Posted on 08/11/2018 9:37:23 PM PDT by Salvation
https://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/HolyMass/gospels.asp?key=21
Year B - 19th Sunday in ordinary time
I am the bread of life
Juan 6:41-51
41 The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can he say, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that has heard of the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
46 Not that any man has seen the Father; but he who is of God, he has seen the Father.
47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.
50 This is the bread, which comes down from heaven; that if any man eats of it, he may not die.
51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
It is a great difficulty for humanity to believe in a person claiming to be sent by God the Almighty, for this reason all the prophets fell into the hands of their enemies, since very few people were able to give welcome to their teachings and receive the gift that God had sent them.
In my case, I was born of the Virgin Mary in a conception not done with human seed but with the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, my mother was chosen to participate in this event because of her unique purity and the privilege of having been borne exempt from original sin. My human existence was part of the eternal existence that I share as God with my Father and the Holy Spirit, who is in us; my mission on earth was that of teaching, forgiving and redeeming the humanity, that had rebelliously rejected the gifts of God manifested through the prophets. I brought perfection and fulfillment to their teachings because I am the same Word of God.
By the Will of my Father, I assumed human nature, humiliating myself to the lowliness of humanity in order to pay for all the sins committed by the human race. The only way to accomplish redemption was by offering myself in sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for all sins. For this, every one would have to follow my teachings, since I was not going to be on this earth permanently in my bodily state. I have come to invite you all to ascend to my Heavenly Kingdom; I have provided the means through my mystical body, the Church.
Flesh and blood cannot enter Heaven and the body has to die as a consequence of sin, this was established in Paradise after the original sin. I came from Heaven and even though I could have ascended in my physical body, since there was no sin in me, I chose to sacrifice my human nature, shedding my blood on the cross to justify Divine Justice and to open the way to Heaven. With my death and my resurrection, I liberated humanity from death and I assured them of the resurrection, I overcame Satan, the tempter that leads to death and I established the new creation of the children of God, in which all have to eat of my flesh and drink of my blood to be purified from sin and to deserve eternal life.
For this reason I said that the bread that I was going to give them would be my own flesh which would give them life, I made this very clear, I am the living bread that has come down from Heaven, so that He who eats of my flesh and drinks my blood may have eternal life. He who is baptized and believes will be saved; he who rejects me is rejecting his own salvation. He who rejects the priest anointed by my apostles is rejecting me and despising the living bread that I offer through him.
Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary
The Gospel this Sunday amounts to a summons to faith by Jesus. He is summoning us to faith in Himself and in the truth He proclaims about His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Last weeks Gospel ended with Jesus declaring that He was the bread come down from Heaven. This Sunday’s Gospel opens with His Jewish listeners grumbling because He claims to have come from Heaven. Throughout the Gospel Jesus stands firm in His call to faith; He teaches them of the necessity of faith, its origins, and its fruits. Lets look at what the Lord teaches in four stages.
I. The Focus of Faith The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven, and they said, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, I have come down from heaven?
Their lack of faith is a scandal. In addition, it shifts our focus to the need for faith and emphasizes how difficult it is to have faith. Both the scandal and the difficulty are illustrated in the background to the crowds lack of faith.
Recall that Jesus had just fed over 20,000 people with five loaves and two fishes, leaving 12 baskets full of scraps. It was this very miracle that led many of them follow Him to the other side of the lake. All the miracles Jesus worked were meant to summon people to faith and to provide evidence for the truth of His words. The Gospel of John recounts Jesus saying, for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear witness that the Father has sent me (John 5:36).
Yes, their lack of faith, their grumbling, and their murmuring was scandalous. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes was not the first miracle Jesus had worked to this point and it would not be the last. Recall that he had
Changed water into wine, healed lepers, healed the centurions servant, cast out demons, healed the lame, healed the woman with a hemorrhage, raised Jairus daughter, cast out blindness, cured the man with a withered hand, walked on water, calmed storms at sea, healed the deaf and mute, caused miraculous catches of fish, raised the widows son, and raised Lazarus!
