By Judie Brown
Contemplating the reception of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist leads us to thank the Lord for His priests—His representatives known in Church teaching as those who serve in persona Christi.
Pope Benedict XVI focused on this truth in a document entitled “The Priest’s Three Duties.” He wrote:
The priest represents Christ . . . who makes himself present with his truly effective action. He really acts today and brings about what the priest would be incapable of: the consecration of the wine and the bread so that they may really be the Lord’s presence. . . . The Lord makes his own action present in the person who carries out these gestures.
The truth of this teaching is more than relevant in our time when individuals attend Mass and receive this awesome sacrament in the most disrespectful ways, beginning with the garb they choose to wear to this incredible banquet.
In 2003, Father William Saunders wrote about this, telling readers:
Some parents have misled their children. On Easter Sunday, I encountered a young lady (whom I had never seen before) who had six inches of her waist exposed, the front cut very low, and shoulders bare. I said to her very discreetly, “Please dress appropriately for Mass.” For this her father later approached me, yelled at me, and physically threatened me. Instead of guiding and guarding their daughter, he and his wife have adopted that permissive attitude which endangers body and soul.
We call your attention to this because, as we have often said here, if a human being who claims to be Catholic cannot respect the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, how will that person defend the real presence of the preborn child?
The simple answer to this question is that we are living in a time that is overwhelmed with a crisis in faith. Saint Paul wrote about this, telling the Romans, “Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”
Today we ask ourselves, how many individuals are touched by the teaching of Christ? How many are moved to action because they know that a little baby is in danger of being cruelly killed by her own mother? How often do we hear either of these truths from the pulpit?
The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not a set of words, it is a truth that is transformative to those who receive Him in a state of grace. It is the bread that satisfies the soul, the sustenance that makes it possible for us to stand up for the babies and courageously defend them regardless of public attitudes or media hypocrisy. In fact, without this bread, I believe it is impossible to persist in our quest to protect the innocent.
We believe that every Catholic priest needs our support and our commitment to provide the encouragement they need to preach such truth. This is one reason why we were so grateful to learn of the teaching of St. Philomenas’ Apostolate: “Our mission is to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls by helping priests fulfill the dream of the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney: ‘O my dear parishioners, let us endeavor to get to heaven! There we shall see God. How happy we shall feel! If the parish is converted we shall go there in procession with the parish priest at the head.’”
Consider these words as we reflect on the blessings bestowed on each priest who is truly serving Christ by consecrating and sharing the body and blood of Christ. Truly, the Eucharist is the bread of life.
Let us pray for our priests, encourage them, and let them know that we ask Saint John Vianney to be with them in their ministry. Making the bread of life the center of every Catholic Christian’s activity is the beginning of ending the scourge of abortion.