"O taste the LORD and see that He is good" are words used by the Psalmist to describe the experience he has developed with God. It is a taste of the LORD - How good He is towards His people, the human family created by Him.
On Sunday August 19, 2018, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad uttered an extraordinary homily commenting on the readings of the Mass in the Roman Catholic Rite (Proverbs 9: 1-6; Ephesians 5: 15-20; John 6: 51-58)...The homily can be found here in French subtitled in English. Following the first reading from Proverbs, Fr. Boulad speaks about "Wisdom." In, Latin "wisdom" is translated "sapienta" and is derived from "sapere" which means "to taste; to savour" Real knowledge is one that could be tasted. Fr. Boulad shows the origin of knowledge which lies in the senses such as taste and sight which in turn express wisdom emanating from the heart before the brain understands this wisdom. Fr. Boulad continues: Experience in touching is found in the wonder of the child who discovers food or touches his mother as a "new reality" for him. The academic abstracts come later but first the child/adolsecent develops intelligence in stages of development according to Jean Piaget. In English, the word "understand" means to "stand under"or rather stand behind the appearance on the outside. Wisdom came from the ancient masters. We could think of Moses - How he experienced God. When Moses experienced his encounter with God on Mount Horeb, he could not follow what God asked him to do since Moses had a stutter in his ability to speak. God helped him to speak with Pharaoh using the help of Aaron's wisdom for Pharaoh's ill-treatment of the Israelites. When Pharaoh's heart did not respond to Moses requests, God told Moses to get the Israelites out of Egypt. Is not it human that the Israelites complained to Moses when they crossed the Red Sea into Mount Horeb that they were better off in Egypt eating and sleeping and now they thirst? In response God provided for them sweet water and Manna.
In Jesus' words "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Mt. 5:6) He goes out to feed thousands (Jn 6: 1-13). But he does not stop there. He challenges his hearers "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 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: 51-58). After the Resurrection of Christ, he walked with the two disciples to Emmaus. He interpreted Scriptures regarding him to them. When they sat at the table, he broke the bread and vanished from their sight.but the disciples eyes were opened (Lk 24:13-35) This is what the early Christians understood (See also a commentary by the Biblical scholar Scott Hahn here)
One of the great Biblical scholars in history is St. Cyril of Alexandria (ca 376-444). In his commentary on the Gospel of St. John, St. Cyril speaks on the purpose of the Eucharist in these words "For the Son dwells in us in a corporeal sense as Man, commingled and united with us in the mystery of the Eucharist; and also in a spiritual sense as God, by the effectual working and grace of His own Spirit building up our spirit into newness of life and making us partakers of His divine nature"(Cf. here).
In his letter "Against Julian", St. Augustine appeals to many brilliant and holy teachers of his age including Irenaeus, Cyprian, Hilary, Basil, Gregory, Ambrose and Jerome, but cites St. Hilary of Poitier for his abiding faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. See here the site created by Bishop Robert Barron where evidence is shown.
In his Summa Theologiae St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about eating and drinking in receiving the Eucharist "Bread and wine are the proper matter of this sacrament. And the reasonableness of this is seen, first, in the use of this sacrament, which is eating: for, as water is used in the sacrament of Baptism for the purpose of spiritual cleansing, since bodily cleansing is commonly done with water; so bread and wine, wherewith men are commonly fed, are employed in this sacrament for the use of spiritual eating." (Cf. here) The Blessed Sacrament is the richest spiritual gift since God the Word himself is the offered lamb for eternal joy. Those who receive the Eucharist do not analyze it first in their brains but receive it as a gift from God. This is why it is called the Mystery of thanksgiving.
Tasting Christ in the Eucharist is found too in many early Fathers and Doctors of the Church including St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Origen...The full list can be checked on this site.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church mentions that Christ tasted death for our sake. Baptism is the sacrament in which the Christian person is buried with Christ and rises with him...See The Catechism's intra text here...
