Holy Eucharist
Saturday Vigil | 5:00 p.m. |
Sunday | 7:30, 9:00, 10:30, 12:15 |
Monday-Saturday | 8:30 a.m. |
Holy Days | Please consult the bulletin |
As Catholics, we firmly believe that the real presence of Christ is in the Holy Eucharist. Our belief in the Holy Eucharist is rooted in Christ Himself. Recall the beautiful words of our Lord in the Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel of St. John: “I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink. The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the Father who has life sent me and I have life because of the Father, so the man who feeds on me will have life because of me” (John 6:51, 53-57).
This whole mystery is preserved in the Most Holy Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Mass. We take unleavened bread and wine, two sources of nourishment. By the will of the Father, the work of the Holy Spirit, and priesthood of Jesus entrusted to His ordained priests, and through the words of consecration, that bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Yes, the bread and wine do not change in characteristics they still look the same, taste and smell the same, and hold the same shape. However, the reality, “the what it is,” the substance does change. We do not receive bread and wine; we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We call this “change of substance” transubstantiation, a term used at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and asserted again by our Holy Father in Ecclesia de Eucharistia (#15). Therefore, each time we celebrate Mass, we are plunged into the whole everpresent, everlasting mystery of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, and share intimately in life of our Lord through Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of the whole Christian life.
The Catholic Church has always cherished this treasure. St. Paul wrote, “I received from the Lord what I handed on to you, namely, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread, and after He had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper, He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ Every time then you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes!” (I Corinthians 11:23-26).