Podcasts about holy eucharist

Join us for worship this Sunday, March 12, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Melanie Slane as Celebrant and Tym House as Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Have you ever wondered about the reality of Christ's physical presence in the Eucharist and whether this can be shown scientifically? Forensic analysis is used by courts, investigators, and scientists world-wide to uncover the hidden truths and history of our physical world, but forensics can also help us understand the complex spiritual realities of our faith. Documentarian Ron Tesoriero has astonishing information that supports the essential tenet of the Catholic Faith: namely, that Christ's body, blood, soul and divinity are indeed truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist. Tesoriero has recorded the reactions and explanations of some of the world's best scientists, verifying findings that show the reality of the mystery of transubstantiation. Watch now to see how the application of an honest scientific inquiry indicates the miraculous nature of the Holy Eucharist.FAITH-BASED PRO-LIFE SILVER ROUNDS ARE HERE! GET YOURS TODAY!https://www.stjosephpartners.com/lifesite-silver-roundFIGHT FOR THE CULTURE OF LIFE ASAP! https://give.lifesitenews.comSHOP ALL YOUR FUN AND FAVORITE LIFESITE MERCH!https://shop.lifesitenews.com/Follow us on social media: LifeSite: https://linktr.ee/lifesitenewsJohn-Henry Westen: https://linktr.ee/jhwesten Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode of Catholic Re.Con., guest Trace Chamberlain of Iron Sharpens Iron exhibits a deep hunger for the Holy Eucharist in the midst of a delay. #Catholic #Eucharist #Protestant #Baptist #Sincerity #Heart #Love #CatholicChurch #RCIA #YouTube #IronSharpensIron #Obedience #Patience #TLM Trace's YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAI27ZnbSUTrx2ktU8WRYeQ If you'd like to share your personal testimony, please fill out the form here: https://bit.ly/3bdE6pr Wherever you are on the journey, God bless you. For more information, visit eddietrask.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eddie-trask/support

Join us for worship this Sunday, March 5, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Melanie Slane as Celebrant and the Rev. Philip DeVaul as Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

It's true that the Holy Eucharist is not a prize for the “perfect” but is medicine for the weak. That's precisely why those in the state of mortal sin should not receive the Eucharist before first having their sins absolved in the sacrament of confession/reconciliation. Dana - How do I have an “intimate relationship” with Christ? Karen - Did St. Paul contradict Jesus? Rick - Is being disrespectful to parents a serious sin? What can my 17-year-old do instead of fasting during lent? Steve - What is the Catholic view of salvation?

