❀ ❀ ❀
Once upon a time two Religious were preaching a Mission in a certain parish. They preached with zeal and eloquence, but it was of little use: the people listened to their discourses but gave no sign of conversion or amendment. Before the close of the Mission one of the priests determined to make a last effort to overcome their indifference and soften their hard hearts. From the pulpit he spoke with such energy, such fire, such earnestness that the exertion was too much for him; he broke a blood-vessel and a flow of blood from his lips arrested his fervid eloquence. He was carried out of the church in a dying condition. Then the other missioner, taking the bloodstained habit of his colleague, went into the pulpit and held it up to the sight of the congregation, exclaiming: “Look, this blood was shed for you, it was you who cost him his life.” All his hearers were struck with horror: it led them to look into their own hearts; the confessionals were crowded, and many permanent conversions were the result.
See now how this spectacle is in a certain sense renewed day by day upon our altars. The priest holds up to view, not merely the bloodstained garment of the Saviour, but His real and actual body, the selfsame body which for our sakes was torn with scourges and pierced with nails; he elevates the blood which was shed for us upon the cross amid excruciating agonies. Holy Mass is, in very deed, the love of Jesus upon the altar. In order that you, my dear child, may rightly appreciate the value of the holy sacrifice, and may repay the love of Jesus with the love of your own heart, you must constantly seek to strengthen and confirm yourself in lively faith: you must steadfastly believe that in the Mass the God-Man, Jesus Christ, is really, truly, and substantially, present upon the altar. Lay to heart the principal grounds of this belief.
The first reason is founded upon the promise of Him who is eternal Truth. When Jesus Christ, the God-Man, promises anything, He will most assuredly not depart from that promise. He solemnly promised to institute the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Upon one occasion great multitudes followed Him, in order to hear His words; the people, having brought no provisions with them, became very hungry. Jesus had compassion on them and worked a marvelous miracle: He multiplied five loaves and two fishes to so great a quantity that 5000 men were amply satisfied, and five basketfuls of food remained over. All present were greatly astonished on account of what they had witnessed, they wished to make Jesus a king, for they thought that He would always supply them with food and there would be no necessity for them to work. But Jesus told them of a different kind of food, which He would give them. And to what food did He refer? He said: The bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world,” meaning the same flesh which He shall offer up upon the cross for the life of the world, in order that all men may have life, the life of grace here on earth and the life of glory hereafter, in heaven. Thus clearly and definitely did Jesus promise that He would really give us His flesh, His body.
Holy Scripture says further: “The Jews therefore strove among themselves.” Why did they thus strive? Because they considered it to be impossible that Jesus should give them His flesh to eat. They said: “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” Now reflect for a moment, if Our Lord had not intended to give us His flesh, His body, but only bread as an emblem of His body, what think you would He most assuredly have answered the Jews? On one occasion when I was giving instruction in my parish school, I told the children to learn the catechism well before I came again. Thereupon one of the children rejoined: “But Father, we can’t learn the whole catechism before your next visit!” Of course I explained to the child that I did not mean the whole catechism, but only those answers which I had desired should be learned by heart.
In like manner would Jesus Christ have given he necessary explanation, if He had not really referred to His flesh. He would have said: “You have misunderstood Me; I will give you only an emblem of my body, I will give you only bread to eat.” But did Our Lord thus speak? Certainly not; on the contrary, He reiterated His assertion and confirmed His words in the most solemn and emphatic manner: “Amen, amen, I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.” And He adds yet another asseveration: “For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.’ Could our dear Lord have spoken more plainly, or expressed Himself more explicitly? These words appeared so clear and plain to the disciples, that as we read in the gospel: “After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him”; as the Evangelist continues, they remarked: “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” Jesus permitted them to depart; He told the apostles and His other disciples that, if they all forsook Him, His words must remain the same, and He would in very deed give them His flesh and blood.
And what Jesus so definitely promised He has assuredly fulfilled. At the last supper He truly changed bread and wine into His most sacred body and blood. In regard to the bread which He took into His hands, He clearly and definitely declared: “This is My body.” He did not say “this signifies my body” or “this will become my body” At the same time He commanded His apostles: “Do this for a commemoration of Me.” And this command is fulfilled in the present day by bishops and priests, who are the successors of the apostles whenever they say Mass, at the moment of consecration; the true God-Man, Jesus Christ, is present in His entire being.
Now consider a third proof that so indeed it is. Ever since the time of the apostles, our holy mother, the Catholic Church, has interpreted the words of Our Lord, “This is My body,” in one and the same literal sense. St. Justin, a disciple of the apostles, who died in the year 166 after Christ, expresses the belief of the Church in the following words: “We are taught that this sacred food is the body and blood of the incarnate Son of God.” And St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who died in 386, speaks just as plainly: “That which appears to be bread is not bread, though it seems to be such to our palate, and what appears to be wine, though it has the taste of wine, is not such in reality, but it is the blood of Jesus Christ.” The same Doctor of the Church writes in another place: “As Christ Himself says of the bread, ‘This is My body,’ who can doubt the fact? And if He expressly says, ‘This is My blood,’ ought any one to raise objections, and assert that it is not His blood? He turned water into wine, and can we not believe that He is able to turn wine into His precious blood?”
Whenever you hear Mass, do so with lively faith, and contemplate upon the altar the love of Jesus. Do not remain cold and insensible like the stones of the pavement, but adore Our Lord with holy recollection and the deepest reverence. Pierce with the eye of faith the veil of the sacred Host, and repeat with heart and voice:
Jesus, ever-loving Saviour,
Thou didst live and die for me:
Living, I will live to love Thee,
Dying, I will die for Thee.