Eucharistic Amazement: The Bible and the Mass | Dr. Scott Hahn

brothers and sisters in christ it's so good to be with you virtually i'm going to focus my remarks this day upon the holy eucharist but in particular i want to call your attention to something that the late great pope saint john paul ii called for in his final encyclical that came out almost 20 years ago shortly before he died that encyclical was entitled ecclesia the eucharistia or as we would translate the church of the holy eucharist now in the church of the eucharist pope saint john paul ii encouraged oh he he did more than that he urged catholics to cultivate what he called eucharistic amazement that's what i would like to do in our time together but let's begin in a word of prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen almighty god our father in heaven we thank you for the gift of jesus christ your son our savior and in his holy and powerful name we ask you to pour out the holy spirit upon us now for his greater glory and for us to be instruments in advancing his kingdom in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen well as catholics we all recognize the real presence of jesus christ in the holy eucharist his body blood soul and divinity but recent polls have shown that there are many people in america who call themselves catholics who haven't set their faith on that but have settled for mere symbolism i won't get into the controversy but roughly 70 percent say we think it's just a symbol whereas about 30 percent profess the church's faith in the real presence i want to point out that it is disappointing that 70 only believe that the eucharist is symbolism on the other hand it's truly remarkable that 30 of us have been given the grace of faith in order to believe in the real presence how precious that gift of faith is more than a pearl of great price i want to reflect upon it though because it's the light of faith that enables us to recognize a transformation not just from bread and wine into christ's body blood soul and divinity but a series of transformations that instituting the eucharist on holy thursday has brought about in particular what are these transformations well first of all i would just summarize what i think most of us know from the gospels because near the climax of the gospels right before jesus is arrested in the garden of gethsemane there in the upper room with the disciples he's celebrating the passover the highest and the holiest feast of the old covenant but he's not just celebrating it one last time the first transformation is precisely how jesus transforms the passover of the old covenant into the holy eucharist which saint paul refers to in first corinthians 5 7 as the passover in effect of the new covenant and so that in itself is worth celebrating because we're no longer just celebrating a deliverance out of egypt into the promised land of canaan now we celebrate how jesus set into motion a much greater deliverance from sin and death into eternal life and our heavenly inheritance and so the passover is where an irrational animal a lamb had his throat slit the blood drained the body roasted and then consumed as sacrificial communion at the climax of the passover meal a sacrifice first a communion meal second and here we see jesus is not losing his life he is freely giving it that's the deeper meaning that's the inner logic of love that pertains to the law of the new covenant which is the eucharist now this is not just an impressionistic sort of rendition in fact when we speak of the old covenant and the new we ought to recognize that jesus never used that phrase new covenant any time other than in the upper room luke chapter 22 verse 20 tells us that the only time jesus ever used the word covenant or the phrase new covenant is when he took the chalice of blessing in the passover and transformed it into what this is the cup of my blood the blood of the new and everlasting covenant in effect the new testament and he doesn't go on to say write this in remembrance of me he says do this and so what is this it's the eucharist what did he call this he called it the new testament and so that brings about another transformation at least in my experience where all i ever wanted to be as an evangelical bible-believing new testament christian was a new testament christian i wanted to be faithful to the word of god and then i discovered that jesus only called one thing the new testament and it wasn't a document it was a sacrament and so in order to me in order for me to be a new testament christian a faithful new testament christian i ended up being transformed into a eucharistic catholic and i want to propose that the grace of conversion is such that the holy spirit wants to bring that grace of conversion to each and every one of us not just when we become a catholic like i did 35 years ago but when we open our hearts up to the transforming power of christ in his lordship and the life that comes to us through the holy spirit so the passover becomes the eucharist the old covenant becomes the new covenant what we regard as a document and that is the old and new covenants now becomes the sacrament the blessed sacrament christ himself his body blood soul and divinity but that opens the door to yet another transformation that i began to discover because when jesus transformed that bread and wine into his own body his body was there but it was still in a mortal condition he was capable of dying which in fact he did the very next day on good friday but i want to propose that what is really happening there is the transformation of a roman execution into the supreme consummation of the holiest sacrifice ever offered what do i mean well we're so accustomed to thinking of good friday as a sacrifice it's almost necessary to defamiliarize ourselves as catholics and go back to what first century jews would have witnessed because if we had been there as catholics transported back in time standing next to the beloved disciple or any of the other witnesses and if we had suggested to them look behold the sacrifice i think we'd be startled by the response because for devout jews a sacrifice could take place only in one area and that is the jerusalem temple there on the altar with the high priest of israel offering the sacrifice whereas jesus is crucified outside the city walls far from the temple where there were no altars with the high priest standing by to offer a