Catholics believe that, at the moment of consecration during the Mass, Jesus Christ becomes truly and really present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the appearance of bread and wine.  Indeed, bread and wine no longer remain, but only our Lord.  Why do Catholics believe this?  Because, Jesus said as much at the Last Supper.  He said, "This is my body." (Matt 26:26)  He didn't say, "This is a symbol or type of my body."  Elsewhere, Jesus taught the same thing in even more shocking language: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."  (John 6:53).  Even when many of his disciples left him because of his teaching (John 6:66), he did not run after them and clarify that he was speaking only symbolically; he let them go.  Jesus truly meant what he said.  We must consume him, body and blood, to have eternal life (Jn 6:51). 

The Liturgical celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life”.  How could it be otherwise?  The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks most eloquently on this truth.  It says, “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself.  The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.  Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.'  In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: 'Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking'" [CCC 1324-1327].

Because God knows we human beings are weak in faith and need a little encouragment every now and then, he has performed dozens of Eucharistic miracles throughout the history of the Church to confirm this teaching.  See the links on the right for a great resource on Eucharistic miracles and for a more thorough biblical, historical, and logical defense of the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist.

Please click here for Mass times, Mass and Communion Etiquette, and information on Eucharistic Adoration and First Communion at Saint Catherine's.  If you begin to make an effort to attend Mass and receive our Lord at communion with more reverence and devotion, and if you visited our Lord for just a few minutes during Adoration, you're life will be changed.  That's a promise!  So why not start this Sunday?  You can browse through the links above and find some new favorite prayers to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.