
For My Flesh is food indeed,
and My Blood is drink indeed.
He who eats My Flesh
and drinks My Blood
abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).
~Saintly thoughts on the Holy Eucharist~
“What wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension!
O sublime humility! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble Himself like this under the form of a little bread, for our salvation.””…In this world I cannot see
the Most High Son of God
with my own eyes, except for
His Most Holy Body and Blood.”-
-St. Francis of Assisi
“Since Christ Himself has said, “This is My Body” who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?”
– St. Cyril of Jerusalem