IT IS NATURAL THAT MAN WOULD WANT TO LOOK INTO THINGS ABOUT HIM. BY NATURE, HE WANTS TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS EXISTENCE. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD AND GOD, AND HOW HE GOVERNS IT. THE ATHEIST AND THE AGNOSTIC CONTEND THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE THAT THERE IS A GOD. LETS LOOK AS THE GOSPEL STORY. ST.JOHN TELLS US HOW OUR LORD HAD JUST WORKED TWO MIRACLES. HE HAD FED A GREAT MULTITUDE CONTAINING FIVE THOUSAND MEN AND HE HAD WALKED ON WATER OF THE SEA OF GALILEE AND QUELLED A STORM. HAVING RETURNED TO CAPHARNAUM, HE WAS SOUGHT OUT BY THE JEWS, WHO IMMEDIATELY, ASKED, MASTER WHEN DID YOU MAKE YOUR WAY HERE?
OUR LORD, FULLY AWARE OF THEIR INSINCERITY, REPLIED:" IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ME NOW, IT IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE MIRACLES YOU HAVE SEEN; IT IS BECAUSE
YOU WERE FED WITH THE LOAVES, AND HAD YOUR FILLS, AND HE WENT ON TO DEMAND THEIR FAITH: THIS IS THE SERVICE GOD ASKS OF YOU, TO BELIEVE THE MAN HE SENT" THEY REPLIED BY DEMANDING A SIGN. MOSES HAD GIVEN MANNA IN THE DESERT, COULD JESUS DO SOMETHING COMPARABLE TO ASSERT HIS SUPERIORITY? HE REPLIED: " THE BREAD THAT COMES FROM HEAVEN IS NOT WHAT MOSES GAVE YOU. THE REAL BREAD FROM HEAVEN IS GIVEN ONLY BY MY FATHER.. IT IS I WHO AM THE BREAD OF LIFE; HE WHO COMES TO ME WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY, HE WHO HAS FAITH IN ME WILL NEVER KNOW THIRST."AFTER THIS THEY DEPARTED, BUT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF DISCUSSION ABOUT WHAT JESUS HAD SAID.
DESIROUS OF HEARING HIM FURTHER, THEY INVITED HIM TO EXPLAIN HIS TEACHING IN THE SYNAGOGUE. THERE HE EXPOUNDED IT IN A MANNER WHICH LEFT NO DOUBT AS TO HIS MEANING: BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU THIS: THE MAN WHO HAS FAITH IN ME ENJOYS ETERNAL LIFE. IT IS I WHOM AM THE BREAD OF LIFE, YOUR FATHERS WHO ATE MANNA IN THE DESERT, DIED NONE THE LESS; THE BREAD WHICH COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN. IF ANY EATS OF THIS BREAD, HE SHALL LIVE FOREVER. AND NOW, WHAT IS THIS BREAD WHICH I AM GOING TO GIVE? IT IS MY FLESH, GIVEN FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD." IMMEDIATELY THERE WAS UPROAR. THE JEWS REALIZED THAT THIS AT LEAST WAS INCAPABLE OF A METAPHORICAL EXPLANATION AND SO, WITH PERFECT LOGIC, THEY ASKED: "HOW CAN THIS MAN GIVE US HIS FLESH TO EAT? JESUS ANSWERED CLEARLY AND EMPHATICALLY : " BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU THIS: YOU CAN HAVE NO LIFE IN YOURSELVES, UNLESS YOU EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN, AND DRINK HIS BLOOD, ENJOYS ETERNAL LIFE, AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP AT THE LAST DAY. MY FLESH IS REAL FOOD. MY BLOOD IS REAL DRINK. HE WHO EATS MY FLESH, AND DRINKS MY BLOOD, LIVES CONTINUALLY IN ME, AND I IN HIM. AS I LIVE BECAUSE OF THE FATHER, THE LIVING FATHER WHO HAS SENT ME, SO HE WHO EATS ME WILL LIVE, IN HIS TURN, BECAUSE OF ME SUCH IS THE BREAD WHICH HAS COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN; IT IS NOT WHAT IT WAS WITH YOUR FATHERS, WHO ATE MANNA AND DIED NONE THE LESS; THE MAN WHO EATS THIS BREAD WILL LIVE ETERNALLY.
JESUS CHRIST'S PROMISE MUST BE ACCEPTED LITERALLY.
