Dear friends,
In October, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates Respect Life Month to help Catholics understand and value the gift of human life and help build a culture that cherishes and protects it. God is intimately involved in the creation of every precious human being, and each of us has been entrusted with the noble mission of safeguarding the sanctity of life, from the moment of conception until natural death.
The Catechism of Catholic Church states in #2270: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.’ - Jeremiah 1:5. ‘My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.’- Ps 139:15.” Abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are abominable crimes against life and against God.
The month of October is also dedicated to praying the Rosary. Relish this devotion in your families, focusing on the mysteries of our salvation.
This weekend, as we celebrate the 28th Sunday in Year B, the Scripture readings invite us to choose Christ above all else. The Book of Wisdom tells us that “wisdom” is to be preferred over riches, scepter, and throne. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus addresses this question by telling the man to go and sell everything, give to the poor, and then follow him. This proves to be too tall an order for the young man. I encourage each of you to contemplate on that which keeps YOU from following Jesus.
Be blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Let us continue our reflection on the Eucharist found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
- THE SACRAMENTAL SACRIFICE THANKSGIVING, MEMORIAL, PRESENCE The sacrificial memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares:
It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered (St. John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6:PG 49,380).
And St. Ambrose says about this conversion:
Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed.... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature (St. Ambrose, De myst. 9,50; 52:PL 16,405-407).
1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy
Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1642; cf. Mt 26:26 ff.; Mk 14:22 ff.; Lk 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor 11:24 ff).
1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ (Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641).
1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession" (Paul VI, MF 56).