The Eucharistic Miracles of the World
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. The Real Presence The Eucharist as the Real Presence is the touchstone of sanctity. As evidence of this fact we have the witness of the saints who, when they speak or write about the power of the Blessed Sacrament to sanctify, seem to be positively extreme in their claims about what the Real Presence can achieve in making a sinful person holy. In order to appreciate the value of the Real Presence in the spiritual life, we must go back in spirit to the event described by St. John when our Lord, after He had worked the…
The Holy Eucharist is the Whole Christ
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. The most fundamental question to ask about the Blessed Sacrament is, “Who is the Holy Eucharist?” And the correct answer is: The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ. There is more behind this answer than many Catholics realize. When the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century defined the meaning of the Eucharist, it declared that “the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, is truly, really and substantially contained in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.” Shortly after Trent, Pope St. Pius V authorized the…
The Real Presence
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. When Pope Paul VI published his now historic Encyclical Mysterium Fidei on the Real Presence, he reminded especially us priests, that there is a crisis of faith regarding the Eucharist and that Catholics had better awaken to the fact. Otherwise they are liable to be swept off their feet by subtle theology and their faith in the Eucharist will be weakened – if not destroyed – by current assaults on this cardinal mystery of Catholic Christianity. Somewhere near the center of the theological controversy about which the Pope warned us is precisely the question that no…
The Eucharist as a Communion Sacrament
by Fr. John Hardon, S.J. There is generally no difficulty speaking about the Holy Eucharist as sacrament. In fact, this is the way most Catholics think of the Holy Eucharist. However, our perspective will be more specific. We will reflect on the meaning of the Holy Eucharist as a channel of grace and how Holy Communion is a means of obtaining supernatural sustenance for the divine life we received at Baptism. The Church’s doctrinal history of Holy Communion goes back to the first century as found in the Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, written abound the year 90 A.D. from…
The Church and Holy Eucharist
by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke Introduction In presenting the Church’s pastoral plan at the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II reminded us strongly that it is not a question of some “new program,” which we must invent, but rather “the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition” of the Church. In short, the Church’s pastoral plan is Christ Himself dwelling with us through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our souls. The plan is our life in Christ or holiness of life through daily conversion. It is the “larger and more…
The Sacrament of Communion
by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke Introduction The principal image with which the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council described the nature of the Church was communion. The Church is the instrument of our communion with God and with one another. It is her mission to safeguard and foster our communion with God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and our communion with all the faithful. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the highest expression of the Church’s identity as communion. Through the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the Church best carries out her mission of maintaining and promoting “communion with the Triune God…