"O Taste the LORD and see that He is good" (Psalm 34:8)
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Thursday, August 23, 2018
"Give us this day our daily bread" in The Lord's Prayer
To the ordinary Christian, the Lord's Prayer is the standard prayer that we pray to our Father in heaven. I found some deep reflections on the Lord's Prayer and the meaning of "Give us this day our daily bread" since the early Church commentators such as Origen, St. Cyprian, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Augustine, St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Jerome. The original word ἐπιούσιος (epiousios), commonly characterized as daily, is unique to the Lord's Prayer in all of ancient Greek literature.In St. Jerome's translation from the Greek manuscripts to the Latin Vulgate, he uses 'supersubstantial' (supersubstantialem) in Matthew 6:11, but retains 'daily' (quotidianum) in Luke 11:3.These reflections continue in the Catholic Church's scholastic period including St. Thomas Aquinas, and, following the Reformation, in the Council of Trent and in St. Ignatius Loyola down to our own age when in 1979 the Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Edition became the official Latin edition of the Bible published by the Holy See for use in the contemporary Roman Rite. It was authorized by Pope St. John Paul II. Although objecting to the above interpretation, the late renowned Biblical scholar Raymond Brown, S.S. wrote on "The Pater Noster as an Eschatological Prayer" where he emphasized the belief that the Lord's Prayer takes its full effect in the Second Coming of Christ. The Jesuit scholar, Teilhard de Chardin,whose evolutionary cosmic theology found support in Pope Benedict XVI, predicted the "Omega Point" in reference to St. John's Apocalypse where Christ in the end of times will hand back to his Father the saved persons!
Another well-known Biblical scholar, Scott Hahn, described "Our Daily Bread" in terms of the family of God, the saints, and the Church whose Eucharistic communion brings her into the Kingdom of heaven - See https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread.html.
In his magisterial analysis, Pope Benedict XVI wrote similarly on the same topic, stating "the fact is that the Fathers of the Church were practically unanimous in understanding the fourth petition of the Our Father (Lord's Prayer) as a Eucharistic petition."
The first series of petitions carries us towards him for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the burning desire, even anguish, of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes us: (Luke 12:50) "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done...." These three supplications were already answered in the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all (1 Cor 15:28). The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement as certain Eucharistic epicleses: as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down upon itself the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern us from this very moment, in our present world: "give us . . . forgive us . . . lead us not ... deliver us...." the fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the last two concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of prayer.
Another well-known Biblical scholar, Scott Hahn, described "Our Daily Bread" in terms of the family of God, the saints, and the Church whose Eucharistic communion brings her into the Kingdom of heaven - See https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread.html.
In his magisterial analysis, Pope Benedict XVI wrote similarly on the same topic, stating "the fact is that the Fathers of the Church were practically unanimous in understanding the fourth petition of the Our Father (Lord's Prayer) as a Eucharistic petition."
In Communio’s Spring 2017 issue, much of the theological discussion continues a series dedicated to the “Our Father,” focusing on the petition “Give us this day our daily bread.” God faithfully sustains his creation at all times, but calls man, who is made to live “on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) to a more radical share in his own life through the gift of the Incarnate Word, the “living bread come down from heaven” (Jn 6:51; cf. Ex 16:4). Nourished on the fruit of Christ’s sacrifice, human freedom comes most fully to itself. By the reception of this gift, daily life is inwardly enriched with the Son’s own eternal offering of gratitude to the Father.
In “Effects of the Eucharistic Sacrifice: A Brief Commentary on Trent’s De Missae Sacrificio, Chapter 2,” Bruce D. Marshall presents the heart of the Mass as a sacrifice acceptable to God. In conversation with St. Thomas Aquinas, Marshall examines the features of propriatory sacrifice and shows how this is epitomized by Christ’s charity on the cross. In giving his singular sacrifice to be offered anew in the Eucharist, Christ enables his Church to “cause” the immutable God to be pleased, and so to be a free participant in his saving deed. “That our action is pleasing and acceptable to God depends, in other words, wholly on God’s own will. But it is precisely our particular and contingent temporal action with which he is pleased, and which he freely accepts.”
