What Is Holy Communion?

~J.M.J.~

Today, I received my 50th Holy Communion, after almost 4 months as a baptised Catholic. On this very special day, I'd just like to share my thoughts on what the reception of this Sacrament means to me.

I: Reunion

When Man was first created, he walked with God (c.f. Gen 3:8) - this was his original purpose. When he fell, he lost this fellowship with God, and ceased to walk with Him.

Yet, as I walk back to my pew after making Communion, I am actually walking with God in my very self as I keep Christ's Precious Body under my roof! In me, the Sin of Adam is restored. In receiving Holy Communion, I rediscover the purpose I was created for - that is union with God. As the Catechism puts it, this is the source and summit of my Christian life (c.f. CCC 1324)!

II: Presence

There cannot be a true relationship without presence. Jesus can't claim to love me if He wouldn't make Himself available to me. So, in His unimaginable love, Jesus overcame all obstacles just to be with me.

This He did almost 2000 years ago, when He was about to leave this world. 'Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end (Eucharistic Prayer IV)'; as He was about to be betrayed, He took bread and wine, and said over them, "This is my body... this is my blood" (c.f. Mt 26:26-28, Mk 14:22-26, Lk 22:19-20). In this way, He gave me His Real Presence, so that He could be with me even though I am almost 2000 years behind His Ascension.

Substance and time were not the only barriers which separated Him from me. He is Creator - overcoming the physical laws He had Himself set in place was no challenge. The greatest barrier, in my opinion, is rejection. Reading John 22:6-71, we see how Jesus experienced rejection when He taught that we are to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. 'Because of this many of His disciples turned back and no longer went about with Him (Jn 6:66 NRSV)'. Yet, He still held His ground, just so that I, joining the Twelve in accepting His teaching (c.f. Jn 6:68), may enjoy His very presence for the rest of my life.

III: Commissioning

'Communion always involves a double dimension: the vertical (communion with God), and the horizontal (communion among men),' says a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As such, I am called to share the graces I have received at Holy Communion with my fellow men as well.

This I do through offering my service to others, with the list of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and another Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy Mother Church has given me as a guide. In this way, I give - as imperfectly as I do - Christ's love to those around me.

For 2000 Years, Christ Has Been Waiting For You

~J.M.J.~

St Joseph Escriva once said, "Each time you approach the Blessed Sacrament, remember that Jesus has been waiting for you for twenty centuries for this personal visit from you."

Twenty centuries ago, Christ was at table. Longing to give of His very Presence to you and I, He took bread and wine, and invited us, saying, "Take and eat; This is My Body... This is My Blood." As such, receiving Holy Communion today is a response to this 2000-year-old invitation from Christ. It fulfils the Lord's longing to dwell in you, and you in Him, so that you may have eternal life, as we learn in John 6: 54-56. At Mass today, the priest acts in persona Christi as he repeats the actions of Christ Jesus, and gives you the Saving Host, bringing to fulfilment Christ's invitation to you. The beautiful thing about this invitation is that it is for today as much as it is for tomorrow. When you attend Mass tomorrow, it is still a fulfilment of this ancient invitation; Jesus beckons you to come as often as you wish to.

I was reflecting on this as I knelt at the feet of the Lord in the Adoration Room, reminiscing how our relationship has grown as I approach my 4th Anniversary with Him, which falls on Ash Wednesday. It took me a year to fall in love with His Real Presence, and have been longing to fulfil His invitation for three years. As I counted that there are 46 days before I receive the Easter Sacraments, I was amazed at how long I had been pining for Him. But I stopped in awe as St Escriva's quote flashed across my mind. If He had been waiting for me for 2000 years, another 46 days would get Him more excited than I am!

As the Red Candle

~J.M.J.~

May my heart melt before Thy Real Presence
As the red candle by Thy tabernacle.

May I burn with love for Thy Real Presence
As the red candle by Thy tabernacle.

May I consume myself in showing others unto Thy Real Presence
As the red candle by Thy tabernacle.

