Felicity

Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

• Jesus said that he was the bread of life come down from heaven and that to have eternal life one must LITERALLY eat his flesh and drink his blood. (John 6)
  
  
  
• The Catholic Church obeys Jesus' command.
  
  
  
• The Catholic celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist is not a re-sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, it is a PARTICIPATION in the singular event.
  
  
  
• Even though the Eucharistic celebration is a participation in the one and only sacrifice of Christ's death on the cross, there are multiple layers of symbolism also associated with the celebration. Therefore, the Catholic celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy is BOTH a memorial of Christ's Passover, AND His actual body made real and physically present at the Mass.
  
  
  
• Consecration of the bread and wine takes place in the Mass when the priest says the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my body which will be given up for you.... This is the cup of my blood...."
  
  
  
• When the priest at the Catholic Mass acts to consecrate the bread and wine, it is actually Jesus Christ Himself who makes the reality of his physical Body present. Jesus is the eternal high priest of the New Covenant, and it is through his ministry of the priesthood that Christ makes Himself present on the altar. The priests are simply men who are the tools of Christ's presentation of His Body and Blood at the Mass.
  
  
  
• At the consecration, the bread and wine are no longer “substantially” present. The outer appearance of the Eucharist is still under the “signs” of bread and wine, but the “substance” is then truly and really the physical body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ Himself. This is called “transubstantiation” and the changing of the “substance” of the bread and wine into the physical presence of Jesus’ Body and Blood is accomplished through the priest by Jesus Christ Himself.
  
  
  
• Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord. The Catholic priesthood finds its foundation in the Old Covenant priesthood of Aaron and the service of the Levites. The Old Covenant priesthood prefigures the ordained ministry of the New Covenant. "Validly ordained" means that the priest is one who can trace his ministerial lineage back to Jesus Christ Himself through the Bishop who lays his hands upon him and confers the Sacrament of Ordination.
  
  
  
• Only the Catholic Church offers Christ's Sacrifice in the Fullness of the faith, however, a few others may also have valid Eucharist due to direct line of succession. These ecclesial communities split from the Catholic Church, but maintained the apostolic succession of their priesthood and therefore can validly confect Christ's Presence on the altar: Eastern Orthodox Churches and various schismatic Churches. It is a sad scandal that these valid Churches are split, but each of them do have apostolic succession.
  
  
  
• The Catholic Church alone, however, has the Christian faith in the Fullness of the teachings of Christ and His apostles. This is not to assert that Christ is not worshipped and honored in other ecclesial communities, but the Church that Jesus Himself founded survives and is celebrated in its complete form only within the Catholic Church. The break with other churches is a scandal and a rift that Catholics pray will heal.

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While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. ~*Leonardo Da Vinci*~