First of five sessions on the Holy Mass:IntroductionWhat is the Mass? Most practicing Catholics understand that Mass is important. It is something they should go to. But the opinions about Mass are all over the ideological spectrum. For this series, my hope is to share what the Mass is from the Mind and Heart of the Church. I have my opinions about liturgical aesthetics, architecture, art, and the like, but I am going to try here to stick to principles. I make my promise here to you that if I offer an opinion, I will explicitly make sure that you know it is an opinion. So, today, in part 1 we will be answering the broad question: What is the Sacred Liturgy? We are going to be going lightspeed over a vast amount of ground, but I hope that it is, nonetheless, sufficiently explained. In part 2 - 5, we will be looking at the Introductory Rites, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Concluding Rites. These four main divisions are packed with theological meaning, symbolism, and beauty. I am thrilled to be sharing it with you.The Sacred and Divine LiturgyEtymology of the Word “Liturgy”We should begin our exploration of the Sacred Liturgy by understanding what that word liturgy means. What is the liturgy? It is certainly a strange word to an English-speaker. Liturgy comes from two Greek words: leitos meaning public and ergo meaning to do. The Greek word for liturgy is leitourgos which is the same as the Latin word lictor, which both mean a public servant. In ancient Athens, public service was done by wealthier citizens by using their own wealth. This public service could be the manager of a gymnasium, the chorus singers in a theater, one who provides a banquet, or someone who funds and offers ships used for war to the state. In the Greek Old Testament, the term liturgy meant any kind of general service in the temple.The author of Hebrews states, “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry (Greek: leitourgos) that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises (Heb. 8:6).” So, the meaning of liturgy in the New Testament is established as the actions of the priest after the order of the High Priest Jesus Christ. Since we are speaking of terms, it is worth mentioning that in the Eastern Catholic Churches, the term liturgy is only used to describe the Divine Liturgy, that is, the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. In the West, including the Latin Rite, the term liturgy is used for the Sacred Liturgy, which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But, liturgy is also used for all official services, all the various rites, ceremonies, prayers, and sacraments of the Church. —--------------We could also ask what liturgy is not. Liturgy is not private devotions. Devotional practices are indispensable and beautiful expressions of the heart of man being offered in love to God. Liturgy, on the other hand, is primarily what God is doing for us, through the ministry of the Church, in which we enter in and take part. In the Liturgy, God is reaching into our humanity, as He did when the Son became Flesh, and lifting us up to be more like Him.St. Justin Martyr records around the year 164 A.D. what the Liturgy looked like in his day, early in the history of the Church. The full quotation can be found in paragraph 1345 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but I will summarize it.First, the Lessons are read. The Lessons are the Old and New Testament Scripture readings. Then a sermon is given by the bishop. There are prayers over the people, both those present and those throughout the whole world. The Sign of Peace is exchanged. The offering of bread and wine and water are brought up by the deacons. There is a lengthy prayer of thanksgiving done by the bishop. The bread and wine are consecrated by the words of Christ spoken at the Last Supper and they become the Eucharist. The people then acclaim Amen. Then, Holy Communion is distributed to those present and then taken to those who cannot be in attendance.Here we see that there is a structure to the Sacred Liturgy and there is human involvement and participation. But, as we will come to see, the Sacred Liturgy is about the work that God has done and is doing, in which we enter in and take part.Liturgical Diversity in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic ChurchOver the next few sessions, we will be exploring the Holy Mass of the Latin Rite using our current Missal. But I will also be touching on some historical points of references in the Roman Missal of 1962 and before. And I will also be bringing in elements of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom used in the Byzantine Rites. What the Liturgy is, which is our subject for the remainder of today's session, does not change from one form or expression of the Liturgy to another. However, there is a beautiful, legitimate liturgical diversity within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. Over the last centuries, the Church has been welcoming back many groups of Byzantine Catholics into full communion with the Pope in Rome. These Byzantine Greek Churches are called sui iuris because they govern themselves, under the authority of the Pope, but they retain their language, customs, rituals, and the like. Likewise, there are other non-Byzantine Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. Thus, the Catholic Church is far broader than just the Latin Rite, though the Latin Rite is the largest.What is the Definition of the Mass?Now we have a working understanding of the Sacred Liturgy as transcending each specific Rite of the Catholic Church. But what is it? What is the Mass? Dr. Scott Hahn of Franciscan University is fond of referring to the Mass as the continuation through space and time of the incarnation. Dr. David Fagerberg of Notre Dame speaks of it in highly technical terms: The perichoresis of the Trinity kenotically extended to invite our synergistic ascent into deification.There is a time for academic and technical explanations of the Mass! I, for one, love them! But what about the average Catholic in the pew or the lapsed Catholic? Surely there is a way to define the Mass that is in simpler terms without watering down the meaning.I will be repeating the following about three thousand times over the coming weeks because it is vital to our understanding of the Mass. At any rate, here it is:The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the perfect self-offering of God to the Son to God the Father in the power of God the Holy Spirit in which we are invited to participate and grow in our communion with God. Put even more simply: the Mass is the self-offering of the Son to the Father in the Spirit, in which we are invited to take part. What is the Sacred Liturgy “For”?Now that we have defined what the Mass is, then we can ask: What is it for? Why do we go to Mass? For many, it is a checking of the boxes. Yes, I went to Mass on Sunday and received my “spiritual vitamin pill.” But is that it? Is it about “getting something” out of Mass? Is it primarily something we are doing?From our definition, we know that Mass is the self-offering of the Son to the Father in the Spirit, in which we are invited to take part. It is something that God is doing and we are privileged to be beckoned to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb! So, what is Mass for? Why do we go? We go to encounter and worship God in the authentic way that He desires and be transformed by that encounter.There are two main ends of the Holy Mass: the glorification of God and the sanctification of man. Through the Sacraments (beginning with Baptism), God who became one of us dwells within us as in a Temple and makes us like Himself. Through this communion and union, we are made holy by God; this is the sanctification of man. As St. Irenaeus says in the 2nd Century: “The glory of God is man fully alive, but the life of man is the vision of God.” Apart from true worship, how can we be formed in the vision of God? How can we be fully alive and thus glorify God by our lives apart from the Mass? We cannot! As St. Padre Pio said, “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass.”So, what is the Mass for? To glorify God and to allow His Sacred Action to make us holy. Re-presentation of the Paschal MysteryWhat is the one sacrifice of Christ?To understand the Sacred Action of the Holy Eucharist, we have to travel back in time two thousand years to Jerusalem. The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the presenting once more, the “re-presentation,” of the One and only Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is the coming present once again to our senses, through the mystery of God, of the entrance into Jerusalem of Christ, the Last Supper, His suffering, His death on the Cross, His Resurrection, and His Ascension into Heaven. The Holy Mass marks all of these things, and makes them present to us, here and now, outside of time.The Holy Mass is a memorial of Jesus' suffering and death. It is not a reenactment nor is it mere remembering. In the Mass, by the power of God, these saving actions become truly present under the signs and symbols that God uses to communicate with us. He knows that we are flesh and blood. He knows that we are body and soul. So, He communicates with us through tangible signs, audible words, ritual actions, postures, and gestures. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation… The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body (CCC 1359, 1362).” In Christ, all things are restored and made new. Primarily, we enter into this saving reality through our Baptism into Christ and His Body, the Church. In Baptism, we are a new creation. Baptism then orders us to communion with Him in receiving truly and substantially His Most Holy Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The Catechism goes on to teach that, “In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he ‘poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'… The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit (CCC 1365-6).”How are the graces that Christ super-abundantly merited on the Holy Cross applied to us, almost two thousand years later? It is, first, through Baptism, but it is perpetuated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This One Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is presented once more in an unbloodied manner so that we may receive the fruits of this great gift. Thus, the Holy Eucharist has the power to forgive sins, by the blood of Jesus Christ. United as one Body, the Church offers this One Sacrifice until the end of time for the good of the Church and the good of the whole world. Each time our Holy Mother the Church celebrates the sacred mysteries, it is Christ who is the High Priest, the Saving Victim, the Place of Sacrifice, and our Mediator between God and man. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. So, the Mass is not what we do for God. It is the perfect prayer and sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ to the Father in the Spirit because it is the whole of the saving action of Christ transcending time and space. As lacking as we are and as sinful as we are, we enter into this reality of the One Sacrifice. Our imperfect offerings and sacrifices are united with the One Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and are made perfect. We cooperate with the One Sacrifice and we receive the saving fruits of the One Sacrifice. By the mediation of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to the glorification of the Father, we are made holy and we are transformed to be like Jesus. Every Sunday is a Mini EasterAs Catholics, we understand that at the Mass, in true worship, this Sacred Action is not a mere remembrance or a reenactment. These realities are coming present once again. So, it is fitting that every Sunday is a Holy Day of Obligation because every Sunday is a mini Easter. How does this fit in the ancient understanding of Sabbath?The seventh day of the week is the sabbath, a day of solemn rest, that is set aside for the Lord. This goes all the way back to the dawn of creation when God made everything in six days and then rested on the seventh. The Sabbath day also marks the work of the Lord of acting on Israel's behalf and freeing them from slavery in Egypt. The Sabbath is a day of rest and refreshment. Jesus shows us in the Gospels that this does not necessarily mean refraining from all work, without exception. Instead, we must realize that the poor are to be refreshed as well. And so, the Sabbath is a day of doing good for others as well. As with many things, the New Covenant fulfills and elevates the Old Covenants. The Sabbath remains on Saturday, but Sunday is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. Sunday is the “eighth day” of the week and is symbolic of the new creation which was brought about by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus rose from the dead on the “first day of the week” and, therefore, consecrated a new moral commandment. We are to keep holy the day of the Lord by celebrating Sunday in an “outward, visible, public, and regular worship ‘as a sign of universal beneficence to all (CCC 2176).'” Our Sunday worship is the fulfillment of the moral command of the Old Covenant to keep holy the Sabbath day. The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist, on the day set aside for the Lord, is the heart of the Church's life. When we celebrate the Sunday Eucharist, we are marking the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, every Sunday of the year is a mini-Easter.The faithful gather together each Sunday and celebrate in the liturgical life what Christ has done, Who He is, what He has taught, and what He is doing through us today. Therefore, we go to church each Sunday, as well as holy days of obligation.As St. John Chrysostom said, “You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.” Catholics are obligated and privileged to participate in the Holy Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation. The Eucharist is the beginning of our life of grace, and it is the apex of the mountain for which we yearn. Unless we are excused for a serious reason such as illness or the care of an infant or dispensed by our pastor, we fall into grave sin if we skip on going to Mass on Sundays or holy days of obligation.We are not saved by ourselves. We need our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they need you and me. We must be present in the Parish to pray as a Eucharistic assembly. Of course, there are many places in the world where there is a severe shortage of priests. In these cases, even, the people gather to break open the Word and pray together. God rested on the seventh day from the work of creation. Therefore, the Lord's Day, the fulfillment of the Sabbath, must be marked by an enjoyment of “adequate rest and leisure to cultivate… familial, cultural, social, and religious lives (CCC 2184).”As much as possible, we are to refrain from “engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body (CCC 2185).” We should not, however, neglect our duties to our family. As St. Augustine teaches, “The charity of truth seeks holy leisure – the necessity of charity accepts just work.”The Catechism of the Catholic Church also teaches that, “In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society (CCC 2188).”Even if our society does not recognize the Risen Lord, nonetheless, it is our joy and duty to witness to the joy of His Resurrection each Sunday. Every Sunday is a mini-Easter and should be celebrated as such!The Mass - True Worship and True CultureWe need the Holy Mass, but so does our modern culture. We have lost a sense of wonder and awe. Wonder and awe at the glory of the natural order is lost. Philosophers, theologians, political thinkers, and historians have debated the concept of the perfect world forever. In our fractured state, true consensus does not seem likely or possible in the court of public opinion. Without a concerted popular effort towards aiming at the same goal, the likelihood of achieving it is low. As to pride, it is not controversial to make the claim that most people today are either unabashedly or unwittingly self-focused. Mass helps us to get outside of ourselves because, as I hope I have shown by now, Mass is primarily what God is doing!If we reach back in History, we see that the greatest minds of science were motivated by wonder and awe at the majesty of God's creation. The foundational underpinnings of true progress and human flourishing comes from without, not within. What does a wonderless, blasé attitude do to a society? What becomes of culture? Putting the “Cult” Back in CultureWhat we need is to put the “cult” back in culture. Culture is connected intimately to worship. The root word is “cultus,” from which arises the English word “cult.” Cultus comes from the Latin verb colare which means “to till.” This is why we have the word agriculture (agri - field, cultus - till). In the Middle Ages, cultus came to mean adoration or veneration specifically. The prime act of worship is sacrifice. It is getting outside of oneself in order to show that worth is found outside of the self. Worship could thus be seen as “giving worth.” So, what happens when we lose a sense of wonder and awe? It's simple: we start to worship inwardly; we start to worship ourselves. Instead of the worship of one God, the replacement has been the worship of over seven billion “gods.” When every person is master of their own domain, then communal ties, even familial ties, begin to crumble. What would happen if we cultivate a sense of wonder and awe in our own life? I would imagine that we would start to be more appreciative and less cynical. We would be less pessimistic and more pragmatic, if not actually optimistic. We would have a longer viewpoint and shorter fuse. We would see beauty all around us instead of fixating on the ugly. We will understand that we are not the center of the universe but will not be lost to existentialist dread.Avoiding Existential DreadThis last thought is one of the most pressing. Given the loss of wonder and awe, our world has descended into meaningless existentialism. Shouting into the void in a primal scream is the only prescription for our nihilistic culture. Of course, if we recapture the sense of wonder and awe, then we realize that nihilism is itself nothing. We realize that there is something greater and that we are an important part of the whole. Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of True WisdomWonder and awe are not fixtures of a bygone era. They are the beginning of true wisdom. In fact, we could call them by their traditional name: “fear of the Lord.” This fear is a filial one, as a son to a father. When we begin to let God be God and understand that we are not, then we begin to see things differently. We take ourselves less seriously and take the Creator more seriously. We find ourselves, not “out there” or within, but rather where we place worth itself. This fear of the Lord and putting things right is the foundation of getting culture right. As then-Cardinal Ratzinger said in his book A New Song for the Lord: “Trivializing faith is not a new inculturation, but the denial of its culture and prostitution with the non culture.”Let us put the cultus back in culture, tilling and cultivating a sense of wonder, awe, and amazement. There is much to be grateful for in this world. It will not take long to recognize the Giver of the good gifts who gratuitously and generously generated all things and respond in gratitude. As we will explore in the coming weeks, the very word Eucharist means thanksgiving! So, how can we pray the Mass better? Begin with humility and gratitude! Conclusion: Worshiping God the Way that He WantsI want to end today by emphasizing that the Mass is primarily what God is doing. Jesus Christ is our High Priest in every age of the Church's History: in the catacombs, in the Byzantine period, in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, in the Counter Reformation, and up until today. We are invited to take part in what He is doing. Truly, the worship of God becomes unintelligible if it becomes separated from the Saving Action of Jesus Christ, offered to the Father, in the Spirit. In fact, this Sacrifice of the Mass is the heart of Christian worship. If we are not celebrating the memorial of the Paschal Mystery from the heart and ministry of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, then we are not worshiping God as He desires and as He has instituted. This is why the Catholic Church calls the Holy Eucharist the font and apex or the source and summit of the Christian life. There is no Church, properly speaking, apart from the Eucharist and the Holy Mass. To reiterate the words of Padre Pio: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass.”There is so much more to say, even about the basic theological foundations of the Holy Mass, but this is just the beginning. I hope you will join me over the next four weeks as we continue to understand the Mass more fully and journey through Lent together towards Easter!Thanks for reading Will Wright Catholic! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Will Wright Catholic Podcast at www.willwrightcatholic.com/subscribe

