The recipient receives Christ whole and entire under either form. The tiniest particle of the consecrated Host or the smallest drop of consecrated “wine” is Christ. This is why the new “Mass” is a Sacrilege if or when it is valid. Their practice of Communion in the hand, causes crumbs of the Sacred Species to be dropped all over the floor, to be walked on! A Great Sacrilege! How will Our Lord judge us when His greatest Gift to us is trampled under foot!

Our Lord is present as long as the appearances of bread and wine remain. When a consecrated Host is digested or dissolved in water, and no longer has the appearance of bread, it is no longer Jesus. When we go to Holy Communion, Our Lord is present about 15 minutes. We should adore Our Lord within ourselves as long as He is Sacramentally present, for then we are living tabernacles!!

Many are confused between Christ’s Spiritual Presence and His Physical Presence:

God is Spiritually present everywhere. God is Spiritually present when our Souls are in Sanctifying Grace. In Holy Communion God is Physically as well as Spiritually present!!!

How awesome this is! Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth and everything in the universe, and our Judge at the moment of death, Humbles Himself and gives men who have been Ordained Catholic Priests, the Power to bring Him physically from Heaven, down on our altars, under the appearance of bread and wine, so that we His creatures, may have Him for our physical and spiritual food!!

How should we prepare ourselves for so grand a guest?!! Think about it...... How would you prepare your home if a Bishop was going to spend the night there? Would you clean it? Would you fix the broken bed? Replace the soiled curtains? Would you paint the peeling walls? What will The Bishop think of our efforts for him?

Page118

How can we prepare our Souls to receive so grand a Guest! We can try our best to grow in Sanctity between our Holy Communions, with prayer and sacrifice, doing our daily duties as best we can, receive the Sacrament of Confession after a thorough examination of Conscience. What will Our Lord, Who comes to us with so much Love, think of how well we have prepared our souls for this Great Guest? Think about it.

How will we treat our Awesome Guest when He comes to us with so much Love? Will we adore Him or ignore Him during those critical 15 minutes! Think about it.

Our Lord Commanded us to receive Him in Holy Communion:

By receiving Holy Communion, a Catholic obeys Our Lord’s command to eat His Body and drink His Blood:

“ Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life.... I am the living bread, which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him..... This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live forever.” See John 6:46-59.

Then in John 6, we read about The First Protestors:

“Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? ....... The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. ..... After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.” John 6:61-67.

Non-Catholic Objections to The Holy Eucharist!:

“Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.” For our modern day Protestants, this is still a “hard saying”.

1. That’s ridiculous! I and many others are alive and well, that have never eaten your Catholic communion wafer. This proves that it is not needed for life.

Catholic Response: Christ is speaking here of the Spiritual Life of the Soul, the life of Sanctifying Grace. When one makes a good Holy Communion, there is an increase of Sanctifying Grace in the Soul. The amount of Grace received, depends on the disposition of the Soul. A fervent Soul would likely grow more in Sanctity from receiving Holy Communion than a more tepid Soul. All souls are immortal and will live forever. However a soul is spoken of as being “dead” spiritually when it has even one Mortal Sin. How can a soul remain “alive” (free of Mortal Sin) without making use of Christ’s Sacramental System - particularly Confession and Holy Communion?! They can’t. I fear most souls today have many, many Mortal Sins and are therefore Spiritually dead. They have no life (of Christ) in them.

Page119

2. When Christ said “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood” he was only speaking symbolically. He often did this. For example when He said He was the vine and we were the branches, He did not really mean that He was really a vine and we are really branches.

Catholic Response: In John 6, quoted above, we read that the first Protestants correctly took Our Lords words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, literally and refused to accept it. If they were mistaken about Our Lord’s literal meaning, He would have corrected their misunderstanding. Instead, He emphasized the literal meaning even more.

We know that St. Paul the Apostle certainly believed in the Holy Eucharist because of his First Letter to the Corinthians:

“The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?” I Cor. 10:16.

“Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink this chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” I Cor. 11:27-29

A person in Mortal Sin receives Holy Communion “unworthily” and receives “judgment to himself” (commits another Mortal Sin). A mere “symbol” could not cause such a severe punishment. It’s the reality of Sacrilege - receiving the real Body and Blood of Christ in the state of Mortal Sin (unworthily) that caused “judgment” (another Mortal Sin).

3. You Catholics misinterpret John 6. It is cleared up in John 6:35 which says:

“And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.”

Therefore “coming to Him” is the “bread” and “having Faith” in him is “drink”. Bread and wine are just symbols for “coming to Him” and “having Faith in Him”.