sacrifice what they would have witnessed what they would have described would have been a roman execution and if they were firm believers they might have said oh it wasn't just a roman execution it was a heroic act of martyrdom but a sacrifice never so how do we come to understand as christians today that calvary was more than an execution it was more than a martyrdom it was a sacrifice and one so holy that it retired all of the animals that were offered in the jerusalem temple at passover time well again you have to rewind and go back to holy thursday and see that by instituting the holy eucharist he wasn't just transforming the passover into the eucharist the old into the new he was transforming his own death the next day into not the loss of life but the gift of life he wasn't the victim of roman injustice at calvary on good friday as much as he was the victim of divine love and mercy precisely by instituting the eucharist he transformed death from the loss of life to the gift of life and the gift of divine life pouring out from his side in the water in the blood and then the breath that he breathes upon the beloved disciple and his mother whoa it was mind-blowing for me to discover all of this so we might call it transubstantiation and we should we should be willing to defend that as well but what we've got to see is even more than a pebble that drops into a pond that sends out ripples in all directions instituting the eucharist transforming transubstantiating bread and wine into his own body blood soul and divinity transforms passover to eucharist old covenant to new and then a roman execution is transformed into a holy sacrifice but that's not all because on easter sunday we discover he had another transformation we all know what it is and that is the resurrection but up until christ's resurrection a resurrection was really nothing more than the resuscitation of a corpse such as lazarus and so after four days jesus raised him from the dead and he gave him his life back but it was physical life it was human life it was natural whereas what is happening on easter sunday is much more than the resuscitation of a corpse it's much more than the vindication of his innocence it's much more than the fulfillment of the prophecy on the third day he will rise from the dead according to the scriptures well what more is it i want to propose to you that the resurrection of jesus is the deification of his humanity his humanity his body his blood and his soul are divinized and not only that but they are well they become the instrument by which we are divinized as well so picture this on easter sunday morning jesus is back from the dead so how do you think you would want to spend your first day back from the dead well you know if i were jesus i would probably drop in on pontius pilate at his palace and kind of give him a big surprise and then move over to herod's and then drop in on the sanhedrin the chief priests and all of those who set an emotion my torture my the the false witness that led to my crucifixion but instead what does he do well luke 24 tells us that he spent the day late morning and most of the afternoon meeting up with these two men clopis and his companion who meet up with what they mistook to be a stranger he asked them what they're talking about are you the only one who doesn't know about these things press pause for just a second because they're asking who jesus and what are they asking are you the only one who doesn't know about these things excuse me clopas and your friend he just so happens to be the only one who does know he knows exactly what has happened why it's happened and what difference it's going to make but let's continue on because what things is what jesus asks and they go into great detail until finally you'd expect jesus to say hey time out take a closer look at least recognize the voice no and so he gives them a gentle but firm rebuke o foolish man and slow of heart you you know don't you understand that the christ must suffer before entering it all before entering into all of his glory and they're like no his enemies ought to be the ones who are suffering so beginning with moses and the law and the prophets he begins to explain all of the things concerning himself for mile after mile after mile it's a minimum of seven miles it's a long and winding road and it would have been hours of what the single greatest bible study in all of salvation history yet never recorded and yet written on their hearts but never once do they say where have we heard this before doesn't it sound familiar who else can make the law and the prophets come alive no it isn't until they get to emmaus and he takes he blesses he breaks and he gives them the bread that's when their eyes are opened and what are their eyes open to jesus christ but not just jesus to the risen savior but not just to that it is the risen savior who is made known in the breaking of the eucharistic bread and he vanishes not because he's playing playing now you see me now you don't but because gradually slowly through studying scripture he brought them to the point where they recognized by doing the very things that he did back in luke 22 on holy thursday in the upper room he took he blessed he broke he gave but this wasn't a flashback for clopas and his friend because they weren't numbered among the twelve so it isn't like a divine deja vu that they're having on easter sunday there at the table in emmaus no this is the moment of grace this is the moment of transforming grace this is the moment of transformation where suddenly their despair is turned into hope their blindness is turned into sight and they begin to recognize the body blood soul and divinity of the risen savior he is no longer in a body that is subject to suffering and death no his body is now raised it's resuscitated it's divinized it's glorified and it's eucharistic and so you can see how in effect the resurrection is transformed into a eucharistic revelation and no wonder because it wasn't just for them it's for all of us you remember what they did they walked all the way back to jerusalem i'm sure rather briskly you know wondering why did jesus spend his first day back from the dead with us of all people too lowly lay people that we don't read much about anywhere else and so they bear witness to the 11 apostles who were in the upper room who must have been wondering you want us to believe that jesus is back from the