First Sunday in LentThe Holy Eucharist Rite One Great Litany, Eucharistic Prayer 1 Sunday, February 26, 2023The Word of GodGREAT LITANY (BCP p. 148)All stand.O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth,Have mercy upon us.O God the Son, Redeemer of the world,Have mercy upon us.O God the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful,Have mercy upon us.O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God,Have mercy upon us.Remember not, Lord Christ, our offenses, nor the offenses of our forefathers; neither reward us according to our sins. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and by thy mercy preserve us for ever.Spare us, good Lord.From all evil and wickedness; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; and from everlasting damnation,Good Lord, deliver us.From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all want of charity,Good Lord, deliver us.From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil,Good Lord, deliver us.From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and commandment,Good Lord, deliver us.From lightning and tempest; from earthquake, fire, and flood; from plague, pestilence, and famine,Good Lord, deliver us.From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion; from violence, battle, and murder; and from dying suddenly and unprepared,Good Lord, deliver us.By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation; by thy holy Nativity and submission to the Law; by thy Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation,Good Lord, deliver us.By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat; by thy Cross and Passion; by thy precious Death and Burial; by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension; and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost,Good Lord, deliver us.In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our prosperity; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,Good Lord, deliver us.We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God; and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church Universal in the right way,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to illumine all bishops, priests, and deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living, they may set it forth, and show it accordingly,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to send forth laborers into thy harvest, and to draw all mankind into thy kingdom,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to give to all people increase of grace to hear and receive thy Word, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred, and are deceived,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee to give us a heart to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments,We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.That it may please thee so to rule the hearts of thy servants, the President of the United States (or of this nation), and all others in authority, that they may do justice, and love mercy, and walk in the ways of truth,We beseech thee to hear us, good...

After Jesus' death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead. So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart. This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the fact that the Blood of the Holy Eucharist and the Water of Baptism spring forth directly from the ultimate sacrificial gift of Jesus' perfect sacrifice of the Cross (See Diary #187).Renew, today, your gratitude for these Sacraments of God's abundant Mercy. Ponder the fact that they were made possible only because Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life out of love for us. Let His sacrifice, this day, fill your own heart with gratitude and awe as you think about the price He willingly and freely paid so as to redeem us.Lord, Your love is seen clearly in the Sacrifice of Your Cross. You held nothing back from us as You poured out Your Mercy to the last drop on the Cross. Help me to see and understand this great mystery of sacrificial love. Fill me with gratitude for all that You have done and help me to imitate this total self-giving toward others. Oh blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Join us for worship this Sunday, February 26, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Philip DeVaul as Celebrant and the Rev. Melanie Slane as Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

This week, tune in as Fr. Sean and Julia discuss the Holy Eucharist! They dive into paragraphs 1402–1405 in the Catechism. Enjoy this episode and visit https://petersburgparishes.org/podcast/ to tune in to previous episodes across various podcast platforms!

Join us tonight, Wednesday, February 22, for Rite II Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes, led by The Rev. Philip DeVaul as Celebrant and the Rev. Melanie Slane as Preacher.This worship service is available here and through our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or simply ask your smart speaker to play the podcast "The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship."

Fr. Roger J. Landry Corpus Christi Monastery, Bronx, NY Columbia Catholic Ministry, Spring Retreat February 18, 2023 https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/2.13.23_STA_and_the_Eucharist_1.mp3 The post St. Thomas Aquinas and the Holy Eucharist, Columbia Catholic Ministry Spring Retreat, February 18, 2023 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

Join us for worship this Sunday, February 5, Holy Eucharist, Rite II & Baptism with music. The Rev. Melanie Slane as Celebrant and the Rev. Philip DeVaul as Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Join us for worship this Sunday, February 12, Holy Eucharist, Rite II + Confirmation with music. The Rt. Rev. Nedi Rivera as Celebrant and Preacher. The Rev. Philip DeVaul and the Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane as Assisting Priests. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

When Brent Patterson says “the Eucharist stole my heart,” he means it. Hear about his love and devotion for the Holy Eucharist, and how his life and direction have been transformed by his relationship with Christ.