Catholic Response: The phrase “to eat the flesh and drink the blood”, when used figuratively among the Jews, as among the Arabs of today, meant to inflict upon a person some serious injury, especially by calumny or by false accusation. To interpret the phrase figuratively then would be to make Our Lord promise life everlasting to the culprit for slandering and hating Him, which would reduce the whole passage to utter nonsense.^[2]

Page 120

4. But John 6:64 says:

“It is the spirit that quickeneth (gives life): the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

This means that eating real flesh is of no avail and that “the words I have been speaking to you are spirit and life”.

Catholic Response: Such an interpretation does not make sense. Christ had just commanded his disciples to eat His flesh, would He then say that doing so would be useless? Is that what “the flesh is of no avail” means? “Eat My Flesh and you’ll find it’s a waste of time”-- is that what he was saying? Of course not! In John 6:64 “flesh” does not refer to Christ’s own flesh. It refers to mankind’s tendency to think on a natural level (our bodily comforts -- man’s flesh) instead of a spiritual level (the condition of our Souls).

The Early Christians Believed in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist:

We can learn much about how Holy Scripture should be interpreted by examining the writings of early Christians.

1. St. Ignatius of Antioch (110 A.D.): He had been a disciple of St. John the Apostle. He wrote an epistle to the Smyrnaeans which referred to “those who hold heterodox opinions,” that “they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh or our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again.”

2. Justin Martyr (150 A.D.) wrote: “...the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”

3. Origen (244 A.D.) wrote: “.....when you receive the Body of the Lord, you reverently exercise every care lest a particle of it fall and lest anything of the consecrated gift perish. You account yourselves guilty, and rightly do you so believe, if any of it be lost through negligence.”

This is why our Priests take extreme care to protect every crumb of the Sacred Species. This is why the altar boy catches any crumb on the Patent as we go to Holy Communion. He then gives the Patent to Father, who carefully puts all the crumbs that are on it, in the chalice to be consumed with the water and wine, used to clean the Chalice after he has distributed Holy Communion. This protection of the Holy Eucharist has been going on for Centuries - as is referred to in the 244 A.D. quote by Origen (above). This protection and deep respect for the Holy Eucharist came to an end in the 1960's with the introduction of Communion in the hand!

Page 121

This is also why Communion in the hand is so evil! Crumbs of the Sacred Species are dropped on the floor to be trampled underfoot!!!!!! This is why, it is worse if the New “Mass” is valid (than if it is invalid), for then it is a Sacrilege. When I have served Mass, I have seen crumbs of the Sacred Species on the Patent, even when only a few went to Holy Communion. How many fall on the ground during the evil practice of Communion in the hand!

4. St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (373 A.D.): “....after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

5. Cyril of Jerusalem (middle of Fourth Century): “Do not, therefore, regard the Bread and Wine as simply that; for they are according to the Master’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ.”

121

Many more quotes could be added to show that it is certain that the early Church took John 6 literally. These early Christians left written records of what was taught and handed down to them by Christ and His Apostles.

The tragedy of Non-Catholic Religions:

How can non-Catholics, who are often called “Fundamentalists” because of their so called heavy reliance of Holy Scripture, how can they reject the literal (and obvious) interpretation of John 6?!

They tragically reject The Sacramental System!!! How can anybody (including Catholics) save their souls, who refuse to make use of The Sacraments”?

EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES:^[3]

The Blessed Sacrament was given to men by a loving God. He is in our Tabernacles 24 hours a day and has been adored there by the Saints in every Century since the last Supper. Also through the Centuries, there have been many who have doubted, neglected and ignored The Blessed Sacrament. Some have even received Holy Communion in mortal sin. Some have even desecrated The Sacred Species! Our Lord has therefore occasionally revealed His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament in extraordinary ways, with Eucharistic Miracles! On many occasions Hosts have bled, or transformed into flesh or “wine” into perceptible blood. Hosts have levitated, or have been preserved for long periods of time. These miracles have resulted in an increase in faith in the Real Presence and conversions to the Catholic Faith.

An excellent source for information on many Eucharistic Miracles is “EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES” by Joan Carroll Cruz. Some examples:

Page 122

1. The Miracle of Lanciano, Italy:

In about 700 A.D., a priest-monk who had doubts about the Real Presence, observed the Host turn into a circle of flesh when he spoke the words of Consecration during Mass and the wine was turned into visible blood! The blood eventually solidified into five lumps. Over the years, up till 1574, the lumps were weighed on many occasions and it was found that one lump weighed more than the total weight of all the lumps put together! This phenomenon no longer exists. The blood was tested in 1971 and found to be type AB. The ring of flesh was still intact and found to be flesh from a human heart. You can still see the relic today and there are many pictures of it.