Jan-Heiner Tück, in “Panis Angelicus—Gift of Life: On the Poetic Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Hymn ‘Sacris Solemniis,’” explores the Angelic Doctor’s poetic treatment of the Eucharist. Tück discusses how liturgical piety lives from the confession of Christ’s real and personal presence in the Eucharist, which is indeed the guiding theme of Aquinas’s hymns. In his commentary, Tück dwells on the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, which, by its daily transmission in the Church, gathers the faithful into Christ’s own pro-existence. “He who solemnly celebrates the representation of this sacrifice is called upon to allow his own life to be determined by the self-offering of Christ.”
In “What Bread Is This? What Bread This Is!,” Eckhard Nordhofen directs us to the Greek original of the adjective rendered as “daily” in the “Our Father,” signaling that this neologism, “epioúsion,” is more richly evocative than its common translation. In exploring the root-meaning of this unique word, Nordhofen brings to light how the bread of Christ’s prayer alludes to the manna of Exodus and the Jewish Passover meal, looks ahead to the eucharistic memorial that will be established through the Paschal mystery, and stands as the pledge (and presence) of the Father’s coming kingdom. “Jesus already established the super-essential bread as bread for the future, as the new medium of God.”
Jacques Servais, in “Asking God for What We Do: On an Aphorism of Ignatius of Loyola,” opens the prayer for daily bread into a reflection on how radical trust in God is the very source and safeguard of human freedom. Taking bearings from a saying commonly attributed to St. Ignatius, Servais shows how authentic Christian “indifference,” the readiness to entrust oneself to God’s will and to carry out this will without reserve, overcomes the parallel temptations of sheer passivity and sheer self-reliance. “The spirit of initiative, which is indispensable, is now founded on a living faith in God; and perfect surrender to the divine will now demands that we make use of all the means at our disposal in order to realize it.” In this way, dependence on God for all our necessities, the very dependence we confess in asking the Father for our daily bread, liberates the Christian for fruitful action in the world.
In “Between a Criticism of Evolution and Atheism: A View on the Philosophy of Thomas Nagel,” Engelbert Recktenwald explains why only a God who creates in infinite wisdom and freedom can guarantee the relative independence of the finite world. Recktenwald comments on a prominent philosopher of science, Thomas Nagel, who holds that Darwinistic naturalism undermines the very reason and intelligibility on which it depends. Despite this critique, Nagel remains an atheist in the name of fidelity to the integrity of nature. “According to him, Darwinism and theism resemble one another in that they both push intelligibility out of the world, one by positing the contingency of mutation and the other by taking recourse to divine freedom.” Far from casting doubt on the created order, Recktenwald responds, the structure of the cosmos is intrinsically intelligible only because it is personally bestowed through the divine Logos.
David L. Schindler, in “On Trivializing the Lives of ‘Ordinary People’ in Liberal Societies,” makes a case for the centrality of God and the good to all conscious and free human action, including everyday participation in economic life. Francesca Murphy claims in a recent article (“Is Liberalism a Heresy? Why Liberalism and a Market Economy Are Based on Christianity,” First Things [June/July 2016]) that the liberal market economy, on its own terms, adequately captures the drama of personal existence and serves as a precursor of the mutual giving-and-receiving that is the life of grace. Responding to the substance of this claim, Schindler argues on the contrary that this drama is generated first by the implicit awareness of God’s presence at the origin of human intelligence and action, a presence which the supposed neutrality of liberal institutions formally disregards. “What liberal societies do not—and as a matter of ‘official’-public principle cannot—take into account is the interior order of the market’s specific activities and ends as these (implicitly) concern man’s ultimate good.” Schindler argues, then, “that there is in fact much more drama” going on in the activity of “ordinary people” in the liberal market than Murphy recognizes.
In Why We Need . . ., Philip Gonzales presents an essay on Erich Przywara. Gonzales argues that the mysteries of the Incarnation and divinization stand at the center of Przywara’s classic interpretation of the analogia entis. The Ignatian principle of serving God’s ever-greater majesty animates and forms Przywara’s metaphysics, so that, “at its beating core, the analogia entis is expressive of an analogia caritatisbetween man and God.” If human existence is characterized by obedient response to God, then it is ordered from its very roots to participation in Christ’s Paschal ascent to the Father through loving surrender on behalf of the world.
