Without the Holy Eucharist Catholics will have a problem finding Christ's grace!

Without the Holy Eucharist Catholics will have a problem finding Christ’s grace!

Just reading the exploits of the saints it would be very doubtful to find one that did not seek and receive the Holy Eucharist.  Of course there were some who through no fault of their own may have been kept from the reception of Christ, but in their hearts they were already being blessed with the graces that still were there.  

The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”  “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.  For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”  (CCC 1324).

In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord.  “The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession.”   (CCC 1378).

Does the opportunity to receive the Eucharist make us special in the fact that Christ is available to those, who are in the state of grace, over all others?  Of course not; however, when we as Catholics have the golden opportunity to receive Christ we should take every available moment to receive, adore him, and worship the Passion that Christ went through so that we could always have him available for our own spiritual needs and forgiveness.  

By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins.  The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin.  The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation.  The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church.  (CCC 1395).  

The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church.  Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ.  Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body - the Church.  Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism.  In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.  The Eucharist fulfills this call: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread:” (CCC1396).

If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that you receive.  To that which you are you respond “Amen” (“yes, it is true!”)  and by responding to it you assent to it.  For you hear the words, “the Body of Christ” and respond “Amen.”  Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your amen may be true.  (St. Augustine, semon).

Ralph B. Hathaway