dead and he spent most of easter sunday with you leading you into a bible study and then taking blessing breaking and giving you his own resurrected body in the eucharistic bread aha and suddenly he's there with them as well as clopas and his companion and what do they do they have a meal and then what does he do he leads them into another scripture study again time to press pause don't you think that jesus could have come up with better ways to spend easter sunday than two lengthy bible studies that culminate in communion well i thought so but i no longer think so because easter sunday is not just about a resuscitated corpse it is about a eucharistic body that is resurrected and so my goodness thank god not only that it's true back then but it's true now so when we speak of the body blood soul and divinity of jesus what we ought to recognize is the transformation that took place back then and there is still taking place here and now because when a priest pronounces the words of consecration the holy spirit enables him to transform bread and wine into the resurrected body of jesus christ into the body that is ascended into heaven that is now enthroned he is the lord of lords he is the king of kings regardless of who sits in the white house and so what a huge transformation that is as well but why does he do it you know we could step back and take a close look and realize that the son of god becomes the son of man and then he glorifies his own humanity he demonizes it but in the end he didn't do it for his sake he did it for ours the second person the eternal trinity doesn't end up with any more glory than he had in the beginning when he was there in the beginning of creation so why go to all of the trouble if it's not to get anything more for yourself it's to give everything to us and that's the purpose of the eucharist it not only transforms the bread and wine into christ's body blood soul and divinity it transforms what was mortal before into what is immortal incorrupt glorified the resurrected body of jesus is now precisely the state the condition in which his body is that is what we receive that is who we receive and so we discover yet one more transformation jesus sets in the motion the fulfillment of what he said way back in john 6 54 when you'll recall a year before the passover the year before his passion death and resurrection he multiplied the loaves and fed the 5000 he filled 12 baskets with the leftovers and then he gave the famous bread of life discourse were identified himself as the bread of life when in john 6 4 when the jewish feast of passover was them so exactly one year before his final passover the institution of the eucharist he's spending that time feeding the 5000 filling the baskets but then also giving the bread of life discourse to explain how it is that he will be the bread of life and what is it my flesh is food indeed my blood is drink indeed he eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in him then we come to verse 54 he eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise him up on the last day there's a connection between not only the eucharist and the resurrection of his body but there's also a connection between the eucharistic communion that we share on his resurrected body where we receive his resurrected body he sets in the motion a gradual but complete and total transformation whereby i will raise him up on the last day so with an ordinary meal such as the passover the old covenant you eat the lamb and one day later there's no more lamb it's become your body just like a burger and fries but with the new covenant with the eucharist with the passover of the new covenant which is the resurrected body blood soul and divinity of jesus we don't just receive him into our body he receives him he receives us into his it's almost the exact opposite where we assimilate food and it becomes our body in first corinthians 10 verses 16 and 17 we discover what saint paul was shown and that is when we receive his immortal glorified demonized humanity he assimilates us into his resurrected body and sets in the motion that which will bring about our transformation he eats my flesh and drinks my blood i will raise him up on the last day precisely because we consume the word made flesh who is now resurrected in glory he assimilates us into his own glorified body what is mortal for us is united to what is immortal what is corrupt is united to what is incorrupt what is in the process of dying is united to his own resurrected and divinized humanity and so there is an instrumental link a cause his resurrected body will be the instrument by which our bodies will be resurrected in the end just as we see human priests who are pronouncing words over earthly matter bread and wine bringing about this transubstantiation if the holy spirit can empower humans to do that on earth can you imagine what our high priest will be able to accomplish at the end of time from heaven i can almost picture him looking down on on the mess the chaos and then wanting to bring the decisive victory of his own resurrected to all of his own resurrection to all of us i can almost picture him saying this is my body and then you just stand back and watch as what happens all of the dust from all of the tombs from all of the saints from all of the ages transformed into what into his mystical body into his glorified body and so the consummation of history is going to be the culmination of all of the masses ever celebrated this is what i'm talking about because this is what he was talking about this isn't hyping it up this is just connecting the dots this is just making connections not only between the old and the new between the passover and the eucharist between holy thursday and good friday between the suffering and death and the glorious resurrection you know between what he did back then and what priests do right now what priests do right now to what our high priest will do in the end there's one final transformation that i want to just mention in passing and there's a good reason for it because in just a matter of weeks our son jeremiah who's now a transitional deacon will be ordained to the priesthood for the catholic church and the diocese of steubenville may 21st if you would please pray for him and then his younger brother joseph is soon to follow one year later he'll be trent he'll be ordained to the transitional diaconate like his older brother jared