In Retrieving the Tradition, we publish Erich Przywara’s “Eucharist and Labor,” in which he takes up the question of how the Eucharist transforms and guides the Church in her daily task. The grace imparted in the Mass commends the communicant to a definite work for the sake of the world in the present day. “Christ unites himself with the soul in order that his countenance might shine in it anew. Now he desires, through the labor of those souls who are renewed in him, to also light up the world, from its depth, with the brilliant radiance of his features.” In the end, Christian labor can only be vivifying for others in the measure that it receives its form from the Crucified.
Retrieving the Tradition also features two selections from Our Fatherby Alexander Schmemann. In this reflection, Schmemann concentrates on how the prayer is directed in each petition towards ever-deeper communion with God, as evidenced by the request for bread today. Given to support man in his natural task of praising and becoming likened to God, daily bread is a sign of God’s pervasive, unbroken generosity. “‘(You) give us’: this means that the ultimate source of all this for us is God himself, his life, his concern for us; in whatever form or from whomever we may receive the gift, all is from him.” The promise hiddenly contained in bread, living and everlasting intimacy with the divine source of our being, is fulfilled in the daily sacrifice of the Mass.
Finally, in Notes & Comments Edwin Block explores an often-overlooked work in “Hans Urs von Balthasar’s The Grain of Wheat: Reflections on Spirit and Truth.” Elaborating on Balthasar’s sources and motifs, Block brings forward the deep Christian wisdom to be found in this collection of aphorisms, “a perennial source of enrichment for one’s theological understanding, one’s spiritual life, and one’s prayerful practice.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:Jan-Heiner Tück, in “Panis Angelicus—Gift of Life: On the Poetic Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Hymn ‘Sacris Solemniis,’” explores the Angelic Doctor’s poetic treatment of the Eucharist. Tück discusses how liturgical piety lives from the confession of Christ’s real and personal presence in the Eucharist, which is indeed the guiding theme of Aquinas’s hymns. In his commentary, Tück dwells on the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, which, by its daily transmission in the Church, gathers the faithful into Christ’s own pro-existence. “He who solemnly celebrates the representation of this sacrifice is called upon to allow his own life to be determined by the self-offering of Christ.”
In “What Bread Is This? What Bread This Is!,” Eckhard Nordhofen directs us to the Greek original of the adjective rendered as “daily” in the “Our Father,” signaling that this neologism, “epioúsion,” is more richly evocative than its common translation. In exploring the root-meaning of this unique word, Nordhofen brings to light how the bread of Christ’s prayer alludes to the manna of Exodus and the Jewish Passover meal, looks ahead to the eucharistic memorial that will be established through the Paschal mystery, and stands as the pledge (and presence) of the Father’s coming kingdom. “Jesus already established the super-essential bread as bread for the future, as the new medium of God.”
Jacques Servais, in “Asking God for What We Do: On an Aphorism of Ignatius of Loyola,” opens the prayer for daily bread into a reflection on how radical trust in God is the very source and safeguard of human freedom. Taking bearings from a saying commonly attributed to St. Ignatius, Servais shows how authentic Christian “indifference,” the readiness to entrust oneself to God’s will and to carry out this will without reserve, overcomes the parallel temptations of sheer passivity and sheer self-reliance. “The spirit of initiative, which is indispensable, is now founded on a living faith in God; and perfect surrender to the divine will now demands that we make use of all the means at our disposal in order to realize it.” In this way, dependence on God for all our necessities, the very dependence we confess in asking the Father for our daily bread, liberates the Christian for fruitful action in the world.