Thanks for reading Will Wright Catholic! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Outline of Deus Caritas Est by Pope Benedict XVI:* Introduction (1)* Part I: The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History (2 - 18)* A problem of language (2)* “Eros” and “Agape” - Difference in Unity (3 - 8)* The newness of biblical faith (9 - 11)* Jesus Christ - the incarnate love of God (12 - 15)* Love of God and love of neighbour (16 - 18)* Part II: The Practice of Love by the Church as a “Community of Love” (19 - 39)* The Church's charitable activity as a manifestation of Trinitarian love (19)* Charity as a responsibility of the Church (20 - 25)* Justice and Charity (26 - 29)* The multiple structures of charitable service in the social context of the present day (30)* The distinctiveness of the Church's charitable activity (31)* Those responsible for the Church's charitable activity (32 - 39)* Conclusion (40 - 42)Pope Benedict XVI's First EncyclicalAn encyclical is a circular letter that the Pope writes to the whole Church. Pope Benedict XVI released the first encyclical of his pontificate on December 25, 2005. The title is Deus Caritas Est in Latin, which is “God is Love” in English. The official English title of the document is “On Christian Love.” The Pontiff believed that this message was both “timely and significant” in a “world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence (DCE, 1).”My endeavor in this writing is to give an introduction to this marvelous encyclical from one of the greatest theologians of the 20th Century. When this letter came out, I was only fourteen years old and I definitely did not read it. But later on, in college, when I did read it, I was blown away. My love, gratitude, and appreciation for the late pontiff, may he rest in peace, has only continued to grow. I will be using the document itself as the blueprint for this resource. So, we will be touching on each section. This present work is not exhaustive; it will barely scratch the surface. But, hopefully, it will offer you easier access to the writings of Pope Benedict XVI. Note: all parenthetical citations are paragraph numbers from Deus Caritas Est unless otherwise stated.Introduction (1)The Pope begins his letter on Christian Love with one of the most profound descriptions of Christianity I have ever read. He says, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (1).” This is the summation of all of the work of Josef Cardinal Ratzinger. Theological clarity was a gift of Josef Ratzinger, who always found a way to bring any conversation crashing back to Jesus Christ and our communion with Him and with others. Truly, this is the decisive direction to which our life is given: heaven, that communion with God and with others. And how do we get there? We encounter the person of Jesus Christ.This theme of encounter and exchange is part and parcel of the Good News. In a world that associates God with vengeance or a duty of hatred and violence. The pope offers us an important reminder:“Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command'; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us (1).”The document is split into two main parts: The first part is an exploration and the second part is concrete. Both are interconnected.Part I: The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History (2 - 18)A problem of language (2)In Part 1, Pope Benedict speaks to the unity of love in creation and in salvation history. He begins by addressing the problem of language. Anyone who has said the phrase, “I love pizza” can intuit the main problem. The word love, today, is frequently used and misused. As Benedict puts it:“Let us first of all bring to mind the vast semantic range of the word “love”: we speak of love of country, love of one's profession, love between friends, love of work, love between parents and children, love between family members, love of neighbor and love of God. Amid this multiplicity of meanings, however, one in particular stands out: love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness. This would seem to be the very epitome of love; all other kinds of love immediately seem to fade in comparison. So we need to ask: are all these forms of love basically one, so that love, in its many and varied manifestations, is ultimately a single reality, or are we merely using the same word to designate totally different realities (2)?”“Eros” and “Agape” - Difference in Unity (3 - 8)In the New Testament in the Greek language, there are three main types of love: eros (sexual love between spouses), agape (unconditional love), and philia (fraternal love). Many scholars have drawn a sharp distinction between eros and agape to the point where the two seem mutually exclusive. Pope Benedict gives us a theological masterclass and shows the difference in unity of these two terms. He begins by saying:“The Greeks—not unlike other cultures—considered eros principally as a kind of intoxication, the overpowering of reason by a “divine madness” which tears man away from his finite existence and enables him, in the very process of being overwhelmed by divine power, to experience supreme happiness (4).”For the Ancient Greeks, the “divine madness” of eros needed to be purified. In many ways, it is seen as a corporeal type of love, a bodily passion. However, the Pope teaches that:“...it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature. Only thus is love —eros—able to mature and attain its authentic grandeur… Christian faith… has always considered man a unity in duality, a reality in which spirit and matter compenetrate, and in which each is brought to a new nobility. True, eros tends to rise “in ecstasy” towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing (5).”At this juncture we begin to see that the Christian view of eros is less about divine madness and more about ascending to God and allowing Him to purify us. In the poetry of the biblical book of the Song of Songs, Benedict teaches us that two different Hebrew words are used: the first is insecure, indeterminate, and searching love. The other is closer to agape. He writes:“Love now becomes concern and care for the other. No longer is it self-seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation and it is ready, and even willing, for sacrifice (6).”Neither type of love is static. Love embraces the “whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including the dimension of time (6).” The philosophical and theological debate about the nature of eros and agape sees agape as a descending, oblative love and eros as an ascending, possessive or covetous love. Benedict argues that these two cannot be completely separated.“The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized (7).”We cannot always give, we must also receive. We can think here of the book of Exodus and of Moses going into the tabernacle time and again to dialogue with God, where only then could he emerge to be of service to the people.The newness of biblical faith (9 - 11)If we are to understand love, we have to understand the God of Holy Scriptures. Pope Benedict outlines the biblical faith and remarks on its “newness” as compared to other religions of the time in this next section.He says:“There is only one God… all other gods are not God, and the universe in which we live has its source in God and was created by him… Consequently, his creation is dear to him, for it was willed by him and “made” by him. The second important element now emerges: this God loves man (9).” So far, thus we have one God who loves man. This is peculiar. The gods of Greek mythology are horrendous and oftentimes downright demonic. Of course, they do not exist, unless they are merely personifications of nature or simply demons tricking men. But the one God is different. He is real. He is sovereign. The ancients began to grasp this first part: that God is the object of desire and love. But the second part, that He loves us, is particular to the Jewish People. As Pope Benedict eloquently explains:“The divine power that Aristotle at the height of Greek philosophy sought to grasp through reflection, is indeed for every being an object of desire and of love —and as the object of love this divinity moves the world—but in itself it lacks nothing and does not love: it is solely the object of love. The one God in whom Israel believes, on the other hand, loves with a personal love. His love, moreover, is an elective love: among all the nations he chooses Israel and loves her—but he does so precisely with a view to healing the whole human race. God loves, and his love may certainly be called eros, yet it is also totally agape (9).”The love of God in the Old Testament is boldly erotic, at times, especially in the Prophets. They speak of betrothal and marriage and even see idolatry as adultery or prostitution. And so Benedict rightly points out that God's love is eros but he shows that it is also agape because it is “bestowed in a completely gratuitous manner, without any previous merit, but also because it is a love which forgives (10).”Anyone who has read the Old Testament knows well that Israel breaks her covenant with God often. It is only right that God should judge and repudiate her. But what do we see instead of utter annihilation of mankind? Benedict answers:“God's passionate love for his people—for humanity—is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against himself, his love against his justice. Here Christians can see a dim prefigurement of the mystery of the Cross: so great is God's love for man that by becoming man he follows him even into death, and so reconciles justice and love… God is the absolute and ultimate source of all being; but this universal principle of creation—the Logos, primordial reason—is at the same time a lover with all the passion of a true love (10).”God loves us with a perfect passion, from the first moment of creation. In God, the love of eros is “thus supremely ennobled, yet at the same time it is so purified as to become one with agape (10).” In this great mystery of God's love, we have perfect ascending and descending love. When we enter into this love, we become one with the lover of our soul. “But this union,” Benedict says, “is no mere fusion, a sinking in the nameless ocean of the Divine; it is a unity which creates love, a unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become fully one (10).” He made us in His image and likeness. As a perfect community of Persons, God is perfect and sufficient in Himself. But we see that Adam, the first man, is alone. In his solitude, God fashions for Adam a helper: the first woman, Eve. Here we hear one of the most romantic lines in the whole Bible: Adam says of his new bride, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man (Gen. 2:23).”Even in non-Christian religions we see shadows of this “completion” of man. In a myth related to us by the Greek philosopher Plato, man is originally spherical, complete, and self-sufficient. As a punishment for pride, Zeus splits him in two and thus man strives for his other half.The Bible does not speak of punishment in Genesis chapter 2, but there is clearly the idea that “only in communion with the opposite sex can [man] become ‘complete' (11).” Therefore, even erotic love, that is, eros, is rooted in man's nature and it directs man towards marriage. There is no equivalence to this outside of the biblical literature, says Pope Benedict.Jesus Christ - the incarnate love of God (12 - 15)The Old Testament faithfully transmits the revelation of God to us, but it is incomplete. In the New Testament, in Jesus Christ, the love of God takes on flesh. As Pope Benedict puts it:“In the Old Testament, the novelty of the Bible did not consist merely in abstract notions but in God's unpredictable and in some sense unprecedented activity. This divine activity now takes on dramatic form when, in Jesus Christ, it is God himself who goes in search of the “stray sheep”, a suffering and lost humanity (12).”Jesus speaks in parables, but these are not mere words. He is the proof of God's love. He literally shows us, in the flesh, the full revelation of God to man. In His death on the Cross, we see, as Benedict puts it, “the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: ‘God is love' (1 Jn 4:8) (12).”Flowing from the pierced side of Christ flows the blood of the Holy Eucharist and the water of Holy Baptism. And so it is the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian faith which draws us into Jesus' self offering. In our Holy Communion with Him, “More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving (13).” The ancients perceived to some extent that what really nourishes man is the Logos, eternal wisdom. In the Eucharist, the Logos has truly become our food. Thus, the erotic imagery of marriage between God and Israel is realized in a “way previously inconceivable (13)” in the Holy Eucharist.The Holy Eucharist also mystically takes on a social character “for in sacramental communion I become one with the Lord, like all the other communicants (14).” Thus, we begin to experience a foretaste of Heaven, which is union with God and union with all those men and women in union with God. Benedict writes:“Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians. We become ‘one body,' completely joined in a single existence. Love of God and love of neighbor are now truly united: God incarnate draws us all to himself (14).”Love of God and love of neighbor (16 - 18)“Love of God and love of neighbor,” Benedict says, “have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God (15).” But this nature of love and its meaning in biblical faith lead Pope Benedict to two questions: 1) can we love God without seeing him? And 2) can love be commanded? The objections seem to be that no one has ever seen God, so how could we love Him? And love seems to be a feeling that is there or it is not, so how can it be commanded?Yet, in answering these two questions, Pope Benedict artfully leads us back to loving our neighbor leads to love of God and vice versa. To the second objection, he says that “love of neighbor is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God (16).” He answers the first objection by saying: “True, no one has ever seen God as he is. And yet God is not totally invisible to us; he does not remain completely inaccessible (17).”Pope Benedict reminds us that God is visible to us in a number of ways. He says,“In the love-story recounted by the Bible, he comes towards us, he seeks to win our hearts, all the way to the Last Supper, to the piercing of his heart on the Cross, to his appearances after the Resurrection and to the great deeds by which, through the activity of the Apostles, he guided the nascent Church along its path. Nor has the Lord been absent from subsequent Church history: he encounters us ever anew, in the men and women who reflect his presence, in his word, in the sacraments, and especially in the Eucharist. In the Church's Liturgy, in her prayer, in the living community of believers, we experience the love of God, we perceive his presence and we thus learn to recognize that presence in our daily lives (17).” These are just a few ways that God makes Himself known to those who seek Him. Benedict does not leave us only with a litany of responses to the objection of an invisible and aloof God. He goes on to say:“He has loved us first and he continues to do so; we too, then, can respond with love. God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has “loved us first”, love can also blossom as a response within us (17).”But this love is not merely a sentiment. God loves us and is unchanging. For mankind, love as a sentiment is a marvelous first spark, but it is not the fullness of love (cf. 17). So, what is love? Truly, it is a decision, an act of the will. As Pope Benedict puts it, referencing the Roman Sallust:“Idem velle atque idem nolle —to want the same thing, and to reject the same thing—was recognized by antiquity as the authentic content of love: the one becomes similar to the other, and this leads to a community of will and thought (17).” This communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment. So, as we grow in love of God, our will and God's will will increasingly coincide. In Benedict's words:“God's will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself (17).” We need here to take a moment to remember how Benedict begins this letter:“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (1).”So, what does this encounter with Jesus Christ, our God-man, do? Benedict beautifully paints us a picture:“Love of neighbor is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look at this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. Going beyond exterior appearances, I perceive in others an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. This I can offer them not only through the organizations intended for such purposes, accepting it perhaps as a political necessity. Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave (18).”More than merely being a more beautiful way of viewing the world, this love must be put into practice if we are to love God. As He has said to us: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me (Mt. 25:40).” Likewise, if we are not seeking to encounter God, we never see anything special in the other. As Benedict teaches:“If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God. But if in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely “proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbor and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me (18).”Pope Benedict ends part 1 of the letter by saying:“Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a ‘we' which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is ‘all in all' (1 Cor 15:28) (18).”Conclusion on Part IIn this first part of Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI teaches us about the unity of eros and agape in creation and in salvation history. He speaks of the ambiguity of our modern sense of the word “love.” He outlines the differences between eros and agape and how they become one in God. We see the unique “newness” of the biblical faith - the love of a personal God! We see how Jesus Christ makes the love of God visible and tangible. And we learn more about the double commandment of loving God and loving neighbor, resulting from a transformative encounter with Jesus Christ. In part II, we will continue walking through this masterpiece on Christian Love, which focuses on the Practice of Love by the Church as a “Community of Love.”Thank you for reading Will Wright Catholic. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willwrightcatholic.substack.com

Join us for worship this Sunday, February 5, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Philip DeVaul as Celebrant and the Rev. Melanie Slane as Preacher. Ellen Jones on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Father Wade Menezes, a Fathers of Mercy priest, shares a preview of his upcoming Parish Mission called " "The Most Holy Eucharist: Gift and Sacrament." He talks about the importance of the Eucharist in his life and why it's important for Catholics to understand that Jesus is literally present in the Holy Eucharist (body, blood, soul and divinity), along with what topics he will cover each day of the mission -- which will occur on March 20-23, 2023 in the Basilica church.  Click here to get more information, including the schedule of the talks and times for confession. We look forward to seeing you at the mission!

