theology
Jesus promised he would always be with us and fulfills his promise by giving the church the gift of his real presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
What does the real presence mean?
- The sacrament of the Eucharist is the heart and summit of the Church’s life.
In this sacrament our gifts of bread and wine are consecrated by
The Holy Spirit
The words of the priest
What appears to be bread and wine is no longer bread and wine instead it is Christ as God and man.
Transubstantiation is the term that is used to describe the unique change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
Eucharistic miracles- extraordinary events where the Eucharist no longer appears under the form of the bread and wine but takes on the biological qualities of human flesh/blood or both
Sacrifice- a response of praise and gratitude to God comes from a Latin word that means “to make Holy”
-the Ancient Israelites celebrated and expressed their relationship with God through the offering of sacrifice.
Sacrifice in Religious History
***a religious rite in which an object is offered to a divinity in order to establish, maintain or restore a right relationship of a human to the sacred order.
–a complex phenomenon that has been found in the earliest known forms of worship and in all parts of the world.
-believed to serve as the best way through which man maintains a relationship between himself and his object of worship
-humanity can influence the divinity to be interested in human affairs
Bread, wine, and scripture
-it was the Israelites way of acknowledging everything ultimately comes from and belongs to God
-expressing their gratitude for all God blessed them with.
Jesus’ own sacrifice- his own suffering and death on the cross and his resurrection, were prefigured in the Israelites sacrificial rituals.
The sacrifice of Christ is prefigured in the 3 well-known bread stories:
The story of the priest-king, Melichizedek, who brought out bread and wine
The command to eat unleavened bread during Passover.
The story of God providing manna during the Exodus journey.
Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and the fish is one of the most significant passages in the narrative of Jesus’ earthly ministry
It is present in all 4 gospels:
Matthew
Mark
Luke
john
Jesus has taught them a multitude of people who came to hear him speak- he heals their sick and in his great compassion he is moved to address their physical hunger.
Christian tradition sees in the Gospel of the loaves and the fish the faith of in the Eucharist he also satisfies the Apostolic Church in the Eucharist.
In this story Jesus fully satisfies his people
He satisfies their spiritual hunger
Their physical hunger with the miracle through his presence and compassion.
In John’s Gospel we read that Jesus is the “BREAD OF LIFE”
-”THE LIVING BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN”
We realize that he is present with us and feeds us in a unique way in the Eucharist.
In his sacrifice and offering of himself in the Eucharist Jesus also satisfies our spiritual hunger for God.
The word “Eucharist derives from the Greek word meaning to give thanks
-when we celebrate the Eucharist we join with christ and through the power of the holy spirit give thanks, praise, and glory to God
In the Eucharist Christ unites us with himself and the same sacrifice he offered once and for all on the cross is made present again.
This profound mystery allows us to partake in his body and blood, nurturing our relationship with him and strengthening our faith as a community.