6/15/2018

Q: Why does the Catholic Church believe Christ is really present in the Eucharist?

Katie Ryncarz 

Blaine

   A: Jesus teaches us in the Gospel how he has given us his body and blood, the holy Eucharist. Jesus, at the Last Supper, instituted, or inaugurated, the celebration of the sacrifice of the Eucharist, which we recognize as the celebration of Mass.  Furthermore, St. Paul himself takes us back to the Last Supper informing us in his First Letter to the Corinthians (see, 1 Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 23-26) in the Last Supper Jesus gave us his body and blood in the Eucharist.

     There even is historical documentation from the early church supporting the fact that the Eucharist was celebrated and understood as the body and blood of Christ from the very beginning of Christianity.  The Eucharist is the very foundation of our faith and the source and summit of the Catholic Church. The church draws its very life from the Eucharist.

   The Eucharistic is not only a gift. The Eucharist is a gift of Jesus’ very self to you and to me! How fortunate we are to be able to receive Jesus at Mass, thus, transforming you and me to become who we receive.

Q: Do you have to believe in God in order to go to heaven?  

Rhonda Masters

Cambridge 

   A: You and I both know it’s very difficult at times to gauge just how much faith a person possesses.  It would be unrealistic to presume that all have the same level of faith and, in fact, we read that in sacred Scripture and we pray for those who perhaps do not possess strong or mature faith.

   It so happens that in the intercessions or the prayers of the faithful for the Good Friday Passion Liturgy, we pray for all people, even those who do not seem to possess any faith. It would seem to me that we would be wasting our prayers if our prayers would not assist our brothers and sisters, especially those of little faith.

   We live in an era where people are searching for the truth. Perhaps you and I can begin to turn hearts by confidently sharing the truth with others; namely, that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to you and to me in order that we may dwell with him for all eternity in heaven.

Q: Bishop, if Adam and Eve are the first people on earth, and they had kids and their kids had kids, etc., would all of us be related? Thank you! God Bless! 

Maria Mitch

Toronto

   A: Time and time again we are reminded in church teaching that Adam and Eve are our first parents. Yes, if you go back far enough in human history, we are all related because God has made it so. Remember, we are all members of the same human family regardless our ethnicity, our nationality and, yes, even our faith. This gives us all the more reason to love our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus instructs us.

   We owe love and compassion to all we encounter as Jesus shared in the parable of the good Samaritan. As we all are brothers and sisters in the human race, we also are provided an obligation for we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper as members of the one human family God created in his image and likeness and who Jesus has redeemed in his body and blood.

            As we embark into the great celebration of summertime, may this season enrich you and your family in faith as well as in familial love.