The Holocaust of Mass

~J.M.J.~

Among the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the sons of the Levites were chosen to be priests, as seen in Exodus 19:6. Their duty was to offer animal sacrifice to God upon the altar in what is known as "Holocaust". Along with these Holocausts, prayers are offered. Yet, these animal sacrifices were imperfect. Thus, the Father sent His Only-Begotten Son to be the Perfect Sacrifice.

Therefore, the duty of the Catholic priest is similar to that of the Jewish priest: to offer sacrifice to God upon the altar. However, this time, the sacrifice offered is not an animal, but the Perfect Sacrifice - Christ Himself. This is the celebration we call "Holy Mass". We learn that at Mass, bread and wine are transformed into the True Body and True Blood of the Lord, and Calvary is made present on the altar. While the crucified Christ is upon the altar, the most important prayers are said, which include prayers for the Church on Earth, the Church in Purgatory, with the Church in Heaven. This culminates in the Per Ipsum, where the priest raises the Host (another word for Sacrifice) towards Heaven, and exhorts, "Through Him, with Him, and in Him, O God Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is Yours, forever and ever." At this action, the angels bear the Perfect Sacrifice, and the prayers offered along with It, to the Heavenly Father.

Therefore, it is fitting that we join in to the Sacrifice our most important prayers, right after the Mystery of Faith, while the priest says his designated prayers. And as we see the priest lifting the Host towards Heaven, remember that our prayers, too, are offered with It, and therefore affirm the Per Ipsum with a sincere "Amen."

Host - What Does It Really Mean

~J.M.J.~

Very often, Catholics refer to the Eucharistic Bread as "Host", but some of us are unaware of the true meaning of the word. Yes, if you thought it was called as such because "the bread is a vessel which hosts Jesus," St Thomas Aquinas says you are wrong and the Church agrees with him.

In the Third Part of the Summa Theologiæ, Question 75, Article 2, St Aquinas says that the substances of bread and wine cease to exist after consecration. "Now a thing cannot be in any place, where it was not previously, except by... the conversion of another thing into itself". For example, if a person change for the better, he must cease to be bad. This means that substances of bread changes totally into the Body of Christ and wine into His Precious Blood, thus bread and wine must cease to exist.

This "Host" spoken of when referring to the Eucharist is also a different "Host" referred to in the Sanctus - "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Hosts". These "hosts" may refer either to the ancient armies of Israel over which the Lord God gave protection as in Gen 2:1, the host of angels, or just the hosts of stars and consequently the entire universe. Whichever definition you accept, it still cannot be applied to the Blessed Sacrament.

When spoken of in a Eucharistic context, "Host" originates from the Latin word, "Hostiam", which means "Victim". Upon the altar, the sacrifice of Calvary is made present. Precious Body and Precious Blood are consecrated separately to mirror the separation of these two upon the Cross. When we receive the Host, we remember that It is His Precious Body, which was once broken but is now glorified.

The victimhood of Christ upon the Cross is recalled in invoking Jesus Christ as "Host". In the Host lies the promise of Christ - that our broken souls will be glorified for all eternity.

Nativity and the Eucharist

~J.M.J.~

This Christmas (as with every other), we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus in His Nativity. There are many similarities between His Nativity and the Eucharist, namely that they are the gifts of Christ to us and that they occur by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In both His Nativity and Eucharist, Christ has one intention: to give Himself to us. Jesus Christ became man because he wanted to dwell amongst us and spread the seed of His Word. And as He instituted the Eucharist, He desired to dwell in us and us in Him (Jn 6:56). St Aquinas very clearly shows us this similarity in the second verse of the Pange Lingua Gloriosi. "Nobis natus, nobis datus, // Ex intacta Virgine; // Et in mundo conversatus, // Sparso Verbi semine; // Sui moras incolatus // Miro clausit ordine. (Born to us, given to us, // Of the untouched Virgin; // And among us dwelt He, // Sowing the seed of the Word; // His life He concluded // With wonderful order.)" Reflecting upon the Blessed Sacrament enshrined on a cross-shaped monstrance, we see a circle in the middle of four corners. The circle has traditionally symbolised God for it is infinite and all-encompassing, while the four corners can be taken to represent those of the earth. And it is indeed true that Christ has made Himself physically present among us in the world today in the Eucharist, so that He may share of Himself up to this day, even though He was born 2000 years ago. There is only one reason for Him to give of Himself to us in His Nativity and Eucharist (and for everything else He does): because He loves us. He does not want to deprive us of His Holy Presence. Because we matter to Him and He to us.

