Is the Eucharist just one gift among many others?
"The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift – however precious – among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work."
Is the Eucharist confined to the past?
"Nor does it remain confined to the past, since all that Christ is – all that he did and suffered for all men – participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times"
Does the Mass repeat the sacrifice of the Cross?
"The Mass makes present the sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it. What is repeated is its memorial celebration, its “commemorative representation” (memorialis demonstratio), which makes Christ's one, definitive redemptive sacrifice always present in time. "
Does the Eucharist commemorates and makes present only the sacrificial death of Christ?
"The Eucharistic Sacrifice makes present not only the mystery of the Saviour's passion and death, but also the mystery of the resurrection which crowned his sacrifice."
Besides the words at the Last Supper, did Jesus say anything about the Eucharist?
“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57). Jesus himself reassures us that this union, which he compares to that of the life of the Trinity, is truly realized. The Eucharist is a true banquet, in which Christ offers himself as our nourishment. When for the first time Jesus spoke of this food, his listeners were astonished and bewildered, which forced the Master to emphasize the objective truth of his words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you” (Jn 6:53). This is no metaphorical food: “My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (Jn 6:55).
Answers from John Paul II's Ecclesia de Eucharistia
Posted by Carlos J. Medina
No comments:
Post a Comment