In “Between a Criticism of Evolution and Atheism: A View on the Philosophy of Thomas Nagel,” Engelbert Recktenwald explains why only a God who creates in infinite wisdom and freedom can guarantee the relative independence of the finite world. Recktenwald comments on a prominent philosopher of science, Thomas Nagel, who holds that Darwinistic naturalism undermines the very reason and intelligibility on which it depends. Despite this critique, Nagel remains an atheist in the name of fidelity to the integrity of nature. “According to him, Darwinism and theism resemble one another in that they both push intelligibility out of the world, one by positing the contingency of mutation and the other by taking recourse to divine freedom.” Far from casting doubt on the created order, Recktenwald responds, the structure of the cosmos is intrinsically intelligible only because it is personally bestowed through the divine Logos.
David L. Schindler, in “On Trivializing the Lives of ‘Ordinary People’ in Liberal Societies,” makes a case for the centrality of God and the good to all conscious and free human action, including everyday participation in economic life. Francesca Murphy claims in a recent article (“Is Liberalism a Heresy? Why Liberalism and a Market Economy Are Based on Christianity,” First Things [June/July 2016]) that the liberal market economy, on its own terms, adequately captures the drama of personal existence and serves as a precursor of the mutual giving-and-receiving that is the life of grace. Responding to the substance of this claim, Schindler argues on the contrary that this drama is generated first by the implicit awareness of God’s presence at the origin of human intelligence and action, a presence which the supposed neutrality of liberal institutions formally disregards. “What liberal societies do not—and as a matter of ‘official’-public principle cannot—take into account is the interior order of the market’s specific activities and ends as these (implicitly) concern man’s ultimate good.” Schindler argues, then, “that there is in fact much more drama” going on in the activity of “ordinary people” in the liberal market than Murphy recognizes.
In Why We Need . . ., Philip Gonzales presents an essay on Erich Przywara. Gonzales argues that the mysteries of the Incarnation and divinization stand at the center of Przywara’s classic interpretation of the analogia entis. The Ignatian principle of serving God’s ever-greater majesty animates and forms Przywara’s metaphysics, so that, “at its beating core, the analogia entis is expressive of an analogia caritatisbetween man and God.” If human existence is characterized by obedient response to God, then it is ordered from its very roots to participation in Christ’s Paschal ascent to the Father through loving surrender on behalf of the world.
In Retrieving the Tradition, we publish Erich Przywara’s “Eucharist and Labor,” in which he takes up the question of how the Eucharist transforms and guides the Church in her daily task. The grace imparted in the Mass commends the communicant to a definite work for the sake of the world in the present day. “Christ unites himself with the soul in order that his countenance might shine in it anew. Now he desires, through the labor of those souls who are renewed in him, to also light up the world, from its depth, with the brilliant radiance of his features.” In the end, Christian labor can only be vivifying for others in the measure that it receives its form from the Crucified.
Retrieving the Tradition also features two selections from Our Fatherby Alexander Schmemann. In this reflection, Schmemann concentrates on how the prayer is directed in each petition towards ever-deeper communion with God, as evidenced by the request for bread today. Given to support man in his natural task of praising and becoming likened to God, daily bread is a sign of God’s pervasive, unbroken generosity. “‘(You) give us’: this means that the ultimate source of all this for us is God himself, his life, his concern for us; in whatever form or from whomever we may receive the gift, all is from him.” The promise hiddenly contained in bread, living and everlasting intimacy with the divine source of our being, is fulfilled in the daily sacrifice of the Mass.
Finally, in Notes & Comments Edwin Block explores an often-overlooked work in “Hans Urs von Balthasar’s The Grain of Wheat: Reflections on Spirit and Truth.” Elaborating on Balthasar’s sources and motifs, Block brings forward the deep Christian wisdom to be found in this collection of aphorisms, “a perennial source of enrichment for one’s theological understanding, one’s spiritual life, and one’s prayerful practice.”
The first series of petitions carries us towards him for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the burning desire, even anguish, of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes us: (Luke 12:50) "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done...." These three supplications were already answered in the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all (1 Cor 15:28). The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement as certain Eucharistic epicleses: as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down upon itself the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern us from this very moment, in our present world: "give us . . . forgive us . . . lead us not ... deliver us...." the fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the last two concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of prayer.