Did you know that what you believe creates the foundation for the results that you have in your life? Beliefs are shaped by life experiences, society, and relationships with others. They form in childhood through absorbing information and forming opinions. Beliefs may have concrete evidence like sun rises every day or be based on unseen faith like receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Beliefs matter because they create the foundation for all of the results that you have in your life. You take action based on your beliefs. Since they are such an integral part of your life, it is crucial to know what you believe. Exploring the beliefs that you have about yourself, your body, your abilities, your marriage, etc. will give you an insight into why you act or don't act in certain situations. Catholic Life Coach, Jennie Guinn gives you steps to identify your beliefs and how to determine if the belief moves you in the direction of your goals or if the belief needs to be challenged and replaced. To explore your beliefs around weight loss, check out this free booklet What To Do When You Believe You Just Can't Lose Weight Jennie is a Catholic Life Coach, Podcaster, Speaker and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She equips and encourages middle-life moms to reconnect in their faith by breaking spiritual strongholds so they can finally lose the weight they've struggled with for years, to reconnect in their marriage and to discover where God is calling them in this new season of life.

February 2: The Presentation of the Lord Feast; Liturgical Color: White God goes to Church The various names, meanings, and traditions overlapping in today's Feast churn like the crystals in a kaleidoscope, revealing one image and then another with every slight rotation of the tube. The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple is, rotate, also the Purification of Mary. But, rotate, it's also known as the “Meeting of the Lord” in the Christian East. And, rotate, it's also the Feast of Candlemas, marking forty days after Christmas. The multiple names and meanings of today's Feast have given birth to surprisingly broad and varied cultural expressions. The biblical account of the Presentation is the source for the “two turtle doves” in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” for the sword piercing Mary's Immaculate Heart in Catholic iconography, for the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the rosary, and for the Canticle prayed by all the world's priests and nuns every single night of their lives. The Presentation is even the remote source of the frivolous American folkloric tradition of Groundhog Day. Behind all of these names and meanings are, however, a few fundamental theological facts worthy of reflection. The Lord Jesus Christ, forty days after His birth, in keeping with both the biblical significance of the number forty and with Jewish custom, was presented in the temple in Jerusalem by His parents, Mary and Joseph. Saint Luke's Gospel recounts the story. After the Presentation, Jesus was to enter the temple again as a boy and later as an adult. He would even refer to His own body as a temple which He would raise up in three days. Jesus's life was a continual self-gift to God the Father from the very beginning to the very end. His parents did not carry their infant Son to a holy mountain, a sacred spring, or a magical forest. It was in His temple that the God of Israel was most present, so they brought their Son to God Himself, not just to a reflection of Him in nature. The extraordinarily beautiful temple in Jerusalem, the building where Jesus was presented by His parents, was burned to ashes by a powerful Roman army under the future Emperor Titus in 70 A.D. It was never rebuilt. A tourist in Rome can, even today, gaze up at the marble depictions of the sack of the Jerusalem Temple carved on the inside vaults of the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum. Christianity has never had just one sacred place equivalent to the Jewish Temple or the Muslims' Kaaba in Mecca. Christianity is historical, yes, but it has a global reach rising above any one culture or region. Christ is destined for all cultures and all times. Every Catholic church with the Blessed Sacrament is a Holy of Holies, which fully expresses the deepest mysteries of our faith. There is no strict need to go on pilgrimage to Rome or to Jerusalem once in your life. But you do have to go on pilgrimage to your local parish once a week for Mass. Every Catholic church in every place, not just one building in one place, encompasses and transmits the entirety of our faith. God's hand must have been involved in the headship of the Church migrating from Jerusalem to Rome in the first century. Our Pope does not live in the historical cradle of the faith he represents, because Saint Peter saw no need to remain in Jerusalem in order to be faithful to his Master. The Church is where Christ is, Christ is in the Holy Eucharist, and the Holy Eucharist is everywhere. We go to church, as the Jews went to their one temple or to their many synagogues, because God is more God in a church. And when we experience the true God, we experience our true selves. That is, we are more us when God is more God. God is interpreted according to the mode of the interpreter when He is sought in a glowing sunset, a rushing waterfall, or a stunning mountain. In nature, God is whoever the seeker wants Him to be. In a church, however, God is protected from misinterpretation. He is surrounded and protected by His priests, saints, sacraments, music, art, and worship. In a church, God is fully clothed, equipped, and armored. He is less likely to be misunderstood. So we go to find Him there, to dedicate ourselves to Him there, and to receive Him there in His Body and in His Blood. Lord Jesus, as an infant You were brought to the temple by Your parents out of religious duty. Help all parents to take their duties to God seriously, to inculcate their faith in the next generation by their words and actions, so that the faith will be handed on where the faith is first learned—in the family and in the home.

Join us for worship this Sunday, January 29, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Melanie Slane as Celebrant and the Rev. Philip DeVaul as Preacher. Ellen Jones on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

It might feel a little bit like cheating, but lots of the great saints recommend returning to the grace of a previous moment — whether that's the grace of our conversion, the grace of receiving the Holy Eucharist, or the grace of a particularly good Confession. Like mentally shooting 3-pointers in basketball can actually be a form of practice, so too can returning to a previous grace help us to draw even more deeply from a given outpouring of God's goodness.

The hosts of The Deus Vult Podcast welcome Most Reverend Kevin Carl Rhoades to the studio! Bishop Rhoades speaks especially about his upbringing and the important roles which the Holy Eucharist and the Domestic Church played in his formative years.

January 23: Saint Marianne Cope, Virgin (U.S.A.)1838–1918Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of Hawaiʻi, lepers, outcasts, and sufferers of HIV/AIDSShe learned generosity at home and lived it her whole lifeToday's saint was a model female Franciscan who emulated Saint Francis' heroic example of personally caring for the outcasts of all outcasts—lepers. Saints are not born, of course; they are made. And Saint Marianne Cope came from a specific time, place, and family. She could have developed her abundant talents in many directions and used them for many purposes, but she re-directed what God loaned her to serve Him, His Church, and mankind. The Church, the Franciscans, and Hawaiʻi were the arenas in which this elite spiritual athlete exercised her skills. She was asked for much and gave even more. She became a great woman.Marianne Cope was born in Germany and was brought to New York state by her parents when she was still a baby. She was the oldest of ten children. Her parents lived, struggled, and worked for their kids. She saw generosity in action at home every day. She quit school after eighth grade to work in a factory to financially support her ailing father, her mother, and her many siblings. The challenges inherent to immigration, a new culture, illness, a large family, and poverty turned Marianne into a serious, mature woman when she was just a teen. Marianne fulfilled her long-delayed desire to enter religious life in 1862. Once professed, she moved quickly into leadership positions. She taught in German-speaking Catholic grade schools, became a school principal, and was elected by her fellow Franciscans to positions of governance in her Order. She opened the first hospitals in her region of Central New York, dedicating herself and her Order to the time-honored religious vocation of caring for the sick, regardless of their ability to pay for medical services. She was eventually elected Superior General. In her early forties, she was already a woman of wide experience: serious, administratively gifted, spiritually grounded, and of great human virtues. But this was all mere preparation. She now began the second great act of her drama. She went to Hawaiʻi.In 1883 she received a letter from the Bishop of Honolulu begging her, as Superior General, to send sisters to care for lepers in Hawaiʻi. He had written to various other religious Orders without success. Sister Marianne was elated. She responded like the prophet Isaiah, saying, “Here am I; send me!” (Is 6:8). She not only sent six sisters, she sent herself! She planned to one day return to New York but never did. For the next thirty-five years, Sister Marianne Cope became a type of recluse on remote Hawaiʻi, giving herself completely to the will of God.Sister Marianne and her fellow Franciscans managed one hospital, founded another, opened a home for the daughters of lepers, and, after a few years of proving themselves, opened a home for women and girls on the virtually inaccessible island of Molokai. Here her life coincided with the final months of Saint Damien de Veuster. Sister Marianne nursed the future saint in his dying days, assuring him that she and her sisters would continue his work among the lepers. After Father Damien died, the Franciscans, in addition to caring for the leprous girls, now cared for the boys too. A male Congregation eventually relieved them of this apostolate.Sister Marianne Cope lived the last thirty years of her life on Molokai until her death in 1918. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and canonized by him in 2012. She loved the Holy Eucharist, the Virgin Mary, and the Church. And because she loved God first, she loved those whom God loves, her brothers and sisters in Christ. She sacrificed for them, left home and family for them, put her health at risk for them, and became a saint through them.Saint Marianne Cope, help us to be as generous as you were in serving those on the margins, those who need our help, and those who have no one else to assist them. You were a model Franciscan in dying to self. Help us to likewise die so that we might likewise live.

