Presence: The Eucharist and Transubstantiation | Catholic Sacraments | Catholic Communion

[Music] we're in the early morning hours of december 4th 1912 with an account of a fire a church and a remarkable rescue at 606 a.m a fire broke out in the basement library the regular meeting room of the knights of columbus smoking club of saint philip neary roman catholic church in the bronx new york a passerby seeing the flames raised the alarm by ringing the meal bell of the adjoining clerical refectory minutes later a crowd of neighborhood gawkers gathered on the street below as the new york fire department assembled on grand boulevard and the concourse opposite to east 202nd street deputy fire chief barrett mobilized his crew in the rear of the building and they began the work of containing the now raging inferno at 8 21 am chief barrett instructed his men that due to the fire being fully involved and fully developed no one was allowed to enter the church the likelihood of surviving inside saint philip neary church was now approaching zero thanks be to god no one was inside [Music] suddenly two priests were seen rushing from the adjoining rectory these men were father daniel burke and father joseph congedo struggling through the sea of first responders the men charged into their beloved chapel disappearing into the smoky interior of the ill-fated facade no one expected them to return miraculously moments later the two priests emerged father burke bearing an object wrapped in a handkerchief and father congedo at his side with lit candle in hand what was it that these two men risked their lives to save what was this thing bread please tell me this wasn't just about bread [Music] [Music] two priests run back in into a burning building to rescue the eucharist while everyone else is running out i mean it's crazy right but maybe not maybe it's the most sane thing they could have done third century roman empire tarsisius a twelve-year-old boy living during the time of the roman persecutions tarcissius was sent out with the eucharist to give to christians condemned to death along the way he was stopped by a group of boys they discovered he was christian and became anxious to see what he was holding tarsisius refused the gang became enraged beating him so he would give up his holy mysteries he never did he was beaten to death 1581 england during the reign of queen elizabeth the first it was considered an act of treason to say the mass to make matters worse there was a bounty on the head of any priest heedless of these conditions edmund campion an englishman seeing his countrymen deprived of the holy eucharist traveled on foot and in secret to rome to join the jesuits he was soon caught imprisoned in the tower of london tortured hanged drawn and quartered 1900s china in the chinese countryside soldiers were in the process of destroying a small catholic church the priest was arrested the tabernacle stolen and the sacred hosts were strewn across the floor a small girl whom no one noticed in the back of the church witnessed the desecration and saw where these 32 sacred hosts had landed for each of the next 32 nights she snuck past the guards back into the church prayed in front of the eucharist and consumed them one by one on the last night after the girl had received the final eucharist she accidentally woke the guard he chased her down and beat her to death 1224 assisi italy claire foundress of the poor claire religious order received word that the army of frederick ii holy roman emperor was bearing down on her convent leaving in its wake a trail of horrific pillaging claire went out to face the invading army with nothing more than the eucharist in her hands she raised the host high into the air praying god to save her convent the invading army was gripped with fear and fled without harming a single soul these just a few of the countless stories throughout the history of the church of people showing great devotion sacrifice and love for this simple bit of bread what is it about this humble food that leads people to do such heroic amazing things maybe it isn't just about bread so what do catholics believe the eucharist is one of the seven sacraments of the church these sacraments are special means instituted by christ by which god reaches down to us and shares his divine life however the eucharist isn't just one sacrament among many it's the sacrament of sacraments that one toward which all the others are oriented according to the catechism of the catholic church the eucharist is the source and summit of christian life at the center of the eucharistic celebration of bread and wine that by the invocation of the holy spirit and by the very words of christ repeated by an ordained priest become christ's own body blood soul and divinity christ fully present the church has a word for this transubstantiation trans meaning to change and substance refers to the very essence of a thing what it is in itself even though the outward appearances remain bread and wine the reality the substance has changed into our lord jesus christ this sacrament has been given many names the lord's supper the breaking of bread the holy sacrifice holy communion it's most commonly called the mass and often today by a greek word eucharist meaning thanksgiving the assembly of god's people gathers to give thanks to partake in this holy communion communion with each other and with the god who loves us in brief the eucharist is