From the Pastor’s Desk
Dear Parishioners:
Every year, we celebrate Pentecost (the birthday of the Church and the end of the Easter season), the Feast of the Holy Trinity and the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Each year, the Church challenges us to increase our understanding that Jesus is truly present (Body & Blood, Soul and Divinity) in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper, is the central sacrament of Catholic worship. It commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, during which he blessed bread and wine, identifying them as his body and blood, and commanded his followers to “do this in remembrance of me.”
The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” and it is the sacrament in which bread and wine are consecrated and truly become the Body and Blood of Christ; we call this change “Transubstantiation.”
“Transubstantiation” is the doctrine of the Catholic Church stating that upon the consecration of the Eucharist, the bread and wine are completely transformed into the actual Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, while their outward appearances and physical properties remain unchanged. The host may still look like bread and look like wine and taste like bread and taste like wine BUT they have been changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Christ is truly present each and every time we celebrate Mass. As St. John Vianney said, “Jesus Christ found a way by which He could ascend into Heaven and yet remain on the earth. He instituted the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist so that He might stay with us, and be the Food of our soul; that He might console us and be our Companion.”
Remember: Together, we can do something beautiful for God.
In Christ,
Msgr. Brian McNamara
Fr. Brian
PS: As you may recall, we went on a parish pilgrimage to Italy last year. One of the holy sites we visited was Lanciano, the site of a Eucharistic miracle. The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano occurred in 750 AD when a monk, doubting the Real Presence of Christ, saw the bread and wine transform into physical flesh and blood. The relics—human heart tissue and type AB blood—are permanently housed at the Sanctuary of the Eucharistic Miracle in Lanciano,
One of the pilgrims on the trip (the Gelish family) purchased two stoles with the Eucharistic miracle embroidered on the stoles. We will “christen” these stoles this Sunday!