Secondly, they occur by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation narrative says, 'And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." (Lk 1:35)' By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is made present in the Virgin's womb instantaneously. In the Eucharist, Christ is made present, replacing bread and wine, also by the power of the Holy Spirit. For the Prayer of Consecration at Mass says, "Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Eucharistic Prayer II)" As Christians, we must realise the indispensable role of the Advocate in bringing Christ to us. Each member of the Trinity concerns Himself with bring us to Another. Christ said that "no one can come to the Father except through me. (Jn 14:6)" Yet, He also said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him. (Jn 6:44)" Indeed, they love one another and it is their will to reveal another member to us so that we may share in their love - the love of the One God.

Indeed, the mysteries of our Faith are intertwined. No piece of truth stands on its own, for it is all part of one infinite Truth the human mind cannot fully discover: that is God Himself.

Merry Christmas and Blessed MMXIV!

The Face of Christ in the Eucharist

~J.M.J.~

We know many things about Christ, few of which we can physically see in the Blessed Sacrament. Yet, there are some qualities of Christ which cannot be seen in His human form, but only under the veil of the appearance of bread. This is what I wish to discuss today.

Firstly, the white appearance of the Host tells us that Jesus is the pure, holy, and spotless Victim, just as mentioned in Eucharistic Prayer I. He is pure because He is God Himself, holy because He was set apart for the mission of Redemption, and spotless because He was sinless and the epitome of goodness for He is God Himself.

Secondly, the Blessed Sacrament takes on the form of a circle. This points to His centrality in our lives, which should revolve around Him. The circle also reminds us of the sun, our source of life. The Eucharist is indeed our source of Christian life (CCC 1324), without which, the Church, as Pope Benedict XVI put it, "simply does not exist." The life we receive from this Sacrament is eternal, for Jesus promised us, "This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." (Jn 6: 58) Finally, the circular form also reminds us of the Communion we have with Him. When people gather and hold hands with each other, they tend to form a circle. This reflects of Christ, who gathers all to Himself as the Church and all her members are in communion with each other. Thus the Blessed Sacrament is also referred to as "Holy Communion".

Thirdly, the Eucharistic Bread is thin and fragile. This shows that Christ is vulnerable to us. Jesus opens Himself up to all possible abuses we can commit against Him, who is God. We have already heard of this in His Passion, where He let us spit at Him, crown Him with thorns, and nail Him to the Tree. Here in the Eucharist, we may also spit at Him, crown Him with our foot, and nail Him with our finger. Occult rituals often include committing sacrilege against the Blessed Sacrament. Yet His love for us outweigh His pride. Since permitting these abuses opens up the floodgates of grace, He undertakes them willingly. Christ so loves us that He leaves His Precious Body at our total disposal.

Certainly, there are many things about Jesus we cannot learn of in the Eucharist. Nonetheless, we can never fully know Christ regardless of the physical form He assumes for He is God and God is infinite in mystery. To sum up the mystery of contemplating the face of Christ in the Eucharist, I leave you with the words of St Aquinas, the first verse of Adoro Te Devote.

Adoro Te devote, latens Deitas,

I devoutly adore You, O hidden God,

Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;

Who are truly hidden beneath this veil;

Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,

My whole heart totally submits to you,

Quia Te contemplans totum deficit.

And in contemplating You totally surrenders itself.

Listen to the chant here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xs67InkZ3A