2828 "Give us": the trust of children who look to their Father for everything is beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."(Mt. 5:45) He gives to all the living "their food in due season."(PS 104:27) Jesus teaches us this petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness.
2829 "Give us" also expresses the covenant. We are his and he is ours, for our sake. But this "us" also recognizes him as the Father of all men and we pray to him for them all, in solidarity with their needs and sufferings.
2830 "Our bread": the Father who gives us life cannot not but give us the nourishment life requires - all appropriate goods and blessings, both material and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father's providence.(Cf. Mt 6:25-34). He is not inviting us to idleness,(2 Thess 3:6-13) but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God:
To those who seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he has promised to give all else besides. Since everything indeed belongs to God, he who possesses God wants for nothing, if he himself is not found wanting before God. (St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 21 PL 4, 534A.)
2831 But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound meaning of this petition. the drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord's Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment. (Lk 16:19-31)
2832 As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth "rise" by the Spirit of Christ. This must be shown by the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just.
2833 "Our" bread is the "one" loaf for the "many." In the Beatitudes "poverty" is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others. (2 Cor 8:1-15)
2834 "Pray and work."(St. Benedict Regula, 20, 48.) "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you."(Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The
Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola
University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.) Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.
Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola
University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55.) Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.
2835 This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing: "Man does not live by bread alone, but . . . by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,"(Deut 8:3) that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to proclaim the good news to the poor." There is a famine on earth, "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."(Am 8:11) For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist. (Jn 6: 26-58)
2836 "This day" is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord,(Mt 6:34) which we would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this "today" is not only that of our mortal time, but also the "today" of God.
If you receive the bread each day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you every day. How can this be? "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." Therefore, "today" is when Christ rises.(Ps 2: 7)
2837 "Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of "this day,"(Ex 16: 19-21) to confirm us in trust "without reservation." Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence.(1 Tim 6:8) Taken literally (epi-ousios: "super-essential"), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the "medicine of immortality," without which we have no life within us.(St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2 PG 5, 661; ⇒ Jn 6:53-56.) Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: "this day" is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.
The Eucharist is our daily bread. the power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for our pilgrimage.(St. Augustine, Sermo 57, 7: PL 38, 389.7)
The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.(St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67 PL 52, 392; Cf. ⇒ Jn 6:51).
Thursday, August 16, 2018
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Personal Note:
After the attendees received the Eucharist (under the two forms together) at the Mass, my oxygen tank became empty which alarmed my daughter and myself as well as a number of friends around us. Thank God, my wife came to the rescue on time while the closing blessing was being given! Thanks also to the priests who came to see us and offer their help after the Mass...Last night, August 15, 2018 I attended the magnificent Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God at Jesus the King Greek Melkite Catholic parish in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration north of Toronto which was consecrated by Pope Saint John Paul II in his 1984 first visit to Toronto. The Mass was celebrated by the pastor and his two assistant pastors, and served by the renowned Homsy choir. In his homily, the pastor Fr. Ibrahim El-Haddad spoke about the reason that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed to heaven body and soul. Her utter humility expressed in her own response to the Archangel Gabriel "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38). The "Dormition of the Theotokos" refers to the same celebration in the Eastern Churches. Dormition refers to the death of Mary which she underwent as her Son did. However, her purity and immaculate life seen by God could not be left in the tomb. As the risen Christ ascended to heaven, he also took up his mother to heaven in both body and soul. This is an old tradition in both East and West. In response to questions by separated Christian brothers, an extensive consultations with the Bishops, was followed by a dogmatic definition, infallibly pronounced by Pope Pius XII on the occasion of the Marian Year in 1950 (see Munificentissmus Deus by Pope Pius XII here).