the sum and summary of the catholic faith the eucharist is the body blood soul and divinity of god in other words the eucharist is truly god present with us i know it sounds impossible and only god can make it possible but that's what he's done and if you think about it and you reflect on the scriptures and on the history of the church you'll see that both scripture and tradition point and come to this great truth this truth that is so beautiful about a god who is so good that he hands himself over and becomes present and available to you and to me [Music] how big is god the god who created life on earth how big can we say our lord is can he be contained in the earth's largest ocean can he tower over our highest mountain or is he even larger than this the god who created the sun the moon every star in the sky is there a limit to the scope of his power but what about the details does god's attention extend to the smallest cell the tiniest photon racing at the speed of light the immeasurable closeness of atomic bonds does god know the number of the neurons in the human brain or the stars in the cosmos god's power and love are in all of these things great and small so could god come to us as he truly is in all of his power glory and majesty he could but instead through his love for us he chooses throughout history to come to us in ways we can understand in a cloud in a still small voice as a child placed in a manger in a tiny village he comes to us under these unassuming human tangible signs bread and wine the most incredible amazing thing on the planet looks like bread and wine and sometimes we can look at this sacrament and think it looks like bread why why would god choose to communicate his very life to us through these things you know if god came to us in all his power he'd be like sitting right in front of a nuclear explosion there's no way he'd survive it so instead it comes to us in all his love and humility all throughout the history of salvation throughout the whole old testament you see bread show up in these amazing miraculous ways bread rains down from heaven the manna during the time of the exodus you see bread this symbol of life show up in the tabernacle in the temple throughout the old testament the bread through much of history and across the globe has been considered a staple food i mean bread's kind of humble it's not a luxury it's not lobster right one of those basic things that people need to survive it actually makes sense when you start putting all of these pieces together that god would actually come in the form of bread so how is the eucharist really jesus's body and blood because when we look at it it still looks like bread it still tastes like bread it smells like bread it still feels like bread it has all of the outward sensible appearances of bread in fact it has all of the chemical properties of bread still the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of christ is not a chemical change if you were to take the consecrated host and bring it to a laboratory and put it under a microscope you're going to see all of the chemical properties of bread but here's the key underneath those outward appearances of bread and wine underneath those chemical properties of bread and wine jesus is really present his very body and blood the bread and wine are really changed into his body blood soul and divinity all the sacraments are profound mysteries and yet their outward signs their appearances are usually very humble they are signs visible realities that point to the invisible to a divine grace the water used in baptism poured over a person's head indicates a spiritual reality a soul being cleansed in confirmation we are anointed with oil to make us witnesses natural things pointing to supernatural realities this is what god does he reaches out to us in ways we can understand in the eucharist we eat humble bread something we all do something we all understand these simple outward signs bread and wine signs of physical sustenance point to a spiritual nourishment we can't do without [Music] not only does god give us our daily bread he gives us himself as our nourishment but there's even more we're really missing out on the meaning of a meal yes god nourishes us but meals are a lot more than that but we in the modern world we often don't get it because we don't understand what meals meant in the biblical times [Music] typically we tend to think of eating the same way we think of a lot of things in our culture we think of it very pragmatically we think of it very efficiently i think in our minds we think the only reason we really eat is because we have to fuel our bodies so we can just get those next calories and we're always kind of keeping track of that stuff which is not what it means to really have a meal particularly in our own country we don't get this the lunch breaks are fast food every day we eat at our desk or worst wheat in our cars food is disconnected from other people sixty percent of us eat fast food at least once a week we got things like tv dinners drive-throughs we instagram our food all these things would make the people of the ancient world absolutely cringe [Music] now the people in jesus's time understood meals fundamentally different than this meals were not first and foremost about efficiency and just getting your calorie counts first and foremost meals were about being with people meals were so much more than just about the food