Just last week in Confirmation, we talked about Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist! How blessed we are as Catholics to be able to receive His real presence at Mass. I was telling the kids, that the Lord allows miracles all the time: the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear etc. Those miracles that we read about so often in the Gospels that Jesus performed 2,000 years ago are still happening today in His Name! But the GREATEST MIRACLE He gives us is one that happens every time we go to Mass! This is the ordinary bread and wine becoming the precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself during the Consecration! In the Church we call it Transubstantiation: the whole substance of the bread and wine being changed into the actual Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. There was a great Catholic speaker here a few weeks ago in Belize City. His name is Dr. Bob Rice and he used to be a Pentecostal Preacher. As he studied back to the Fathers of our Church, he found the Catholic Church to be the one true Church that Jesus Christ founded. He said that everything Christ was saying in the scriptures, He saw the Catholic Church living out. The one thing he just couldn’t believe on his own, however was that Jesus was really present in the Eucharist and that when the priest put his hands over the ordinary bread and wine, the actual substance was changed and it became His Body and Blood. He told the Lord this one day in Mass after coming to the Catholic Church and when he went to receive communion, he actually saw Christ’s face on the host! He then was praying and realized that if Jesus meant for the bread and wine to just be a symbol, he would have said so in the Gospels, but he did not.
Monday we had all the boys for class, and as we talked to them I asked them what they think about this teaching. Did they know about it and if not, how can they approach this Sacrament differently, now that they do know it’s the real presence of Christ? One boy looked at me and said, "This seems crazy"! It does seem crazy when we aren’t looking through the eyes of faith. Jesus humbles Himself under the ordinary appearance of bread and wine, and even though the appearance does not change, it still becomes His precious Body and Blood during the consecration. We receive His real presence every time we go to Communion and by this we are nourished and given strength. The Lord says that “He who does not eat my Flesh and drink my Blood cannot have life to the fullest!” His Body is True food and His Blood is True drink, which satisfies and nourishes us; every thirst and need that we have he fills and satisfies. The Lord says in John 6, “For my body is true food, and my blood is true drink”. When Jesus told his apostles this, some of them left him, because they did not believe and could not accept Jesus’ words. It did seem crazy to them! If Jesus did not really mean it, you’d think He would have said, “Wait come back, it’s just a symbol it’s not my real presence”. But NO, Jesus did not take back what he said. He let many of His followers leave, because they did not believe and then went on and repeated what he had already said. He re-stated it again at the Last Supper, “Take and eat; this is my Body...take and drink this is my Blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:26-28). He said, “Do this in memory of me”, and so every time we go to Mass we are celebrating the Last Supper. Those words that Jesus used 2,000 years ago, He still says today, and the miracle still happens through the power of the priesthood, and we actually receive his Body and Blood, which is our true food and true drink!
When many of the apostles left, because they could not believe this teaching, Jesus asked Peter if he would leave too and Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life?” The Gospel of John, chapter 6 is something I think all of us as Catholics should read often. If Jesus really means what He says, which He does, and if He is God, which He is, then how can we not believe after reading this? Every Mass that we attend is living out the Last Supper once again! Every Mass is a Healing Mass itself, because we are receiving Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! May our prayer be, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief…I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed”. Not one of the kids had heard about Jesus’ real presence before. But now that they do know, we invited them to make a choice just like the apostles had to do. That day that Jesus gave this teaching, many apostles left, but the 12 remained in faith!
After talking about Jesus’ real presence in class, we were able to bring everyone over to the Church and have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Paul took Jesus out of the Tabernacle and put Him on the altar so that we could worship and adore Him. He then led us through a time of meditation, inviting them to talk to Jesus who is truly present right now! It was inspiring especially on Wednesday to see thirty 12-year old girls completely silent, on their knees before Jesus! This is something I would like to do more often with them once I get back from Christmas, to help them learn how to pray and give them opportunities to be still before Jesus! It is amazing how much Jesus reveals Himself when we take time to be still, listen, and invite Him in. Jesus is standing before all of us, especially in the Most Holy Eucharist, and He says to us today, just like He said to His apostles 2,000 years ago, “Who do you say that I am?” Can we respond, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God?” Can we look at Him in the Eucharist and say, “You are the Savior and the Redeemer of the world, Jesus, I believe?” Please pray for us and for the youth especially, that they may come to know Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and understand His Real Presence that longs to bring healing and freedom!