Since the Mother of Jesus was given to John the Apostle by Christ on the cross, she lived with John. Both Ephesus, where St. John the Apostle preached, and Jerusalem where the Apostles first preached, claimed the honor of having the Mother of Christ before her dormition and assumption. In the 3rd century, St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, wrote that Mary is the new Eve whose obedience cancelled Eve's disobedience (see St. Irenaeus' Against Heresies Book V Chapter 19 in The Catholic Encyclopedia here). In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Alexandrian Bishops played a significant role in defending the Virgin Mary's role in Christ's incarnation and redemptive act. This is evident in St. Athanasius "De Incarnatione Verbi Dei" and St. Cyril of Alexandria momentous leadership at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD in which he vigorously defended the title given to the Virgin Mary being "Mother of God" because she is the mother of the "Word of God" (John 1, 1) who in her womb he became Man. In the same period, Churches in Antioch expressed veneration of Christ's mother. St. Ephraim the Syriac and St. Romanos the Melodist composed hymns of praise to the Virgin Mary as the one chosen by God for the Son's incarnation and redemptive acts. In the 8th century, St. John of Damascus actively fought by his pen the Iconoclastic heresy enforced by the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isorian. He was helped by the fact that he resided in Islamic territory. The most important icon defended is that of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus. It can be seen in Eastern Churches today. Another popular, but rare, icon is that of the "Dormition of the Virgin Mary" in which Mary in her coffin is carried by Jesus. It shows the early devotion in the Eastern Churches accorded to the Virgin Mary in her death and assumption where her risen son carries her. In Coptic art, the face of Jesus is disproportionately larger than his body. Although Mary is at his side in the icon, the theological meaning is based on the description of heaven. In heaven, the King Jesus Christ sits on the throne, while his mother, the most pure among creation, stands on his right side. In his 13th century Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas distinguished the veneration given to the Virgin Mary as the holiest of creatures by calling it "hyperdulia" as opposed to "Latria" owed only in worship to the Triune God. In the Mass or Divine Liturgy, there is a definitive moment in which Mary is pre-eminently proclaimed above all angels and saints. It is evident then that veneration of the Virgin Mary as the holiest of all creation is as old as the beginning of Christian Era. Her participation in the redemptive act of Christ under his cross and her sorrowful tears carrying the dead body of Jesus after the crucifixion have been the subject of artful works such as LaPieta by Michael Angelo and repeated calls to proclaim her "Mediatrix of Graces". In the 16th century, Pope Saint Pius V established the Holy Rosary prayer, based on a long custom. The prayer consists of 3 groups meditating on the redemptive love of Christ from the Annunciation to the Ascension and beyond known as the "Joyful Mysteries"; the "Sorrowful Mysteries"; and the "Glorious Mysteries." Pope Saint John Paul II added "The Luminous Mysteries." Each group starts with The Lord's Prayer ("Our Father") and 10 Hail Marys and followed by "Glory be...". For further information the reader may wish to read this site...
In our time, Venerable Fulton Sheen observed that Muslims too consider the Virgin Mary "the purest of all women". He thought that this time belongs to the Virgin Mary whom with her intercession the Lord may, in his love, bring them to the fold of the Church...
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
God's Love Is Stronger Than Hell
On Sunday August 5, 2018, commenting on the Scripture readings of the Mass, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad said a homily in which he showed the psychological needs of humans from birth till adulthood. The little baby that comes out of the womb of his mother cries for the comfort that he left when he was being nourished inside to the discomfort of having to find the nourishment gradually withdrawn as he stops sucking the milk from his mother's breast. In a similar fashion the Israelites complained to Moses that in order to follow him into the desert, they had to leave the comfort of their homes in Egypt where they ate and now are hardly able survive. The Passover is a reminder that Christ will also use to describe how his body and blood will be given up in order to save us and to lead humanity into the joy of heaven. This is the body that is consumed by the faithful in the Eucharist on Sunday - the "Real Presence of Christ" among us. At Holy Rosary parish in Toronto, the faithful are able to contemplate the Blessed Sacrament on their knees.
But this raises the question of doubts about God that many in our materialistic world, particularly the younger generations educated in only the physical sciences, have come to experience. Every metaphysical question is being examined today as if the world has not gone through thousands of years of worship.