they were about sharing life with other people they're about an intimate communion a bond a profound relationship being established at that table i mean just looking at the gospels look at the number of examples we have of jesus sharing meals with his disciples to share a meal together meant to share in friendship meals meant something and we see stories we see examples we actually see evidence of this all throughout the story of salvation in the book of song of songs a book that's primarily about the intimacy between god and his people guess what it contains a meal psalm 23 this describes the lord actually setting a table for us even heaven is often described as a meal i think of matthew chapter 8 verse 11 where we see heaven described as sitting at table with the jewish patriarchs of the old testament people like abraham and moses and joshua and sharing a meal together when you see a meal in scripture don't think of the modern picture of it meals have a deeper a richer meaning they signify communion the idea is that as we're gathered at that table the same food that's going into you is going into me and that symbolizes a profound bond between us a sharing of life a sharing of communion together the effect of this communion meal means we're brothers we have a profound friendship and that's what god wants to do with us at every eucharist in the eucharistic meal he doesn't just want to nourish us he wants to have an intimate profound union with us he wants to deepen his union with us at every eucharist now why would god want to have this kind of communion with us well first as saint john teaches us in the new testament god is love father son and holy spirit have been sharing this love for all eternity with one another they are a communion of divine persons second god created us out of love he brought us from non-existence into existence he didn't need to do that but he did it out of love for us and not just to live on the outskirts of the universe far away from him far away from anything important but rather thirdly god created us in order to share his love with us right that we might share his life and his love that we might be invited into that communion of the three divine persons for all eternity that's who our god is the god who is love and it's because of who he is love that he seeks us out in this most intimate union of love in the eucharist who is god that is the ultimate question and to find the answer we have to turn back to the ancient scriptures of israel to what the jews considered the greatest moment of revelation in the history of humanity where moses came to the burning bush and encountered the fiery presence of god god says i am who am in other words aya asher ayah as the hebrew phrase has here now i highlight that because in the hebrew that key word is going to the essence of who god is in this incredible revelation to moses that great phrase aya is an important and deep word it means to be and he repeats it aya ashuria but here's the beautiful thing god just isn't simply saying look i'm being i'm existence in some philosophical abstract way god gave moses a very down-to-earth concrete clue to what this means in exodus chapter 3 god calls moses to return to egypt and to encounter and confront the wicked pharaoh and moses says in response who am i that i should go to pharaoh and god gives moses an amazing answer he says it really doesn't matter who you are moses it matters that i am with you and that's the promise aya imac by saying to moses i am with you aya emac and now he says who am i what is my name what is my essence aya ashur aya in other words i am the god whose existence but not just existence in the abstract i am the god who is presence i'm not just being i am being present to you that's the good news that will give moses courage to confront a wicked king and it's the good news that will run throughout the story of scripture that god is with his people from the earliest parts of the bible to the end it's very clear that god wants to be with his people we see him walking with adam and eve in the garden and the cool of the day but beyond that every time he establishes a covenant with his people and every time he visits them and reminds them about the covenant we hear a consistent refrain i will be your god and you will be my people over and over and over again the lord expresses his desire to be one with his people to dwell with them you know scripture is clear that god really wanted to be with us to dwell with us think of the burning bush the pillar of fire by night the pillar of cloud by day the ark of the covenant the temple itself he wanted to be with us in a unique and very real way when we study these things we're looking at them like foreshadowings there's signs pointing to something they're like echoes in reverse instead of getting dimmer and dimmer the sound is getting louder and louder god is doing something he was preparing us for something big [Music] the culmination and fulfillment of god's desire to be with us is fully revealed in jesus we we see this most profoundly in the incarnation the word of god becomes flesh god wanted to be with us so badly that he he wanted to become one of us the fathers of the church say that the son of god became a son of man so that the sons of men might become sons of god that should really make our jaws drop god wanted to be with us to breathe the same air to suffer to be helpless like we're sometimes helpless