This week, Mother Angelica reflects on how #Jesus is indeed present in the Holy Eucharist, kneel before the #Eucharist, what is a #mystic, and #blessed are those who #endure. #presence

Join us for worship this Sunday, January 22, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Philip DeVaul as Celebrant and the Brett Scott as Guest Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Join us for worship this Sunday, January 15, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane as Celebrant and the Rev. Philip DeVaul as Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Sunday after January 6: The Baptism of the LordFirst Century Sunday after January 6 or the Monday after the EpiphanyFeast; Liturgical Color: White/GoldHe humbly bowed His head as an example, not because He was imperfect Who would not want a doctor who, before he cuts, lifts his shirt a little, shows his own scar, and says to the patient, “I had the same. It's going to be alright!” What soldier would not be just a little braver, stand a little taller, seeing medals for valor on his commander's uniform? We want our heroes, our leaders, and our guides to lead through personal example. To have been there. To have done that. And we want our Savior to do the same. To empathize. To participate. To identify. To accompany. Actions resonate more than words.Our sinless God “became” sin, in the words of Saint Paul. Jesus identifies with sin but never sinned. Jesus carries sin but is not a sinner. Why? Because to become sin is to become man. In order for God to enter into human reality, He had to identify with all that sin entails. God wanted to stand with us shoulder to shoulder. He did not fake becoming man but really became man. And if God came to forgive sins and sinners, and to shed His blood for them on the cross, He had to bear the burden they bore yet retain His perfection. This is why our sinless God was baptized on today's feast. God lays to the side His perfection and dignity and bows His head in the dirty waters of the Jordan River. He lined up with sinners to receive in humility what He did not need, to attend a school whose subjects He had mastered. Our God knew the value of empathy. He knew the power of example. And He knew that His ministry to mankind had to start not on a golden throne but in the mud with other men just trying to start again and again and again.The fullness of the Holy Trinity, first revealed subtly at the Annunciation, is present and spoken for at the Lord's baptism. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, hovers. The voice of God the Father intones His favor over His Son. And the Son enters into the essential Christian pact with man—I will become like you so that you can become like me. Sins will be taken away through water and blood. I will suffer for your benefit. This is the promise. And the Church's priests will carry on the baptizing, forgiving, and consecrating until the sun sets for the last time. God comes to us most intensely through the Sacraments. Jesus' actions prove this.O Lord, You are not remote. You know sin but are not a sinner. Help us to renew our baptism through a frequent reception of confession and the Holy Eucharist. By receiving one, we strengthen the others. By receiving You, we receive God Himself.

Join us for worship this Sunday, January 8, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Philip DeVaul, Celebrant and The Rev. Melanie Slane Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Recent video reveals that those desiring to receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue at Pope Benedict's funeral were rejected and turned away. Dr. Taylor Marshall shows the video and discusses how the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue is protected in Church teaching and canon law.   Watch […] The post 912: Was Pope Benedict FORCED to Resign? Breaking Information [Podcast] appeared first on Taylor Marshall.

The Diary of Saint Faustina calls us to a new form of devotion in various ways.  The first way is through meditation on the sacred image of The Divine Mercy.  Saint Faustina was asked by Jesus to have an image of His merciful love painted for all to see. It's an image of Jesus with two rays shining forth from His Heart. The first ray is blue (pale white in some depictions) indicating the font of Mercy coming forth through Baptism and the second ray is red indicating the font of Mercy poured forth through the Blood of the Holy Eucharist. During this year discover this image, place it in your home and ponder its meaning.Ponder, today, the image of The Divine Mercy.  Ponder, especially, the fact that no image will even come close to expressing the full depth of love pouring forth from the Heart of our Savior.  Grow in a desire for that Mercy as you ponder this sacred image. Lord, You have poured out upon the world Your infinite Mercy coming forth from Your divine Heart. May I bask in that Mercy now and always. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Recent video reveals that those desiring to receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue at Pope Benedict's funeral were rejected and turned away. Dr. Taylor Marshall shows the video and discusses how the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue is protected in Church teaching and canon law.   Watch […] The post 911: Faithful Denied Communion on Tongue at Pope Benedict's Funeral [Podcast] appeared first on Taylor Marshall.

January 4: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious (U.S.A.)1774–1821Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of Catholic schools, widows, loss of parentsShe had it all, lost it all, and then found it all againIn late 1803, Elizabeth Ann Seton, with her husband, left the United States for Italy, as a confident, high-born, wealthy, educated Yankee Protestant. She returned in June 1804, bankrupt, a widow, burning with love for the Holy Eucharist, tenderly devoted to Mary, and with the heart of a Roman Catholic. She was received into the Church the next year. Her upper-class friends and family abandoned her out of anti-Catholic spite.Our saint was an unexpected convert. She was, well into adulthood, a serious U.S. Episcopalian. She loved the Lord. She loved the Bible. She loved to serve the poor and the sick. Her excellent Episcopalian upbringing provided sufficient preparation for not being Episcopalian any longer. She took that faith as far as it could go. She probably never suspected her faith was lacking until she experienced the abundance of Catholicism. After her husband died of tuberculosis in Pisa Italy, Elizabeth and her daughter were taken in by family friends from nearby Livorno. In God's providence, this Italian family lived their faith with relish. Elizabeth was not only consoled and cared for by them in her grief but also saw how engrossing their faith was. The longer she stayed in Italy, the more its Catholic atmosphere enveloped her. She wept at Italians' natural devotion to Mary. She wondered at the beauty of a Corpus Christi procession through the narrow streets of her town. She understood the Holy Father's link to the early Apostles with clarity. And so she came to see the gaps in her native religion. She hadn't noticed them before. Having seen the real thing with her own eyes, she knew that she held a replica in her hands. The real presence of Christ in Catholicism is often understood only after a real absence is felt in non-Catholic Christianity.After her conversion, Elizabeth spent the rest of her short life dedicated to Catholic education. She started a Congregation of sisters in Maryland that taught girls, especially poor girls who could not afford an education. She was the first of tens of thousands of teaching sisters to operate Catholic schools in the United States. She is rightly considered in the United States as the foundress of Catholic parochial education. Besides her husband, she also lost two of her five children during her lifetime. She struggled, like all founders, to build up her Congregation. But her intelligence, charm, and drive paid off. Her Order thrived and thrives still. The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul gather each year on this feast near her tomb inside an immense Basilica in Northern Maryland to thank God for their foundress, for a life so well lived.Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, help us overcome the alienation of family due to our religious convictions. Aid us in persevering through the hardships of illness and death, and give us the same zeal for souls that you showed toward your students, seeing in each one the image of God.

We continued our reading of hypothesis 32 and once again the words of the Fathers are piercing, very much like the words of scripture. This is what makes them ring so true. The Fathers never seek to varnish the truth. The path that we are called to walk upon is the path of Christ. We are called quite literally self-crucifixion. We are to die to self and sin, and to live for God and to live for Him alone. St Paul reminders us: “it is no longer I who lives I (ego) but Christ who lives within me.  It is for this reason that monasteries would put men to the test, making them wait long periods of time before entering. Why do you want to be here? Do you understand what it is that you were taking upon yourself and what you are setting aside?  Do any of us understand what it is to love in the way that we have been shown on the Cross and in the Holy Eucharist? --- Text of chat during the group: 00:18:35 Debra: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!   00:19:35 Debra: Wow! I didn't realize you have listeners from ALL over the World!!   00:19:58 Ambrose Little, OP: Angela, always nice to have bright sunshine in these meetings. Especially this time of year.

Join us for worship this Sunday, January 1, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Jason Oden, Celebrant and Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

Join us for worship this Sunday, December 24, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Melanie Slane, Celebrant and The Rev. Philip DeVaul, Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

How does the Holy Eucharist connect to Christmas? Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR.

Today Father reads the last of the O Antiphons, which is taken from the prophet Isaiah about Emanuel, used in the Gospel of Matthew. Father invites us to make an act of faith that Jesus is God who came to be with humanity and remains with us in the Holy Eucharist.

