Transcript

Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, but what's the grace of this sacrament?

What effect does it communicate to Christ's faithful?

The Catholic Church teaches that the sacraments all cause what they signify.

That means they accomplish in us by grace what they point to symbolically.

There are three distinctive aspects or symbols present in the Eucharist, so the Eucharist has three distinctive kinds of grace or effects that it brings about in us.

The first symbol or signification in the Eucharist is that it's food and drink.

The body and blood of Christ are truly present under the appearances of bread and wine, symbols of nourishment.

Our Lord did not choose this sign at random.

The body and blood of Christ feed us in the order of grace.

The Eucharist is rightly called the sacrament of charity because it strengthens and builds up the Church in love.

You could say it nourishes charity.

That's why we need to receive the Eucharist always in a state of grace, so that it can bear fruit in our lives.

It does not cause the first infusion of faith and charity so as to place us in a state of grace, baptism does this.

Nor is it a healing of us after a serious sin, the sacrament of reconciliation does that.

Rather, the Eucharist is food for the spiritually alive.

It presupposes we're in a state of grace, which it then builds up and nourishes so that it strengthens the life of grace in us, our communion with God.

It's fundamental for the Christian life, and so it's symbolized by bread, a staple food that keeps us alive.

But the Eucharist is also the summit and joy of the Christian life, so it's symbolized by wine, the symbol of celebration and rejoicing.

It's very beautiful.

The Eucharist is what's most fundamental that sustains the life of the Church.

It's also what's most ultimate, it gives the Church her joy and celebration.

The second symbol or signification present in the Eucharist is out of the unity of the Church.

This symbol is denoted by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:17, where he says, We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

From unity to unity.

There's a unity of believers symbolized by our communion in the Eucharist, where we all commune from one source.

That means something more than just a external rite.

The Eucharist gives rise to the visible communion of the Church, not only outwardly through institutions or ceremonies, but inwardly by the grace of divine love.

The members of Christ's body are bound to one another mystically by virtue of the charity of the Eucharist.

Many grains produce one bread, many grapes produce one chalice.

This signifies that as we receive the body and blood of Christ, we are made one in Christ, in the charity of His communion.

The third symbol is that of sacrifice.

Christ clearly understood His death in sacrificial terms and instituted the Eucharist so that His sacrifice on the cross would always be present and active in the Church.

We see this in what He says at the Last Supper, the night before He died.

Christ said that the chalice holds the blood of the covenant.

That's a clear reference to Exodus 24:8, where Moses offered the foundational sacrifice of the old covenant at Mount Sinai.

Moses sprinkled the blood of sacrifice on the 12 tribes of Israel to ratify the initial covenant.

So at the Last Supper, Christ claims to renew this original covenant of God with Israel through His very death.

This is the blood of the covenant.

And furthermore, He tells the apostles that this blood is poured out for the many.

That's a purposeful echo of Isaiah 53:12.

He bore the sins of the many.

This reference to the suffering servant passage, one who is depicted by Isaiah as a sin offering on behalf of the people, is very profound.

This imagery is present at the heart of the Mass itself.

First, the body is consecrated, then the blood separately.

This represents the separation of the blood and body of Christ at the cross where His blood was poured forth from His wounds as a sacrifice for sin.

The Eucharistic sacrifice is not a repetition of the sacrifice of the cross, nor is it in any way a multiplication of or rival to that sacrifice, as some have falsely claimed.

Rather, the sacrifice of the Mass represents Christ's past, once and for all sacrifice on the cross, and it applies its fruits and its grace to the faithful.

The Mass allows the Church to participate in the grace of Christ crucified.

In this way, the Church is able to offer Christ's own merits to the Father for the sake of the world, and to unite herself to that one saving sacrifice in faith, hope, and love.Okay.

In the Mass, we are all invited to participate in the unique self-offering of Jesus by uniting our own lives to His in love.

This offering adds nothing to the grace of Christ.

On the contrary, it's an offering facilitated or made possible uniquely by the grace of Christ crucified present in us.

You might say it's the cross expanding out into the life of the Church and moving us to offer our own lives with Christ to the Father.

Christ wishes to have the Church offered to the Father with Him by virtue of His unique saving sacrifice.

And in this way, the Mass is a sacrament that makes possible a true mystical union with Christ in charity.

Those who convert as adults to Catholicism sometimes feel intimidated by the challenge of learning to participate in the Mass.

It's important to remember that the Mass is primarily a receptive experience of being in the presence of God, so you don't need some expertise or special knowledge to begin to participate in the Mass.

You just show up and you try to love God and learn about the presence of Christ just by being present.

And gradually, you can acquire an act of participation.

And our active participation is important, but it can be learned slowly.

It can be helpful to have a missal that explains the parts of the Mass and provides the daily readings so you can follow along and know what's happening.

But it's more important simply to learn to pray silently in a recollected fashion before, during, and after Mass, and to receive the grace of Christ.

Most famously, Eucharistic adoration is a common way to pray in the presence of Jesus Christ, present in the Host in silence.

The Church also has various liturgical offices of psalmody, the Liturgy of the Hours where we pray the Psalms together.

Faithful can pray this either individually, in silence, or in groups aloud in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

Religious communities often sustain a more solemn office of monastic prayer consisting of psalmody and hymns.

These are open to all the lay faithful to participate in in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

These are all ways we can grow closer to God through the presence of Christ in the Eucharist at the heart of the Church.

They're expressive of the visible and invisible communion that binds us together in the one mystical body of Christ.

Today we spoke about the Mass.

Next time, we'll talk about another very important sacrament, that of confession.