and then two years later we'll you know will be his ordination of the priesthood too god willing but what are we talking about here one more eucharistic transformation i've already alluded to it you know he was my son i remember him as an infant diapers changing them and all of that teaching him you know walking and talking and praying and singing and all of those things i mean he's my son but after ordination he'll become my spiritual father i was the breadwinner for him all of his life growing up but i could never speak the words of consecration and confect bread and transform that into the eucharist but he will wow you know my son in the natural order will become a father of mine and yours in the supernatural order i mean that's unbelievable i mean it's amazing how unamazed we are at the eucharist but remember jesus didn't just institute one sacrament the blessed sacrament in the upper room that night he also told the disciples do this in remembrance of me remembrance in greek anamnesis in the hebrew zikaron it's a memorial offering he was offering a sacrifice but he was also empowering them to offer a sacrifice after him which you can't do unless you're a priest and so he instituted the sacrament of holy orders as well and so that sacrament continues now through the power of the holy spirit so that our bishop will transform my son in the natural order into a spiritual father of mine in the supernatural order as i gave him life through his mother so now if he hears my confession he could raise me to new life by pronouncing the words of absolution but i mean he like all of the other validly ordained catholic priests are mere men these are mortal men and what are they empowered by the holy spirit to do to take earthly matter bread and wine and transform that into what no into who into the creator of the universe into the redeemer of the world into the resurrected body blood soul and wait a minute my son jeremiah a mortal man my natural son will be empowered by the holy spirit to transform earthly matter into the creator of heaven and earth into the redeemer of heaven and earth if you aren't sensing a little bit of eucharistic amazement coming on right now i'd suggest you ought to track down a cardiologist you might need a heart transplant and if you do get one believe me christ wants to transform our hearts that are often weak into his own sacred heart there's probably one more transformation at least implied in all of this but pray for my son both of them pray for our priests pray for our seminarians but pray also my brothers in christ so that you might be willing to hear and obey if you get a call to become that kind of creature a human person who is not only divinely reborn through the waters of baptism not only divinely prepared to have your own mortal bodies resurrected but you ought to be at least open to the possibility of saying yes to a priestly vocation because what this world needs now more than anything else is not a better president as much as holy priests because holy priests will be transformed and will become the agents of transformation so let's respond to that call that came from our late great spiritual father pope saint john paul ii when he was calling for eucharistic amazement he wasn't calling us to kind of conjure up warm fuzzy feelings that will make it seem as though it's better than it really is because it is already much better than we think it is so let's recognize what an amazing grace it is for us to be given the precious gift of eucharistic faith before signing off with you i need to share one more thing because as you probably realize one week from now lent begins and talking about eucharistic amazement is what we're going to be doing on our website saintpaulcenter.com where all of these eucharistic resources and more are available but one in particular it's called perusia the bible and the mass it is our latest and greatest journey through scripture series and through lent it's going to be available for free and only through land beginning in fact on ash wednesday next week february 17th we're going to begin live streaming a series of lessons on the bible and the mass that focus on how we can renew eucharistic amazement if you're interested and i hope you are please i encourage you to go to saintpaulcenter.com but more specifically to watch this throughout lens go to saintpaulcenter.comforwardslash mass that is st paul center dot com forward slash mass here is the workbook for this journey through scripture bible study on the bible and the mass and i pull together all of the things that we've covered and then some and so you might be able to watch it alone you might be able to get a group together but please consider joining me through lent beginning on ash wednesday february 17th so let's rise to the level of the mystery of faith in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen almighty god our father in heaven how much grace we've been given and yet how much we have taken so much grace for granted have mercy on us o lord we don't just ask that you would forgive us for making for for wasting our time but that you would help us to make up for lost time by making the most of every minute that remains in this life by making the most of all of the graces that you give to us in the sacraments especially the holy eucharist i pray for my brothers and sisters that you would raise them up as your sons and daughters and turn us as self-centered sinners in the true saints so that the greatest transformation of all might be actualized in this truth realized in this sacred mystery take us o lord beyond our hopes to your deepest desire as our most loving father for we ask all of this in the strong and holy name of jesus your son holy mary our hope see the wisdom pray for us and in this year of saint joseph saint joseph patron of the universal church pray for us in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen and brothers and sisters in christ may i also ask that you pray for me and i'll be praying for you take care and god bless thank you dr scott hahn and thank you to ewtn who sponsored this last program ewtn is everywhere they seek to make catholic programming available on a wide variety of platforms so that you can stream and watch catholic content anywhere and everywhere [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Length: 31min 32sec (1892 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 24 2022