A 6th Sunday after Pentecost Thought to Start the Week Off Right
For this 6th Sunday after Pentecost (in the traditional liturgical calendar), The Inner Life of the Soul concentrates our attention on the Real Presence of Our Lord's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. What's particularly striking about this entry, published in 1905, is the assumed devotion for the Real Presence. Dare we assume that today's Catholics today practice this same devotion? Consider:
"Many have been the learned books, sermons, and essays that have been written in proof of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ upon the altar through the great and ever renewed miracle of Transubstantiation..."
Let's pause here to consider: Were you taught about Transubstantiation when you were schooled in your Catholic faith? Did you even hear or read the term? Many of us Catholics today haven't. I was fortunate to have been educated in my faith at a time when the meaning of Transubstantiation was taught. It's profound reality was reflected in the Masses I attended as a child. Those early Masses were traditional Latin Masses. If you've attended a TLM, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you should consider doing so to find out.
Or, consider: When was the last time you heard a priest mention "Transubstantiation" in a sermon? My own experience attending the Novus Ordo Mass in our parish: it's hardly - if ever - mentioned. Only when we've attended the traditional Latin Mass, or the Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy (my wife's rite), has "Transubstantiation" worked its way into sermons.
Transubstantiation isn't some obscure theological term. It isn't even simply an essential and powerful component of our Catholic faith (although it is that). It was first taught to the Apostles at the Last Supper. The power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ was given to them by Our Lord Himself. The Apostles ordained others - priests - who received this power from them. Today, the priest changes common bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. As a result, His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament is as real as His Presence on earth during the 33 years leading to His Passion and Death, and the forty days following His Resurrection. Really.
You would think that the awesome reality of His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament would profoundly effect our lives. But does it?
Consider: Do we attend Mass faithfully? When we do, do we eagerly look forward to that moment when the priest pronounces the words of Consecration that change ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Consider: How do we approach our reception of Holy Communion? Are we recollected and humble; or are we looking around and greeting fellow parishioners on our way to and from the altar, as if we're attending a social event? Do we visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament from time to time - just to spend time in His Real Presence?
Apparently, when The Inner Life of the Soul was published, Catholics were, shall we say, more attentive, understanding, and appreciative of the Real Presence. Transubstantiation didn't require theological "proof."
"...but there is another proof which has perhaps equal force in its own way, namely the marked and extraordinary effect of that great sacrament upon the children of the Catholic Church."
We're talking about ordinary Catholics here, not just saints and mystics.
"For the love of that Divine Presence they will spend hours before it, rapt in a joy beyond their power to describe; and they know that this happiness comes from something exterior to themselves, from that unseen but ever abiding Presence in the tabernacle, the most real, the most wonderful, the most exalted of all created things, the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ."
We should ask ourselves how we stack up compared to this - not just our understanding of Transubstantiation, but the devotion it inspires.
Every Sunday brings us the opportunity to practice devotion to the Real Presence. Don't let Sundays pass like just another day of the week. Even if you already attend Mass every Sunday, check in with your understanding of the Real Presence, and your devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
God created the world in Six days. It was an act of Love. On the seventh day he rested. He gave us the Sabbath, Sunday, to rest from our daily routine. He has provided the time and the opportunity to return the Love He has given us. We must not let that time and opportunity pass us by.
"Many have been the learned books, sermons, and essays that have been written in proof of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ upon the altar through the great and ever renewed miracle of Transubstantiation..."
Let's pause here to consider: Were you taught about Transubstantiation when you were schooled in your Catholic faith? Did you even hear or read the term? Many of us Catholics today haven't. I was fortunate to have been educated in my faith at a time when the meaning of Transubstantiation was taught. It's profound reality was reflected in the Masses I attended as a child. Those early Masses were traditional Latin Masses. If you've attended a TLM, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you should consider doing so to find out.
Or, consider: When was the last time you heard a priest mention "Transubstantiation" in a sermon? My own experience attending the Novus Ordo Mass in our parish: it's hardly - if ever - mentioned. Only when we've attended the traditional Latin Mass, or the Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy (my wife's rite), has "Transubstantiation" worked its way into sermons.
Transubstantiation isn't some obscure theological term. It isn't even simply an essential and powerful component of our Catholic faith (although it is that). It was first taught to the Apostles at the Last Supper. The power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ was given to them by Our Lord Himself. The Apostles ordained others - priests - who received this power from them. Today, the priest changes common bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. As a result, His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament is as real as His Presence on earth during the 33 years leading to His Passion and Death, and the forty days following His Resurrection. Really.
You would think that the awesome reality of His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament would profoundly effect our lives. But does it?
Consider: Do we attend Mass faithfully? When we do, do we eagerly look forward to that moment when the priest pronounces the words of Consecration that change ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Consider: How do we approach our reception of Holy Communion? Are we recollected and humble; or are we looking around and greeting fellow parishioners on our way to and from the altar, as if we're attending a social event? Do we visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament from time to time - just to spend time in His Real Presence?
Apparently, when The Inner Life of the Soul was published, Catholics were, shall we say, more attentive, understanding, and appreciative of the Real Presence. Transubstantiation didn't require theological "proof."
"...but there is another proof which has perhaps equal force in its own way, namely the marked and extraordinary effect of that great sacrament upon the children of the Catholic Church."
We're talking about ordinary Catholics here, not just saints and mystics.
"For the love of that Divine Presence they will spend hours before it, rapt in a joy beyond their power to describe; and they know that this happiness comes from something exterior to themselves, from that unseen but ever abiding Presence in the tabernacle, the most real, the most wonderful, the most exalted of all created things, the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ."
We should ask ourselves how we stack up compared to this - not just our understanding of Transubstantiation, but the devotion it inspires.
Every Sunday brings us the opportunity to practice devotion to the Real Presence. Don't let Sundays pass like just another day of the week. Even if you already attend Mass every Sunday, check in with your understanding of the Real Presence, and your devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
God created the world in Six days. It was an act of Love. On the seventh day he rested. He gave us the Sabbath, Sunday, to rest from our daily routine. He has provided the time and the opportunity to return the Love He has given us. We must not let that time and opportunity pass us by.
Happy Sunday!
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