I recall that in August last year, I asked the two Jesuit scholars that I know, Fr. Henri Boulad and Fr. Samir Khalil Samir about my own fear that because of my sins, God may send me to hell. Fr. Boulad replied "Trust in God. Do not think of hell". Fr. Samir replied that Pope Saint John Paul II declared "Damnation" in hell should not be attributed to God's initiative since in his merciful love, God does not desire other than the salvation of his created beings. Bishop Robert Barron (who published the massively popular "Catholicism" series) commented here on the possibility of damnation in hell but wisely observed that while the Church declared many souls in heaven, she has never made a declaration of any human in hell. Furthermore, the greatest Catholic theologian in the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote his book "Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?" In his book, von Balthasar prays that God in his utter merciful love may save all. In his book "Introduction to Christianity" Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) shows that God's love in Christ's Resurrection is stronger than death. His magnificent chapter may be read here.
But this raises the question of doubts about God that many in our materialistic world, particularly the younger generations educated in only the physical sciences, have come to experience. Every metaphysical question is being examined today as if the world has not gone through thousands of years of worship.
I recall that in August last year, I asked the two Jesuit scholars that I know, Fr. Henri Boulad and Fr. Samir Khalil Samir about my own fear that because of my sins, God may send me to hell. Fr. Boulad replied "Trust in God. Do not think of hell". Fr. Samir replied that Pope Saint John Paul II declared "Damnation" in hell should not be attributed to God's initiative since in his merciful love, God does not desire other than the salvation of his created beings. Bishop Robert Barron (who published the massively popular "Catholicism" series) commented here on the possibility of damnation in hell but wisely observed that while the Church declared many souls in heaven, she has never made a declaration of any human in hell. Furthermore, the greatest Catholic theologian in the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote his book "Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?" In his book, von Balthasar prays that God in his utter merciful love may save all. In his book "Introduction to Christianity" Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) shows that God's love in Christ's Resurrection is stronger than death. His magnificent chapter may be read here.
Friday, July 27, 2018
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Suffering
In an interview on Irish TV in 1974, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta revealed her suffering because of the apparent absence of God as she constantly prayed and received holy Communion for so many years. Her mission to love and save the abandoned and dying in the streets of Calcutta had already been approved by the Holy See since 1950. Her Congregation of the "Missionaries of Charity" counted thousands of young sisters and other co-workers as well as many sponsors who adopted unwanted children instead of aborting them or wasting them as in the West. Yet, at the time of the interview, she had already experienced the "Darkness of the Night" and doubts that were experienced by great saints such as St.Teresa of Avila. Her response was to cling to Jesus the Saviour and love Him; for in her opinion suffering was the way in which souls are purified by God - If sufferings are accepted and existential doubts are brought to the light of Christ, the rest of temptations can be treated...The reader may wish to listen to this contemplative nun who dared to act in the world and "make the ocean one drop less" every time she went about helping the human person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th2QzJwy8tI
She said she was an instrument in God's hands which reminds us by the hymn of St. Francis of Assisi "Make me a channel of your peace": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI1Gst7pEqc
During the 1975-1976 civil war in Lebanon, Mother Teresa wanted to cross from one side to the other in Beirut in order to care for the injured. As she prayed, the response of heaven was immediate and she could cross...In 1979, I was attending her talk and was seated near her in the first row at the Jesuit hall in Cairo. As she finished her talk, I had the privilege of a handshake by Mother Teresa!
A great saint whose missionaries are active in most countries, one of my cousins is a sister in her Missionary of Charity congregation in Congo...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th2QzJwy8tI
She said she was an instrument in God's hands which reminds us by the hymn of St. Francis of Assisi "Make me a channel of your peace": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI1Gst7pEqc
During the 1975-1976 civil war in Lebanon, Mother Teresa wanted to cross from one side to the other in Beirut in order to care for the injured. As she prayed, the response of heaven was immediate and she could cross...In 1979, I was attending her talk and was seated near her in the first row at the Jesuit hall in Cairo. As she finished her talk, I had the privilege of a handshake by Mother Teresa!
A great saint whose missionaries are active in most countries, one of my cousins is a sister in her Missionary of Charity congregation in Congo...
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