It would be ludicrous to ask a person if he could live without his heart. We
all know that a human heart is necessary to pump blood throughout the body and is necessary to
bringing life sustaining nutrients to all areas of the body. A heart is necessary for LIFE.
Our Catholic Faith has a "heart," also, which is NECESSARY for its LIFE,
STRENGTH and SUSTENANCE. It isn’t visible or "felt" like the human heart, but it is every
bit as important and even more so. Why? Because spiritual things are more REAL than material things
and because the "heart" of our Faith is more than a part of our body, "IT" is a Person... the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity, God made Man, Who is Jesus Christ.
I am speaking about the Holy Eucharist, the consecrated Host which at the
words of a priest at Mass, "This is My Body,..." becomes Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul, and
Divinity. This Mystery, this Truth, this Doctrine of the Church which dates back to the Last Supper, is the
HEART of our Faith.
Without Faith in Our Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, a person’s faith is Life-less. It is
without meaning and superficial.
There is an element within the Church today which seeks to proclaim the Holy
Eucharist, the consecrated Host, as only a SYMBOL. I heard one priest tell me that we are
not cannibals, we do not eat human flesh. My answer is: Father, you are correct, we are NOT
cannibals, for cannibals eat dead meat. Jesus is ALIVE and because Love desires union and Jesus wants to be as close to us as possible, He gave us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink, just as He stated in the
Scriptures.
For any Catholic, be he priest or lay person, to deny the Real Presence of
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is to deny this Sacrament as a Sacrament of Love, is to fail to
recognize that we are greatly loved by God, that God wishes to be an integral part of our lives. It is to
remove the HEART of our religion out of our Faith, which then cannot survive.
I often say: I want to love SOMEONE, not a symbol. What symbol is meaningful
enough for me, as a consecrated religious, to give my whole life to "its" service? How
"cold" a "symbol" can be!! How "warm" LOVE is Himself!
Satan is striking at the HEART of Catholic Faith. "To be forewarned is to be
forearmed."
Every day make an Act of Faith in Our Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed
Sacrament. Don’t let anyone talk you into believing the Holy Eucharist is only a symbol.
We will all come Face to face with the Son of God some day. Let us profess
our Faith in His Real Presence while on this earth. Then in Heaven "Faith" will not be necessary
for we shall "possess" Him in Whom we have believed.
God bless you!