What do they focus on? On what Jesus does or on where He is from? It seems clear they are more focused on His human origins: where He is from and who His human kin are.
How many people today really put their focus on what God is doing, on the many daily miracles of simple existence, and on the many ways that even defeats become victories?
Jesus focuses on faith because we humans are a hard case and our faith needs to grow.
II. The Font of Faith Noting their lack of faith, Jesus rebukes them in these words: Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Jesus teaches two things here: that our faith in Him comes from the Father, and that we are a hard case.
First, Jesus teaches that His Father is the source of our faith in Him. Scripture teaches this truth elsewhere as well:
The central work of the Father is to save us by drawing us to faith in His Son, whom He sent to redeem the world.
Jesus also teaches that this work of God generally meets considerable resistance from us. This is evident in Jesus words: the Father must draw us to the Son. The Greek word used here is ἑλκύσῃ (helkuse), which means to drag, draw, pull, or persuade; it implies that the thing being drawn or dragged is resisting. This same word is used in John 21:6 in describing drawing a heavily laden net to shore.
Thus, Jesus points to their stubbornness in coming to faith. We are stubborn and stiff-necked, so the Father must exert effort to draweven dragus to Jesus.
Yes, were a hard case and sometimes we have to be drug. Someone once said,
I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or preacher, or if I didnt put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me. I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profane four-letter word. I was drug to pull weeds in Moms garden and to do my chores. I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some fire wood. And if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed. Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin. If todays children had this kind of drug problem, America might be a better place.
III. The Functioning of Faith – Jesus goes on to teach about how faith functions and what its fruit is: Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
Regarding the functioning of faith, the Greek text is clearer than the English translation. The Greek word used here for believes is πιστεύων (pisteuon), a present, active participle. This construction signifies an ongoing action and is better translated as He who goes on believing or He who is believing.
The danger is in reducing faith to an event or an act. Some say that they answered an altar call; others point to their baptism. Thats good, but what is going on today? What is prescribed here by the Lord is lasting, ongoing faith. It is a lasting faith because faith is more than a one-time event; it is an ongoing reality. Faith is more than something you have; it is something you do, daily. It involves learning and trusting in God. It is a basing our whole life on His Word, the daily obedience of faith.
Here are a few other Scripture passages about the ongoing need for faith:
IV. The Fruit of Faith – Having taught of the ongoing quality of faith, Jesus also speaks of its fruit: eternal life.
The Christian use of the word eternal does not refer only to the length of life but to its fullness or quality. The Greek word that is used here is αἰώνιος (aionios), from which we get the English word (a)eon). According the Greek lexicon of Scripture, the word does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age.
Note, too, that the Greek word translated here as has is ἔχει (echei), which is a present, active indicative. Thus, it does not refer just to something that we will have but something we now have. Believers live in eternal life right now, experiencing this quality of Gods life now as a present possession. We do not enjoy it fully, as we will in Heaven, but we do have it now and it is growing within us.
Thus, Jesus teaches that the believer enjoys the fullness of life in him even now, and in a growing way each day. One day we too we will enjoy the fullness of life, to the top, in Heaven.
Here, then, is Jesus teaching on the functioning of faith (its ongoing quality) and the fruit of faith (eternal life, i.e., the fullness of life).
V. The Food of Faith Having set forth the necessity of faith, Jesus now prepares to turn the heat up a bit and test their faith. Not only does He tell them that He has come from Heaven, but also that He is Bread they must eat. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died but this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.
This final verse points to next weeks Gospel, in which this concept will be developed more fully and more graphically.
Having warned them of the necessity of faith, Jesus now points to one of His most essential teachings: the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.
Without faith, they cannot grasp or accept this teaching. As we shall see in next weeks Gospel reading, most of them turned away and would no longer follow Him because they could not accept what He was saying; they did not have the faith to trust Him in this matter. Instead, they scoff and leave Him. We will say more about this next week as John 6 continues to unfold.