A partial list of some of the Miracles described in Part I of this interesting book is given below.

1. Lanciano, Italy - 8^th Century: Host turned to flesh, “wine” turned into type AB blood!

2. Braine, France 1153: During Elevation at Mass, Host appeared as a small child!

3. Ferrara, Italy - 117: During Mass, when the Host was broken, blood violently spurted out!

4. Augsburg, Germany -1194: Host turns blood red!

5. Alatri, Italy - 1228: Woman steals a Host which turns the color of flesh.

6. Santarem, Portugal - early 13^th Century: Blood starts coming from a Host after a woman steals It!

7. Florence, Italy - 1230 and 1595: Coagulated Blood found at the bottom of a Chalice that wasn’t cleaned.

8. Daroca, Spain - 1239: Hosts hidden in a Corporal left blood stains!

9. Olmutz, Czechoslovakia - 1242: Host help win a battle and turn into a rosy color.

10. Regensburg, Germany - 1257: Chalice taken from a Priest who doubted the Real Presence by the figure of Christ over the Altar! Given back to him when he repented.

11. Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy - 1280: Blood spurted from the Host during Mass!

12. Paris, France - 1274 and 1290: Stolen Host floated around the head of the thief. A stolen Host bleeds when stabbed with a knife!

13. Slavonice, Czechoslovakia - 1280: Discarded Host reveals location with fire over a bush. Could not be carried away. Shrine built on the spot.

14. Offida, Italy - 1280: Stolen Host turns into bloody flesh when heated in a fire.

15. Hasselt, Belgium - 1317: Host starts to bleed when a man in Mortal Sin picks it up.

16. Siena, Italy - 1330 and 1730: Host a Priest carried in his Breviary on a sick call turns bloody. Stolen Hosts found to be incorruptible after more than 200 years.

17. Blanot, France -1331: Dropped Host turns into blood.

18. Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 1345: A Host that would not burn in fire.

19. Macerata, Italy - 1356: Host broken during Mass starts to bleed.

20. Brussels, Belgium - 1370: Stolen Hosts start to bleed when stabbed with a knife.

21.Middleburg-Louvain, Belgium - 1374: A Host turns to bloody flesh in the mouth of a man in Mortal Sin!

22. Seefeld, Austria - 1384: A proud Knight demanded the large Host. When he received It - standing- the ground gave way beneath him -down to his knees - and the Host turned red.

23. Dijon, France - before 1433: A great stream of blood came from a Host that was abused.

24. Avignon, France - 1433: Four feet deep water in a Chapel during a flood parted, leaving a dry path to Tabernacle so the Hosts could be saved.

25. Turin, Italy - 1453: Stolen Hosts float in the air with a Heavenly light.

26. Morrovalle, Italy - 1560: Host is not burned in an intense fire.

27. Akcake de Henares, Spain - 1597: Consecrated Hosts incorruptible under conditions where other Hosts decayed.

There are many other Eucharistic Miracles described in this book!

Page 123

QUESTIONS

Apologetics: Chapter XII - THE HOLY EUCHARIST

1. Write you name so I can read it. (10 points)

2. Circle “T” or “F” when the following statements are True or False. (15 points)

T F At the Moment of the Offertory of the Mass, the bread and wine on the altar become the

whole Jesus Christ - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

T F Every crumb of a Consecrated Host contains the complete Body and Blood of Christ.

T F When we go to Holy Communion, it has been estimated that Our Lord is present within

us for about 2 minutes.

T F Christ is Spiritually present everywhere. When we receive Him in Holy Communion,

Christ is both Spiritually and Physically present.

T F Christ told His Disciples that they were to eat His Body and drink His Blood, they knew

He meant only symbolically.

3. Souls are immortal - they cannot die - they will live forever. How then can a soul be said to be “dead”. (15 points)

4. A non-Catholic claims that when Christ said we must eat His Body and drink His Blood, He was only speaking symbolically and not literally. How would you answer him? Give some reasons that may help him to change his mind.(15 points)

Page 124

5. A non-Catholic tells you that the Catholic Church invented the Concept of the Real Presence and that the early Christian did not believe it. What would you say? (15 Points)

6. A N.O. Catholic says that the Host touches your tongue, which is part of your body. So therefore, Communion in the hand is OK also. What would you say? (15 points)

7. The New Mass is either valid or its not valid. Which is worse? Give reasons for your answer.

(15 points)

Page 125

^[1]. See “Eucharistic Miracles” Introduction by Joan Carroll Cruz

^[2]. See the Tract by Catholic Answers “The Eucharist”

^[3]. “Eucharistic Miracles” by Joan Carroll Cruz