in order to save us to share life with us the incarnation of jesus christ is god present with his people this has been the plan from the beginning this is where the whole story reaches its climax all this that started with genesis all of the old testament hundreds and thousands of years that led up to this moment where a virgin conceives and bears a son and matthew says and his name shall be called emmanuel god with us [Music] but at the end of the story we're told of jesus death and resurrection and ascension but does jesus's ascension to the right hand of the father rob us of god's presence is this great culmination this great climax of god finally being with his people in this intimate and profound way in jesus is that lost with the ascension of course not this is the beauty and the mystery of the eucharist for on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread and giving you thanks he said the blessing broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you in a similar way when supper was ended he took the chalice and giving you thanks he said the blessing and gave the chalice to his disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it for this is the chalice of my blood the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this in memory of me jesus spoke those words to the apostles of the last supper he told them to do what he had just done he had just caused bread and wine to become his body and blood he commanded them to do this to do what he had just done and through the apostles so the bishops and the priests down through the centuries two thousand years when you go to mass wherever it is whenever you're going you have just received god jesus christ you're not just reading about him in a book he is now one with you it's like you're the tabernacle and then as mass ends he says go in peace there's a whole world out there that needs to see you and to hear you because in seeing you and in hearing you and watching how you live and love they see christ himself [Music] when we're discovering what the eucharist is the question we should be asking isn't what is the eucharist it's who is the eucharist the eucharist is not a thing it is a person it is jesus and that's why we heard the story about those two priests who would run inside a burning building not to rescue bits of bread and wine no one would do that but to save something that's real and precious someone that's real and precious that's why those great stories of the men and women throughout history who devoted themselves to lifting up to preserving the sacred host that's why our churches have times and places set aside for adoration that's why in every catholic church across the world there are tabernacles with candles burning showing us that someone is waiting for us think about this the god the god and the lord of the universe the creator as powerful as he is as infinite as he is as eternal as he is as holy as he is still humbles himself making himself truly present for our sake he comes to us in the forms of something so simple so beautiful bread and wine something we can eat and can give us a strength for our journey but also something we can we can store we can keep with us so we we have the lord that is giving us not only what we need today but his presence his his accompaniment to be with us at every moment of our lives in our blessed sacrament in the tabernacle so many people today are searching for greater meaning a greater purpose to their lives they're searching for happiness they're longing for something more they're ultimately searching for god but the good news is our god is searching for us he's already seeking us out and he comes to us longing for an intimate relationship with us he wants to walk beside us in life and help us in life and he loves us so much he comes to us in the eucharist so if you're someone that's longing for god's help in your life you you want to draw near to him you want to know him better you maybe you need some guidance for a big decision you're making or maybe there's a big problem in your marriage or family life and you need his help or you just need to be encouraged or you're carrying great burdens and wounds in your life and and you need his help and his support he's there for you he wants to draw near to you and to help you all you have to do is turn to him god wants to be with us he wants to be with us because he's all good we're not he wants us to be good like him to perfect us it's communion with a direction we want to commune with jesus in the eucharist so we could be more like him i consume the eucharist because i want the eucharist to consume me it's not meant to meet you where you are and keep you there jesus the eucharist calls you higher the eucharist opens up an entirely new world this is why every mass is centered around the great mysterious truth because this is the most precious thing we have this side of eternity this is why it's called the source and summit of our faith there's so much to partake in something so small [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Augustine Institute

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Keywords: eucharist, catholic eucharist, catholic sacrament, sacrament, augustine institute, formed catholic, Tim gray, brant pitre, communion, holy eucharist, holy communion, transubstantiation

Id: ObaBxmykNl8

Length: 35min 7sec (2107 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021