For now, let the Lord ask you, Do you have faith to believe what I teach you on this? Perhaps, like the centurion, we can say, I do believe; help my unbelief. Perhaps, like the apostles, we can say, Increase our faith. Perhaps we can imitate St. Thomas Aquinas and say,
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, (Sight, touch and taste, in thee fail)
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. (But only the hearing is safely believed)
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; (I believe whatever the Son of God says)
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius. (Nothing is more true than this word of truth)
In the end we either have faith or will be famished. We will have the faith to approach the Lords table or we will go unfed. Jesus says later, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you have no life in you (Jn 6:53). In other words, we starve spiritually without the faith that brings us to Gods table.
How few come to the Lords table today, in these times when faith is so lacking. Only about a quarter of American Catholics attend Mass regularly. How can we stay away if we have faith in the Eucharist? We cannot. If we truly we believe, we will never deliberately miss Sunday Mass. Our devotion to the Lord will grow daily and our experience of the fullness of life (eternal life) will grow.
Its faith or famine. Do you believe?
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: 1Kings 19:4-8 II: Ephesians 4:30-5:2
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
43 Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The living bread in the Eucharist is Jesus' flesh, whoever eats this bread shall have eternal life.
John | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
John 6 |
|||
41. | The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. | Murmurabant ergo Judæi de illo, quia dixisset : Ego sum panis vivus, qui de cælo descendi, | εγογγυζον ουν οι ιουδαιοι περι αυτου οτι ειπεν εγω ειμι ο αρτος ο καταβας εκ του ουρανου |
42. | And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven? | et dicebant : Nonne hic est Jesus filius Joseph, cujus nos novimus patrem et matrem ? quomodo ergo dicit hic : Quia de cælo descendi ? | και ελεγον ουχ ουτος εστιν ιησους ο υιος ιωσηφ ου ημεις οιδαμεν τον πατερα και την μητερα πως ουν λεγει ουτος οτι εκ του ουρανου καταβεβηκα |
43. | Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves. | Respondit ergo Jesus, et dixit eis : Nolite murmurare in invicem : | απεκριθη ουν ο ιησους και ειπεν αυτοις μη γογγυζετε μετ αλληλων |
44. | No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. | nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater, qui misit me, traxerit eum ; et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. | ουδεις δυναται ελθειν προς με εαν μη ο πατηρ ο πεμψας με ελκυση αυτον και εγω αναστησω αυτον εν τη εσχατη ημερα |
45. | It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. | Est scriptum in prophetis : Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Omnis qui audivit a Patre, et didicit, venit ad me. | εστιν γεγραμμενον εν τοις προφηταις και εσονται παντες διδακτοι θεου πας ουν ο ακουων παρα του πατρος και μαθων ερχεται προς με |
46. | Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. | Non quia Patrem vidit quisquam, nisi is, qui est a Deo, hic vidit Patrem. | ουχ οτι τον πατερα τις εωρακεν ει μη ο ων παρα του θεου ουτος εωρακεν τον πατερα |
47. | Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. | Amen, amen dico vobis : qui credit in me, habet vitam æternam. | αμην αμην λεγω υμιν ο πιστευων εις εμε εχει ζωην αιωνιον |
48. | I am the bread of life. | Ego sum panis vitæ. | εγω ειμι ο αρτος της ζωης |
49. | Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. | Patres vestri manducaverunt manna in deserto, et mortui sunt. | οι πατερες υμων εφαγον το μαννα εν τη ερημω και απεθανον |
50. | This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. | Hic est panis de cælo descendens : ut si quis ex ipso manducaverit, non moriatur. | ουτος εστιν ο αρτος ο εκ του ουρανου καταβαινων ινα τις εξ αυτου φαγη και μη αποθανη |
51. | I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 6:52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. |
Ego sum panis vivus, qui de cælo descendi. 6:52 Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in æternum : et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita. |
εγω ειμι ο αρτος ο ζων ο εκ του ουρανου καταβας εαν τις φαγη εκ τουτου του αρτου ζησεται εις τον αιωνα και ο αρτος δε ον εγω δωσω η σαρξ μου εστιν ην εγω δωσω υπερ της του κοσμου ζωης |
Any idea about the lower left. I find the hat of the central figure strange.
