Bread of Life: God is Love

Bread of Life

BREAD OF LIFE

this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. (john 6: 50)

The miracle of God’s physical presence to us at every Mass is the truest testament to Christ’s love for us and His desire for each of us to have a personal relationship with Him. Jesus Christ celebrated the first Mass with His disciples at the Last Supper, the night before He died. He commanded His disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). The celebration of the Mass then became the main form of worship in the early Church, as a reenactment of the Last Supper, as Christ had commanded. Each and every Mass since commemorates Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross through the Holy Eucharist. Because the Mass “re-presents” (makes present) the sacrifice on Calvary, Catholics all around the world join together to be made present in Christ’s timeless sacrifice for our sins. There is something fascinating about continuing to celebrate the same Mass—instituted by Christ and practiced by the early Church—with the whole community of Catholics around the world…and in heaven.

THE REAL PRESENCE

Why does the Catholic Church believe Christ is really present in the Eucharist?

The Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence is the belief that Jesus Christ is literally, not symbolically, present in the Holy Eucharist—body, blood, soul and divinity. Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist because Jesus tells us this is true in the Bible:

“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 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 which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 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; 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 6:48-56

Furthermore, the early Church Fathers either imply or directly state that the bread and wine offered in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is really the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In other words, the doctrine of the Real Presence that Catholics believe today was believed by the earliest Christians 2,000 years ago!

This miracle of God’s physical presence to us at every Mass is the truest testament to Christ’s love for us and His desire for each of us to have a personal relationship with Him.

Monday, July 18, 2011

O JESUS MY DIVINE SAVIOUR

O my divine saviour, love is what that drew You down here to this poor earth, into the womb of Your dearest mother. Love is was that laid You down as a Child on the poor straw; love it was that moved you to go to go to Your death for us and die on the cross; and love it was that caused Your Heart to be pierced and opened.

O, when I consider this infinite and boundless Love of Yours then my heart is seized with shame, repentance and sorrow, for it loves You so little, it is cold and hard as stone, it does not burn with the fire of Holy Love.
Whatever comes close to fire is seized by it, warmed and enkindled by it. I am close to You, O JESUS, close to Your Heart that burns with love – and yet my heart remains cold, remains untouched.

O JESUS, what must I do, so that love will seize my heart? What must I do, so that for once the fire of my love will be ignited? I do not want to be counted as those who disdain Your Love, who flee from You, who despise You. I want to love you with a whole and undivided heart. I know indeed that those without love remain in death. But You want me to live. Therefore, send a beam of Your Love from Your most loving Heart to penetrate my heart, and it will, it must be ignited. And yet O JESUS that does not satisfy my desire.

I wish to throw myself into the furnace of love which is Your most Sacred Heart, so I may be utterly engulfed by the fire of love. For Your Heart has been opened so that I may enter. O let me enter and find there the precious treasure of love. For You are rich in love; the fire that burns in Your Heart will not diminish, even though the hearts of all mankind should be ignited from it. But I am poor in love. And yet You have heard the prayers of the poor. O give me love, and I will love and be content. JESUS make me love You and You alone, with all my soul, with all my heart. St Gertrude the Great.

Friday, September 17, 2010

LOVE

Brothers and sisters:

Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.

At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corithians 12:31-13:13