Five Minute Sermon: The Holy Eucharist
by VP
Posted on Sunday June 02, 2024 at 08:09AM in Sermons
"Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst."-St. John vi. 35.
MY DEAR BRETHREN: There are many profound thinkers interested in surveying the domain of consciousness, and in making explorations to discover the process by which ideas are formed and retained in the human mind. Within the brain, where the powers of thought reside, there is a sort of dark continent that has not yet been illuminated by the sunlight, or even by the electric light of modern science. It is more than probable that the masters of scholastic philosophy in the thirteenth century knew as much concerning the laws that govern the process of mental growth as the most pretentious modern scholars. In a mysterious way the sight, the hearing, and the other corporeal senses co-operate with the faculties of the mind to produce ideas. Without being able to analyze the process closely, we are nevertheless certain of the results produced. The material world enters into communication with our immaterial spirit, and does so through the agency of the senses. The most difficult problem of mental philosophy is to explain how these sensible impressions are transmuted into thought, and to show how we obtain assurance that the inner world of thought is a correct photograph, and exact representation, of the world around us.
During the time of our Lord's public life he performed many astounding miracles which proved His dominion over the forces of nature, which proved His power in the spirit world beyond the grave. He gave sight to the blind, health to the sick, life to the dead. He multiplied a few loaves of bread and some fishes so that the hunger of five thousand people was appeased. All these were miracles that fell under the senses. They are evidences of His power which come to our understanding through the ordinary channels of human thought and knowledge.
But in the great mystery we celebrate during this octave, my dear brethren, faith and not the senses tells us of the greatest of all His miracles: His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Our eyes see nothing that would of itself convince us of His presence. Our senses cannot perceive that our Lord is truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. It is only by the aid of faith that we can penetrate the veil that hides Him from our view. We believe solely on the testimony of our Lord; we call to mind the words He spoke at the Last Supper, and remember that He has declared those blessed who have not seen and yet have believed. So when we receive Holy Communion, when we assist at Benediction, when we make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, we make an act of faith in the Real Presence.
The mysterious life that our Lord has chosen in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest of all miracles, and when considered attentively fills the mind with wonder and amazement. By a constant and perpetually recurring miracle He abides with His creatures, He still dwells among us, and finds delight in distributing gifts and blessings to the children of men. It was not sufficient for the accomplishment of His plan that He should assume our human nature, that He endeared Himself to the poorest and most destitute of the people among whom He lived. He laid plans and appointed ambassadors to secure the peaceful conquest of all nations; he entered into an agreement beforehand with all who should receive His doctrine: He promised to reward every one who would live righteously, in conformity with the law that He established.
He is still living with us. He is as really present on our altars as He is in the home of His eternal Father. He is with us because of His personal love for each one of us. His presence among us is a great and unceasing wonder, but it is a wonder that can only be explained by His love. Wherever the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, there is He present not only in His Divinity, but in His ever-adorable humanity as well. Thrones and temples have been built for Him in all nations, and from His presence the sorrowful find comfort, the weak find strength, the cowardly find courage, and all find the pledge of eternal life."
Five Minutes Sermons by the Paulist Fathers