Facial types seem vaguely Jewish. All have walking staffs, girded up, wearing boots. The conical hat, I think, is supposed to designate the priest. These details conform with the biblical description of the feast:
And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord. (Exodus 12:11)
Art of the period made no attempt to be historically accurate, and even if they tried, lacked detailed knowledge. This shows an earnest attempt to stick to the narrative.
Note the booted leg just stepping into the picture frame.
Thank you.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3678735/posts
Saint of the Day — Saint Jane Frances de Chantal.
|
Feast Day: August 12
Born: January 28, 1572, Dijon, Burgundy, France
Died: December 13, 1641, Moulins, France
Canonized: July 16, 1767, Rome by Pope Clement XIII
Major Shrine: Annecy, Savoy
Patron of: forgotten people; in-law problems; loss of parents; parents separated from children; widows
Sunday, August 12
Liturgical Color: Green
Bl. Karl Leisner died on this day in
1945. He organized Catholic prayer
services while imprisoned in a Nazi
prison camp for speaking against
Hitler. In 1944, a French bishop
secretly entered the camp and
ordained him to the priesthood.
» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!
Old Calendar: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
"Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die (John 6:46-50)."
Today is the feast of St. Jane Frances de Chantel which is superseded by the Sunday Liturgy.
Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the First Book of Kings 19:4-8 and gives us the story from the life of the prophet Elijah in which it is narrated that an angel fed him miraculously.
The second reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 4:30, 5:2 in which he urges his converts to live in peace, harmony and love with one another.
The Gospel is from St. John 6:41-51. The main point of doctrine in this part of our Lord's discourse, as given by St. John, is the necessity for belief in Christ who has come down from heaven. It is only in the last verse of today's text that Christ explicitly states that he is about to give his own very body as their spiritual food to those who believe in him. The description of himself as "bread from heaven" and the vital difference between the effect of this bread and the manna given to their fathers in the desert, are a definite preparation for the announcement of the doctrine of the Eucharist.
However, before they could even think of accepting this teaching on the Eucharist they had first to accept Christ as divine, as the Son of God. This was not easy for Jews, for whom strict monotheism was the center of their faith. To admit that Christ was God would at first sight seem like admitting two gods. Secondly, even though Christ had worked extraordinary miracles, to all appearances he was still a mere manand the prophets of old had worked miracles. True, Christ was evidently claiming to be more than a prophet; he claimed that he alone had seen the Father, that he had come from the Father. This claim of equality with the Father would be sheer blasphemy if it were not true; could God give the power of miracles to such a great sinner?
Perhaps some of them argued along these lines and accepted his claim later on. Others remained stiff-necked and stubborn and could see nothing in him but a native of Nazareth, a humble Galilean like themselves, but one who had developed strange ideas about who and what he was. These Galileans began a long line of unbelievers which has stretched down through the centuries to our own day. The reasons for the unbelief are the same today as they were in the year 29 A.D. Man is proud of his intelligence; which he did not give to himself. Whatever he cannot grasp within the limited confines of that intellect, he treats as non-existent as far as he is concerned. If a God exists, a doubtful possibility to these great thinkers, we mortals can know nothing about him; he is beyond our ken and we can be of no concern to him.
If there ever was a Jesus of Nazareth, he could be only a mere man who suffered from grave hallucinations! But his miracles? A simple answer: there never were any. His disciples invented these stories later. But these disciples were willing to die for these inventions of theirs! Thousands of Christians were martyred rather than deny the divine claims of Jesus! More hallucination, no doubt! Nineteen centuries of Christian history can be shrugged off as easily as that by those who will not believe. If certain statements do not fit in with preconceived ideas then these statements are false; if certain facts do not agree with history, as the unbelievers understand history, then these facts never happened. So man's limited, finite mind remains the sole judge and arbiter of all truth.