IntroductionToday, we are diving deeper into the miracle of the Incarnation. What were the effects of the Incarnation on Christ and on us? How did the world fundamentally shift 2,000 years ago?! If you have not yet listened to part 1 of this two-parter, I highly recommend beginning there. I went over some fairly deep theology of what the Incarnation means and what the Hypostatic Union of the divine and human natures of Christ in one Divine Person is.The Fittingness of the Incarnation According to AquinasSt. Thomas Aquinas asks a series of really cool questions about the Incarnation in question 1 of the third part of the Summa. In this section, he focuses entirely on what he calls the “fittingness” of the Incarnation. When Aquinas speaks of fittingness, he is juxtaposing this term with necessity. In other words, is an event or action in theology strictly necessary or simply fitting? In the first two questions, he explores this query..Is it fitting for God to become incarnate?First, Aquinas asks: “Is it fitting for God to become incarnate?” We know that God is good; this is one the realities of His essence. God exists and He is the truth, the good, the beautiful, and the ground of being itself. Aquinas argues that because of His great and perfect goodness, He desired to share His goodness in the highest manner possible to His creature. So, St. Thomas concludes that it is “manifest that it was fitting that God should become incarnate (ST III, q. 1, a. 1, co.)” Was it necessary for the restoration of the human race?Even though it is a tremendous mystery that God would condescend to become one of us, it was fitting because of His great goodness. But what about necessary? “Was it necessary for the restoration of the human race?” asks Aquinas. He answers that:“What frees the human race from perdition is necessary for the salvation of man. But the mystery of Incarnation is such; according to John 3:16: ‘God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.' Therefore it was necessary for man's salvation that God should become incarnate (ST III, q. 1, a. 2, s.c.).”So, because of the sin of Adam and Eve, it was necessary that God should become incarnate. As God, He can reconcile us to Himself; as Man, He can do so on our behalf!If there had been no sin, would God have become incarnate?This leads to St. Thomas' next question: “If there had been no sin, would God have become incarnate?” This question is one of my favorites to contemplate. It was actually the topic of a great conversation for me and my coworkers at lunch a couple weeks ago. In Romans, St. Paul shows us that all men were made sinners through the disobedience of Adam and it was through the one Man, Jesus Christ, that many will be made righteous. In the first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul says: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22).” Jesus Christ is, thus, the “new Adam” or the “second Adam.” As St. John Henry Newman wrote in his hymn “Praise to the Holiest in the height”:“O loving wisdom of our God!When all was sin and shame,A second Adam to the fightAnd to the rescue came.”It is clear that Scripture teaches that the reason for the Incarnation is the sin of Adam. So, how does Aquinas answer this question: “If there had been no sin, would God have become incarnate?” He says,“... the word of Incarnation was ordained by God as a remedy for sin; so that, had sin had not existed, Incarnation would not have been. And yet the power of God is not limited to this; even had sin not existed, God could have become incarnate (ST III, q. 1, a. 3, co.).”Whether God became incarnate in order to take away actual sin, rather than to take away original sin?God could have become incarnate, even in the absence of human sin. But, as it is, Adam did sin and the incarnation allowed for the stain of original sin to be washed away. But what about personal sin, or as the Church calls it: “actual sin.” St. Thomas asks: “Whether God became incarnate in order to take away actual sin, rather than to take away original sin?”He answers directly that the principle reason for the incarnation was to take away original sin. But he adds:“It is certain that Christ came into this world not only to take away that sin which is handed on originally to posterity, but also in order to take away all sins subsequently added to it; not that all are taken away (ST III, q. 1, a. 4, co.).”Whether it was fitting that God should become incarnate in the beginning of the human race?On the next question: “Whether it was fitting that God should become incarnate in the beginning of the human race?” Aquinas has a lot to say, but we can summarize it thusly:“... God became incarnate at the most fitting time; and it was not fitting that God should become incarnate at the beginning of the human race (ST III, q. 1, a. 5, s.c.).” Whether Incarnation ought to have been put off till the end of the world?In God's timing, the incarnation was unfitting to happen right after the sin of Adam and Eve, but St. Thomas asks “Whether Incarnation ought to have been put off till the end of the world?” He answers:“It is written (Habakkuk 3:2): ‘In the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known.' Therefore the mystery of Incarnation which was made known to the world ought not to have been put off till the end of the world (ST III, q. 1, a. 6, s.c.).”Put simply: the incarnation happened exactly when and where was best, in God's Providence and with His perfect knowledge and planning.The Effects of the Incarnation on Christ HimselfThe Incarnation of Christ was fitting and necessary for the salvation of man. But what were the effects on Christ Himself? First, we can think of our own body and soul. We are limited and finite. We have inclinations to sin and imperfections. We are sinful and sorrowful. We are intrinsically good and capable of wonderful things, by God's grace. But we are also capable of great evil. As we discussed last time, the human nature of Jesus Christ is perfect and perfectly subordinate to His Divinity. He is incapable of sin and acts in the perfection for which mankind was originally made. What does that look like? Perfection. Living in accord with the Will of the Father, perfectly. What is possible? The great St. Athanasius, discussing the Incarnation, says this: “And, in a word, the achievements of the Saviour, resulting from His becoming man, are of such kind and number, that if one should wish to enumerate them, he may be compared to men who gaze at the expanse of the sea and wish to count its waves. For as one cannot take in the whole of the waves with his eyes, for those which are coming on baffle the sense of him that attempts it; so for him that would take in all the achievements of Christ in the body, it is impossible to take in the whole, even by reckoning them up, as those which go beyond his thought are more than those he thinks he has taken in. Better is it, then, not to aim at speaking of the whole, where one cannot do justice even to a part, but, after mentioning one more, to leave the whole for you to marvel at. For all alike are marvelous, and wherever a man turns his glance, he may behold on that side the divinity of the Word, and be struck with exceeding great awe (Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54.4-5).” The Incarnation is a Miracle and our Blessed Lord is the perfect Man. He shows us what God intended from the beginning for mankind. So, let us take a moment to zoom in: what effects did the Incarnation have on the human body and human soul of Christ?On the Body of ChristJesus Christ had a human body, as we do. He knows our human limitations and is like us. In Hebrews 4:15, we hear: “We have not a high priest, who cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.” Before His Resurrection from the dead, the Body of Christ was subject to all the bodily weaknesses caused by original sin, which we are all subject: He experienced hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, and death. These are all natural results of human nature which He assumed. There are a couple of things in the body, however, which Christ did not necessarily experience. It is possible that He had no bodily deformities (until His Passion) and never got sick. St. Athanasius persuasively argues this by saying that it would be “unbecoming that He should heal others who was Himself not healed (P.G., XX, 133).”On the Human Soul of ChristWhen speaking of the human soul of Christ, there are a few areas worth mentioning: His intellect, will, sanctity, and likes and dislikes. In the WillJesus was entirely sinless. Thomists following after St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as Francisco Suarez, and the Society of Jesus all argue that sin is incompatible with the Hypostatic Union. It is safe to assume that this is the case simply on the merits of Dominicans and Jesuits being in agreement (just a joke). Those following the teaching of Duns Scotus say that the sinlessness of Christ is not due to the Hypostatic Union but due to a special Divine Providence similar to the way that it is impossible for the blessed in Heaven to sin.No matter which theological avenue you take, it is an article of faith, to be held definitively, taught at the Council of Ephesus, that Christ never sinned. Jesus Christ is a Divine Person and God cannot turn away from Himself.We also want to take great care to acknowledge the total liberty of Christ, in His human will. After the Incarnation, the will of Christ remained. If this were not the case, then in the matter of death, Christ could not have merited nor satisfied the justice of God for us. St. Thomas Aquinas not only believed in the total liberty of the human will of Christ, but he also provided seventeen different explanations for why this is true!In the IntellectLet us now turn to the human intellect of Christ. Every time the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord comes around, I brace for the incredibly ridiculous homilies in which the deacon or priest (or God, help us, bishops) explain that it was at this moment that Christ realized His mission. They hold that it was at the Baptism of the Lord, when the Spirit descends like a dove, that Christ receives His anointing, grace, and His mission. I want to say unequivocally that this is heretical and nonsensical garbage. The soul of Christ was endowed with the Beatific Vision from the beginning of its existence. For the first moment in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the Hypostatic Union came into being, the human soul of Christ beheld the Godhead in its fullness.Like Adam and Eve, Christ had infused knowledge. God the Father revealed many things to Jesus in His humanity all at once, as needed. He also acquired human knowledge through His senses and imagination. The human soul of Christ had a beginning and is not, therefore, infinite as God is infinite. But by the grace of union, His human soul (intellect and will) was most perfect and embraced the widest range possible. Sanctity of Christ From the first moment, in the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ enjoyed the grace of union. As St. Augustine teaches:“When the Word was made Flesh then, indeed, He sanctified Himself in Himself, that is, Himself as Man in Himself as Word; for that Christ is One Person, both Word and Man, and renders His human nature holy in the holiness of the Divine nature (Augustine, In Johan. tract. 108, n. 5, in P.L., XXXV, 1916).”St. John also tells us in the prologue of His Gospel that the Word was “full of grace (Jn. 1:14).” And, so, in the human soul of Christ, there was a fullness of sanctifying grace. This is the same grace of the sacraments that we receive at our Baptism and in each of the seven sacraments. Likes and Dislikes In the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. This glorious union, however, does not deprive the human soul of Christ of the human reality of likes and dislikes. There were certain foods that Jesus preferred. He likely had a favorite game or sport, a favorite joke or turn of phrase, a favorite way to recline at a table that He found most comfortable, and the list goes on. We see in the Gospels that Christ was angry, fearful, sad, happy, and experienced the sensible affections of hope, desire, and joy. After all, He is like us in all things but sin. His likes and dislikes, however, were under complete control by His human will subordinated perfectly to His divine will. The God-Man and the “Communication of Idioms”How we speak about Christ matters, if we are to avoid error. Our words will never fully penetrate the deep mysteries of the Person of Jesus Christ, but there are certain ways of phrasing things that are just plain wrong. In the last part of this two-parter, we discussed a few different Christological heresies that can serve as an illustration of this.How then can we speak about the interaction of deity and humanity in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ? The Church gives us the concept of the communicatio idiomatum (Latin: communication of properties or communication of idioms). There are difficulties that require such a convention. What properties belong to Jesus in His human nature? What properties belong to His divine nature? Is it possible that these properties are shared or mingled between the two natures?Jesus did many things physically which are attributed to His divine power. For example, He healed the sick, forgave sins, walked on water, changed water into wine, and rose from the dead. Though Jesus Christ, the God-man did all of these things, because of the communicatio idiomatum, we can safely say that God did all these things. God healed the sick. God walked on water. God changed water into wine. We are not saying that the properties of Christ's divinity become the properties of His humanity, or vice versa; they are already deeply united by grace. But we rightly say these things because Jesus Christ, even in His humanity, is a Divine Person. So, whatever is affirmed of the Divine Person, the Son of God, the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ, after the incarnation, in His human or divine natures is attributed to the one Person. This is why St. Ignatius of Antioch referred to the “blood of God” and the “suffering of God.” God the Father has no blood nor did God the Spirit suffer, but the Eternal Word of God, God the Son, assumed Flesh. This is why we can rightly say that Mary is the Theotokos (the God-bearer) rather than merely the Christotokos (the Christ-bearer).There is an excellent summary of the “rules” of the communicatio idiomatum on encyclopedia.com, of all places. You can check that our here, if you are interested in reading further.  The Adoration of the Humanity of ChristThe Greek word dulia refers to veneration. This is the type of respect that is due to the saints and angels on account of their holiness and closeness to God. The next step up is hyperdulia; this is the preeminent veneration and devotion due to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven. Finally, we arrive at true worship and adoration, in Greek: latria. Latria is due to God alone. In fact, giving latria to anyone other than God would be the grave sin of blasphemy. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains:“The human nature of Christ, united hypostatically with the Divine nature, is adored with the same worship as the Divine nature. We adore the Word when we adore Christ the Man; but the Word is God. The human nature of Christ is not at all the reason of our adoration of Him; that reason is only the Divine nature (CE).”We do not worship the human nature of Jesus Christ. Yet, we affirm that because of the Hypostatic Union, the divinity and humanity of Christ cannot be separated. And, most importantly, there is only one Person in Jesus Christ, which is the Divine Word of God. So, according to the whole Person rather than the parts, we truly adore Jesus Christ, the God-man, with all the devotion, love, and worship due to Almighty God! Effects of the Incarnation on UsFinally, we come to the big question, for us: why did the Word of God become Flesh? How did the Incarnation affect us? In Order to Save UsFirst, as we acclaim in the Nicene Creed: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he came incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” The Word became Flesh for us “in order to save us by reconciling us with God (CCC 456).” Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the world, both original and personal, though He Himself was without sin. He did this in our place as the Son of Man and He did this perfectly as the Son of God.St. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Eastern Church Fathers, explains:“Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. catech 15: PG 45, 48B.)?”That We Might Know God's LoveSecond, the Son of God incarnated that we might know God's love. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, it was fitting that God should become man in order to show us the depths of His love and the heights of His goodness. The Incarnation is a tremendous miracle and mystery. The fact that Almighty God, containing all things and yet uncontained Himself, became a baby. He depended on the love and care of His Holy Mother and St. Joseph. In His unfathomable humility, the Lord shows us the lengths God was willing to go to in order to bring us back from sin and death. Of course, we see His loving action on full display, bearing the Cross for our sakes. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).”To Be Our Model for HolinessThird, Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, shows us the model for holiness. By His holy example, we can follow Him in all things, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is an old blessing that speaks of discipleship: “May you be covered in the dust of the Master.” By following so near to Jesus, we are covered in the dust which His holy feet kick up as He leads us. If we listen to His holy words and holy example, we will be beckoned closer to sharing eternal life with Him in Heaven. To Make Us Partakers of the Divine NatureSt. Peter begins his second letter in this way:“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Peter 1:3-4).”The chief of the Apostles reveals to us another reason why the Word became Flesh. He came to make us “partakers of the divine nature.” As St. Irenaeus said,“For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1, 939.).”The great St. Athanasius put it even more succinctly: “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God (St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: PG 25, 192B.).” And lest we think that this notion is peculiar to the first millennium, St. Thomas Aquinas said, “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods (St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57, 1-4.).”Receiving Sanctifying GraceThe primary means of receiving sanctifying grace in our soul and sharing in the divine nature is through the Sacrament of Baptism. We enter the sacramental life through the door of Baptism and God comes to dwell within us as in a Temple. We receive an infusion of the divine life and have the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity operative in our soul. This initiation, begun in Baptism, is perfected and strengthened in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our initiation is complete when we receive the Lord's own Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of sacraments. The same Flesh born of Mary, the Word of God Incarnate, comes to us under the veil of a sacrament at Holy Mass in what looks like bread and looks like wine. But this is no ordinary food. It is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ who desires to make Himself our supersubstantial bread and come into intimate communion with us. This foretaste of Heaven leads us as a pledge of future glory to our eternal home. The Incarnation goes beyond the cave in Bethlehem, beyond the home in Nazareth, beyond the Temple in Jerusalem, beyond the wood of the Cross, and beyond the empty grave. In the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, the Incarnation is extended. Just as we are body and soul, the Lord commanded that His Church should be visible and invisible. Our invisible God has taken on visible Flesh. So too, the Church celebrates in sensible signs the invisible wonders of God's overwhelming grace. The most amazing part of all of this is that He invites us to respond and take part in these saving mysteries and realities. Praise be to God for such a gift!I will end with the words of Pope St. Leo the Great:Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God's own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God's kingdom.If you have enjoyed this post in the slightest, please consider sharing it with your friends and family on social media, text, or email! Thank you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willwrightcatholic.substack.com

