Latest / Into the Mysteries of the Rosary / The Eucharist | Into the Mysteries of the Rosary Ep 11 | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

Transcript

The Eucharist | Into the Mysteries of the Rosary Ep 11 | Fr. James Brent, O.P. · Into the Mysteries of the Rosary

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, welcome to Into the Mysteries of the Rosary, a miniseries of the podcast contemplata.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: We come now to the fifth luminous mystery, the institution of the Eucharist.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: When people listen to a love story, they normally want to learn certain things.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: How did it all begin?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: How did things develop over time?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: What were the great acts and the decisive moments along the way?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: The same is true for the story of God's love for us and our adoption by grace.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: We want to know how it all began, how it unfolded over time, and what were the great acts and decisive moments along the way.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: We learn the answers by meditating on the mysteries of the rosary.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Over the course of our meditations, we heard how it all began in the joyful mysteries, and we heard how it all unfolded in the luminous mysteries.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But now we come to one of the greatest acts and most decisive moments along the way.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was when Jesus instituted the Eucharist.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: For in the Eucharist, Jesus still comes to us today, to each of us in our own time and place, and he comes to us personally with his whole being.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus is not just one more historical figure of days gone by, like the Caesars of ancient Rome or American presidents of old.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those figures have all strut and fret their hour upon the stage of history.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: They have all come and gone.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: But not Jesus.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am with you always, Jesus said, even to the close of the age.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus walked the earth, he was looking ahead to all future generations.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: He had you personally in mind, and each one of us.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He refused to recede into ancient history.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be God present to you, at your time and place in history.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be present not only in your mind or heart, but present to you in his actual body and blood, in his soul and divinity too, so that you and I might encounter his whole being for ourselves.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, in the depths of his wisdom, Jesus devised a way to remain in our midst forever.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: How did he accomplish such a feat?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread in his holy and venerable hands.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: He blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: He said, This is my body.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Also, with a cup full of wine he said, This is my blood.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: The church has always taken those words of the Lord literally.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus, his soul and divinity too, his whole being.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And since he is truly and completely present in the Eucharist, you personally can meet Jesus for yourself.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is go to Mass.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist is the single most amazing reality on the face of the earth.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist contains the whole being of Jesus Christ, his whole humanity, his whole divinity.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist contains one and the same Jesus who was announced to the Virgin Mary, who was celebrated by her cousin Elizabeth, who was born in Bethlehem under a mystic star, who was presented in the temple as a child, and who was found again in the temple at the age of twelve teaching the teachers of the law.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist contains one and the same divine person who was revealed in the baptism at the River Jordan, who turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, who preached the gospel of the kingdom in the land of Israel, and who was transfigured on the mountain before the very eyes of Peter, James, and John.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist contains also the whole reality of Jesus revealed in further mysteries of the Rosary.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The sorrowful mysteries show us the magnitude of Christ's love.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: The glorious mysteries show us the splendor of the risen Lord Jesus.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: All the love of Christ crucified, and all the light of the risen Lord Jesus, all of it is present in the Eucharist.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: To be in the presence of the Eucharist is to be in the presence of Jesus.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Jesus is present in our midst even now.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist is his preferred way of being with us at present.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: His preferred way of showing himself to us today.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: His presence in the Eucharist is humble.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: His presence is quiet.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: His presence is so easily forgotten, but his presence is also mighty.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist inspires in us the unshakable conviction that a new world is coming.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is coming is the universal kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, the life of the world to come is already present even now in the Eucharist.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: The coming kingdom is already at hand, for in the Eucharist the King Himself is in our midst.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: But why did the Lord Jesus give us His real presence in the Eucharist?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that you and I might join Him in offering His sacrifice to the Father.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Once upon a time John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: To this day, in every Mass, after the consecration, once the bread and wine have become the body and blood of the Lord, the priest lifts up the host and the chalice and says, Behold, the Lamb of God.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the real presence of the Lamb.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: He is the Lamb once slain on Calvary, and He is the living one, the risen Lord Jesus.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: In every Mass we have him in our midst, the very Lamb of God on our altar.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that the priests and the people together might offer him up to the Father for the life of the world.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we call it the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave His Church something so much more than just a symbol.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: God did not institute the Eucharist to give us merely a symbol of Himself, but to give us Himself.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what we have in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ Himself.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted us to receive Him in Holy Communion.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Holy communion is not merely a symbolic gesture or cultural custom, but it has massive effects upon us.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: When a child is born into this world, what is the basic thing the child needs to grow?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Food, nourishment.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So too it is when you and I are reborn in baptism and adopted by God.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our souls begin to live the new life of grace, but our souls also need food to grow in that life of grace.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: There is only one food that really nourishes the soul, the Eucharist.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every time you and I receive Holy Communion, the sacrament nourishes the new life of grace in our souls.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: It causes the spiritual life in our souls to grow strong and vital.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live in me, and I in him, says the Lord.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, words cannot tell all the wonderful effects of the Eucharist.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist neutralizes temptations, banishes devils, increases virtues, and floods our souls with divine love.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: When you and I receive Holy Communion, we do not eat dead flesh or drink dead blood, but the risen body and glorified blood of Jesus Christ.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: When I receive Holy Communion, I am quite well aware that I eat the risen body of Christ.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I drink glorified blood.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Who could ever do such a thing without being changed?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every time you and I receive Holy Communion, something great comes to us.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: For when we receive Holy Communion, there is sure to come up from the depths of our souls, sooner or later, a new propulsion of love.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So let us be on the lookout for it, because the Eucharist enkindles the flames of love in our hearts.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, let us never approach the great sacrament of the altar nonchalantly, but always with confidence, with fervor, with desire for Christ.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then we shall go forth from the altar, like lions breathing fire.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this episode of Contemplata.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends wherever you listen to podcasts.