We believe in a loving God, and in his divine Son, Jesus Christ, who came on earth to bring us to heaven, and in the Holy Spirit who completes the work of sanctification in us. Surely, we owe this Blessed Trinity a debt of gratitude! We can never fully repay it. Because of our Christian faith which has come to us from Jesus, we know where we came from, we know whither we are going and we know how to reach that destination. Of all the knowledge a human being can acquire on this earth, the above facts are the most essential and important. Any other knowledge is of temporary value. The knowledge our Christian faith gives us concerns eternity and our journey toward it.
Today, we must thank God from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the Christian faith. This faith means that "God out of the abundance of his love, speaks to men as friends and lives among them so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself," as Vatican II puts it. He did not put us on earth and leave us on our own with nowhere to go except to the grave. He sent his beloved Son on earth. He made us heirs to heaven and left to us, in his Church, all the instruction and aids we need to reach our inheritance. The unbelievers and free-thinkers may feel that they are free to do what they will here on earth, but we know that we have been given the freedom of the children of God for all eternity, if only we live according to the faith given us.
Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Get up and eat! (1 Kings 19:5)
Elijah was downcast. Queen Jezebel had just ordered his death. Just a few days earlier, Elijah had found himself in a moment of jubilation. He had just outdueled four hundred prophets of the false god Baal.
In a matter of days, Elijah went from complete jubilation to complete depression. He went from fearless confidence in God to fearing for his life. He went from feeling like a special messenger of God to feeling like a fruitless and worthless vine. It was so bad that Elijah even asked God to take his life.
In this dire moment, God sent some food and an angel to help Elijah. The angel told him, Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you (1 Kings 19:7).
Like Elijah, we all have moments of jubilation and moments of discouragement. We may be in prison, we may be dealing with difficulties at work or at home, we may have lost our confidence and feel like a failure. These moments of hardship can sap the life right out of us.
In todays Gospel, we see Jesus telling people that he is the Bread of Life that came down from heaven (John 6:51). Even greater than the food that God provided for Elijah, Jesus offers us living bread, his own flesh. He offers us his own life in the Eucharist so that we dont ever have to lose hope. As we take and eat, Jesus can minister to our fearful and broken hearts. Even the simple act of eating this Bread can help us feel better.
The Eucharist inspires us to hold on to our faith, even when we are downcast. It reminds us that Jesus was completely human, like us in every way except sin. He was tempted just like us. He suffered like us. So he knows firsthand what its like to be troubled.
So take and eat today, knowing that Jesus is with you through even your most troubling times. He will give you his energy for the long haul.
Lord, you are the Bread of Life.
Psalm 34:2-9
Ephesians 4:305:2
John 6:41-51
Saint Cyril of Alexandria (380-444)
Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Commentary on St. Luke's Gospel, 22
"The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world"
How could humankind, which remained riveted to the earth and subject to death, gain entry to immortality once more? Its flesh had to become assimilated to the life-giving force in God. Now, God the Father's life-giving force is his Word, his only Son, and so it was he whom God sent as Savior and Redeemer...
If you put a breadcrumb into oil, water or wine, it at once soaks up their properties. If you place iron into contact with fire it will shortly become full of the fire's energy and, even though by nature it is only iron, will take on the appearance of fire. In the same way, then, God's life-giving Word, by uniting himself to the flesh he assumed, caused it to become life giving.
Did he not say: Whoever believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. And again: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh... Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. So then, by eating the flesh of Christ, the Savior of us all, and drinking his blood we have life in ourselves, we become one with him, we remain in him and he in us.
Therefore it is for him to enter within us through the Holy Spirit in a way fitting to God and to mingle with our body, after a fashion, through the holy flesh and precious blood we receive under the forms of bread and wine as our life-giving blessing. Indeed..., God has exercised his condescension towards our weakness and placed all his life-force into the elements of bread and wine, which are thus endowed with the spirit of his own life. So believe in it without hesitation for our Lord himself has clearly said: This is my body and This is my blood.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.