Join us for worship this Sunday, December 18, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Melanie Slane, Celebrant and The Rev. Philip DeVaul, Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

The world is beautiful and reveals the beauty of God, but spiritual realities, such as the Holy Eucharist, are far more beautiful.  To see the beauty of God, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, you need eyes of faith.  One of the best ways to sharpen your vision of this beauty is through adoration.  Though receiving Holy Communion must be the ultimate union we experience with our Lord, adoration of Him, present in the Sacred Host, prepares you for this encounter by revealing His beauty.  Seek to adore Him exposed in the monstrance on the altar and let the eyes of your soul become enthralled by His beauty (See Diary #1692).Do you ever participate in adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist?  If you have adoration regularly at your church, you are blessed.  If not, seek it out at a nearby church.  Adoration feeds your soul and reveals to you the beauty of God.  Reflect upon your experience of Eucharistic adoration and recommit yourself to a wholehearted participation in this glorious act.Lord, I adore You with the most profound adoration as You are present before me in the Most Holy Eucharist.  I love You and seek to know Your hidden beauty and splendor.  You are glorious, dear Lord.  As I behold Your glory, draw me ever deeper into Your perfect Heart of Mercy.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Join us for worship this Sunday, December 11, Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Joyce Keeshin, Celebrant and The Rev. Melanie Slane, Preacher. Michael Delfin on the organ and the Church of the Redeemer choir. This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/

The central act of faithfulness of the Christian life is Holy Communion, eating and drinking the Holy Eucharist. What are its Biblical roots? Is it derived from the Jewish Seder? Was the Reformation right about the Eucharist not being a sacrifice? And just how is bread and wine Christ's Body and Blood? Fr. Stephen De Young and Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick continue their series on the Holy Mysteries by taking a close look at the greatest of all the sacraments.

Episode 204Here's where politics and modern Catholics collide and disconnect from the Catholic Church!ResourcesIn an effort to provide you with the best, most helpful experience we can, any resource mentioned in The Cantankerous Catholic podcast will always be listed in this section. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases on links that are for purchases made from Amazon. This costs you nothing, but Amazon pays me a small commission on purchases made through those links. This helps to support this apostolate.For This EpisodeI Want To Learn More About The Catholic Church!What We Believe… Why We Believe It Bulletin InsertsPodcasters Paradise complete and in-depth podcasting course—the one I tookHow Your Family Can Survive When Society CollapsesMarian Catechist Apostolate Basic CourseThe Sacred Heart Wins! with Bishop Joseph Strickland Elizabeth asks, “Why hasn't Bishop Koenig responded to many questions from the faithful in his diocese (Wilmington, Delaware) regarding the reception of the Holy Eucharist by President Biden?Jeanne asks, “My daughter, son in law and their 5 children (my grandchildren) are sedevacantists. Are their souls in jeopardy?Tom asks, “Why is it that when good priests are ‘sidelined' or canceled they are never just released so they can work in another diocese?Catholic BootcampThis week Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy's Catholic Bootcamp is titled The Seed.Catholic QuotesThis week's quote is from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.Catholic StoriesThis episode features a story about a man late for confession.For All Sixpack Warriors Help Keep the Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy Apostolate AliveFOR CHECKS: make checks payable to Cassock Media, P.O. Box 41, Villa Ridge, Missouri 63089I Want To Learn More About The Catholic Church!What We Believe… Why We Believe It Bulletin InsertsMarian Catechist Apostolate Basic CourseRank & Review The Cantankerous Catholic so more Catholics can join us!Earn Money Online Courses & ToolsSHOW ME HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE! My email listFor the record, I believe the easiest way to consistently earn six-figures a year online is to begin a local digital marketing agency. And small businesses need your help more than ever since COVID. Be certain to browse this list.

We believe as Catholics that at every Mass the simple bread and wine are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. But do we need to receive both species, namely the Eucharist and the Precious Blood in order to receive ALL of Jesus? Today Fr. Mike explains the practice of intinction, dipping the Holy Eucharist into the chalice of the Precious Blood and when it's a bad idea and when it may be appropriate.