THAT WAS MORE THEN ENOUGH FOR THE JEWS. THE PROMISE MADE THAT DAY IN THE SYNAGOGUE AT CAPHARNAUM WAS FULFILLED THE NIGHT JESUS DIED. IT WAS AT THE LAST SUPPER, OF WHICH THERE ARE FOUR DISTINCT ACCOUNTS. HERE IS ONE OF THEM, St.PAUL'S: THE TRADITION WHICH I RECEIVED FROM THE LORD, AND HANDED ON TO YOU, IS THAT THE LORD JESUS, ON THE NIGHT HE WAS BETRAYED, TOOK BREAD, AND GAVE THANKS AND BROKE IT, AND SAID: " TAKE, EAT, THIS IS MY BODY, GIVEN UP FOR YOU. DO THIS FOR A COMMEMORATION OF ME. AND SO WITH THE CUP, WHEN SUPPER WAS ENDED. THIS CUP, HE SAID, IS THE NEW TESTAMENT, IN MY BLOOD. DO THIS WHEN, WHENEVER YOU DRINK IT, FOR A COMMEMORATION OF ME" (1 COR.11, 23-25). THE WORDS GIVEN BY THE OTHER WRITERS ARE AS FOLLOWS: ST, MATTHEW: "TAKE, AND EAT THIS IS MY BODY. DRINK, ALL OF YOU, OF THIS; FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD, OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, SHED FOR MANY, TO THE REMISSION OF SINS. MOREOVER ST.PAUL HIMSELF ACCEPTED THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION. RELATING HIS ACCOUNT OF THE LAST SUPPER, HE GOES ON: " SO IT IS THE LORDS DEATH WE ARE HERALDING, WHEN EVER YOU EAT THIS BREAD AND DRINKS THIS CUP OF THE LORD RECOGNIZING THE LORD'S BODY FOR WHAT IT IS" (1 COR.11,27-29). THIS IS VIGOROUS LANGUAGE, AND THE ONLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION OF IT IS THAT ST. PAUL WAS CONVINCED THAT THE HOLY EUCHARIST, CHRIST WAS TRULY PRESENT. AND THAT IS THE ONLY CONCLUSION WE CAN DRAW FROM THE SCRIPTURAL "QUOTATION." WE HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING. IN THE BLESSED EUCHARIST, CHRIST LEFT HIMSELF, REALLY, TRULY SUBSTANTIALLY PRESENT. THE DOGMA DEFINED BY THE COUNCIL TRENT FOLLOWS FROM AN UNPREJUDICED EXAMINATION OF THE SCRIPTURAL NARRATIVE.
IN 1873, BRYENNIOS, GREEK ORTHODOX METROPOLITAN OF NICOMEDIA, DISCOVERED THE COMPLETE TEXT OF A LITTLE BOOK OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION
PROBABLY WRITTEN BEFORE THE YEAR A.D. 9O. FOR CENTURIES THE BOOK HAD BEEN ALLUDED TO BUT ITS EXACT NATURE WAS NOT KNOWN. IT IS CALLED THE " OR THE TEACHING OF THE DIDACHE" OR THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, AND IT IS A SUMMARY OF THE MORAL, INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. IT IS CLEAR FROM CHAPTERS 14 AND 15 OF THIS WORK THAT ITS COMPILER BELIEVED IN THE REAL PRESENCE, HOLY COMMUNION AND THE SACRIFICIAL NATURE OF THE MASS.
ONE OF THE GREATEST WITNESSES IS ST. IGNATIUS, THE ILLUSTRIOUS BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, WHO WAS MARTYRED IN THE YEAR A.D. 107. ON HIS WAY TO ROME, WHERE HE WAS TO BE THROWN TO THE WILD BEASTS, HE WROTE LETTERS TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN VARIOUS PLACES. THEIR EVIDENCE IS PARTICULARLY VALUABLE IN VIEW OF THE FACT THEY WERE COMPOSED ONLY ABOUT TEN YEARS AFTER ST. JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL. TO THE EPHESIANS HE WROTE: " THAT YOU MAY OBEY THE BISHOP AND THE PRIESTHOOD WITH INSEPARABLE INTENTION, BREAKING ONE BREAD, WHICH IS MEDICINE OF IMMORTALITY, THE ANTIDOTE AGAINST DEATH, GIVING LIFE FOREVER IN JESUS CHRIST.." TO SMYRNA HE WROTE AGAINST CERTAIN HERETICS: " THEY ABSTAIN FROM EUCHARIST AND PRAYER BECAUSE THEY DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE EUCHARIST TO BE THE FLESH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHICH SUFFERED FOR OUR SINS, WHICH THE FATHER RAISED UP AGAIN BY HIS LOVING KINDNESS. THEY, THEREFORE, SPEAKING AGAINST THE GIFT OF GOD, DIE IN THEIR DISSENSION." IT WOULD BE HARD TO FIND ANYWHERE A MORE EXPLICIT STATEMENT THAN THIS.
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