"Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the
Lord." - 1 Cor. 11:27
(From the Council of Trent)
Canon
1: If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist
are contained truly, really and substantially the body and blood
together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
consequently the whole Christ, but says that He is in it only as in a
sign, or figure or force, let him be anathema.
Canon 2: If anyone
says that in the sacred and, holy sacrament of the Eucharist the
substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denies that wonderful and singular
change of the whole substance of the bread into the body and the whole
substance of the wine into the blood, the appearances only of bread and
wine remaining, which change the Catholic Church most aptly calls
transubstantiation, let him be anathema.
Canon 3: If anyone
denies that in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist the whole Christ
is contained under each form and under every part of each form when
separated,let him be anathema.
Canon 4: If anyone says that after
the consecration is completed, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ are not in the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist, but are
there only , while being taken and not before or after, and that in the
hosts or CONSECRATED PARTICLES which are reserved or which remain after
communion, the true body of the Lord does not remain, let him be
anathema.
Canon 6: If anyone says that in the holy sacrament of
the Eucharist, Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored
with the worship of latria . . . let him be anathema.
See the rest of the Canons of the Council of Trent on the Most Holy Eucharist. As you can see what we believe is very clear.
(ANATHEMA...
Does it mean what you think it means? I include the following not to
condemn and nor does the Church condemn, but to show the severity of
the situation on this matter.)
"Wherefore in the name of God the
All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince
of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has
been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive
N-- himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the
Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the
society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy
Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated
and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan
and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the
fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him
to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of
judgement."
(The Church has ALWAYS believed in the Eucharist...From the Early Church)
"This
food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake
except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has
received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who
lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as
common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being
incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also
we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer
which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by
transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."- Justin
Martyr's First ApologyCh. 66, inter A.D. 148-155.
"They do not
admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the
flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His
graciousness, raised from the dead." -Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to
the Smyrnaeans paragraph 6. circa 80-110 A.D.
If you have a problem with all of this... I am sorry, but your problem
is with God. He instituted the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source
and summit of the Catholic faith. Safe guarding this Sacred Mystery
should be the first thing on the minds and hearts of every Catholic. How
can we recognize Christ in his distressing disguise of the poor if we
cannot recognize him in his humble disguise of the host?
Perhaps an alternative to New Zealand. Thanks to Fr. Varghese whom I got to do some catching up with last Friday as he was back for a break from his studies in Boston.
Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug 14, 2007 / 10:36 am (CNA).-
The first cloistered Benedictine monastery has been inaugurated in
Indonesia, in the western city of Kupang. The monastery is the result of
ten years of work by Indonesians and some Italian young people from the
Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie di Orte, in Viterbo, Italy.
Father Mauro Pace, pastor of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in
Orte, Italy, who also participated in the project, explained that in
Orte, “We have had a Benedictine monastery for 300 years. A nun from
this monastery visited Indonesia and saw there was great interest
there.”
“There were many young girls who wanted to experience religious
life,” he went on. “Therefore, this collaboration began between the
Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie di Orte and Indonesia.”
“In the last twelve or thirteen years,” the Italian priest said,
“some thirty girls have come and the Bishop of Kupang suggested the idea
of having a Benedictine presence in Indonesia, where this type of
spirituality does not exist.”
In this day’s gospel we read, that a
certain man fell into the hands of robbers, who, after having taken his money,
wounded him, and left him half dead. A Samaritan who passed by, saw him, and
taking pity on him, bound up his wounds, brought him to an inn, and left him to
the care of the host, saying: "Take care of him." These words I this
day address to those, if there be any such among you, who, though their souls
are wounded by sin, instead of attending to the care of them, continually
aggravate the wounds by new sins, and thus abuse the mercy of God, who
preserves their lives, that they may repent, and not be lost forever. I say to
you: Brethren, take care of your souls, which are in a very bad state; have
compassion on them. "Have pity on thy own soul (Eccl. xxx. 24)." Your
souls are sick, and what is worse they are near the eternal death of hell; for
he who abuses to excess the divine mercy, is on the point of being abandoned by
the mercy of God. This shall be the subject of the present discourse.
St.
Augustine says that the devil deludes Christians in two ways "by despair
and hope." After a person has committed sin, the enemy, by placing before
his eyes the rigour of divine justice, tempts him to despair of the mercy of
God. But, before he sins, the devil by representing to him the divine mercy,
labours to make him fearless of the chastisement due to sin. Hence the saint
gives the following advice: "After sin, hope for mercy; before sin, fear
justice." If, after sin, you despair of God’s pardon, you offend him by a
new and more grievous sin. Have recourse to His mercy, and He will pardon you.
But, before sin, fear God’s justice, and trust not to His mercy; for, they who
abuse the mercy of God to offend him, do not deserve to be treated with mercy.
Abulensis says, that the man who offends justice may have recourse to mercy;
but to whom can they have recourse, who offend and provoke mercy against
themselves?