The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-04-02
INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED EUCHARIST
Continued from Page H.

sixth chaper of St Johns Gospel? He says: II
am the living bread which down from heav-
en-. Il any man cat of this bread, he shall live for
ever; and the bread which / will give is my flesh
Tor the life OF the world" The Jews understood
Him III literal scnse--that He would give His
real flesh TO be eaten They revoltcd at the idea of
eating human flesh; they mur1nured and com
| planned, saying: How can this man give us His
flesh to eat" Our Lord saw their confusion and
! knew its cause. Now if they were wrong in under
standing His words in their literal sense would
lie not have corrected them; was it not His duty
as divine teacher of truth to set them Alright!
Does lie do 1t. No; He only asserts what He said
before more clearly, and this time with an oath:
Amen, amen, say unto you: Except you eat the
1esh OF the Son of Man and drink His blood, you
snail not have life III you. He that eateth nv flesh
and drlnketh my blood hath everlasting life and
VIII raise hlm up at the last day. For my flesh is
meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed" The
seventy-two disciples also understood him in lit
eral sense; many of them murmured and said:
Il ms is hard saying, and who can hear it. = =
and after this many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him" If they
misunderstood, will He not call them back and ex-
PLAIN! Will He allow these chosen ones to de-
part from Him and from salvation on account of a
mere misunderstanding those whom He has spent
days and weeks and months in instructng. and
whom lie has destined to carry the light of His
Gospel to the nations Surely He won't let them
60 Does lie then recall them. No: but He turns
TO His chosen twelve apostles, the pillars of His
future Church, and asks "Wll you also go away! ~
that IS II you, my chosen twelve, understand my |
words to mean that [ am going to give you nv
1esh ana blood, really, truly and substantially to
oe eaten and drunk, as did my disciples and it, like
them you do not believe it, you, too may go away
AND Peter answered. Lord, to whom shall we gol
Thou hast the words Of eternal life
thus the matter stood till the eve of His Pas
SION at the Last Supper. and at this opportune
time He undertook to fulfill His promise to the
Jews and His disciples in the temple an Caphar-
naum: The bread which / will give is my flesh
Tor the life of the world" Referring to the bread
and wine which lay before Him, He said: This is
my body, This Is my blood These words were
feet which they signifed. BY the word of His
power He changed the substance of the bread and
WINE INTO the substance of His body and blood
And then He added: "Do this for a commemora-
ton OF me" He commanded His apostles to do
what He had done; and if He commanded them
to do 1t, He must have given them the power of
doing it. Therefore, the apostles, through these
words, received from Christ the power to change
bread and wine into His body and blood But is
that all No; for st. Paul says: CAS- often as YOU
shall eat this bread and drink this chalice you shall
show forth the death of the Lord until He com
eth" This power, therefore must abide until the
Lord shall come thit is, till the end of time; and
since the apostles not to live to the end of
time, this power must abide with some persons
other than the apostles And with whom should it
'oiuo IL ho6 WIN tnelr laWful successors In the
ninlstry-wlth those who can trace their
'rigin and authority in the ministry in
lnbroken succession from the apostles?
And history teaches who they are With
whom should it abide if not with the ministers of
nat Church which has maintained and upheld it's
eality, and always and everywhere taught and
,ractlced it! Why should it remain and abide with
hose who have denied, ignored and ridiculed it!
That Is, IN brief, the doctrine and history of the
'lessed Eucharist, whose institution we commemo-
ate today; this is the princely spire which the
ord placed on the noble structure of Christianity.
his IS the magnet round which centers the Cath
lie heart which cements our hearts together and
ur souls to our God; this is the means through ,
hich we worship and adore the God whom we love
ldeed and in truth and in 4 manner which alone is
orthy of Him. :
The more noble and worthy of God the religion
!, the more noble and worthy, too, should be its !
eans of worship; and what religion and what wor- /
mp can be more worthy of God than that estab g
shed by His own Divine Son? Jesus Christ came q
perfect worship and TO crown religion and this q
acred Institution is the He has placed upon
5 brow; this is the unfadng robe of beauty with
Inch he has clothed it. He has clothed His
tests with transcendent power; He has filed His
NIPPLES with presence and glory far more thrill
g and far more wonderful than that presence and t
DRY which filled the Temple of Jerusalem Thanks t
Him for His unutterabe gift He has established II
Sacrifice which is the very reproduction and c.
emorlai OF the Cross and through which this /
orable Presence has been maintained and will u
maintained to the end of time. Taking bread b.
d wine into His holy hands, He consecrated v
EN-, and changed them into His own body and
bod; and He gave His apostles power to do the de
me: Thus did He, Gods high priest eternal Of
Till His priesthood according to the order of NJ
Thus did He establish that sacred 10
e in which He Himself forevermore would be dc
tn Priest and Victim There could be no priest pi
Ter than He, the One anonted above all others, VI
only Mediator between God and man. Nor tn
nd there be victim other than He, the holo- til
lse of Calvary. But, by ordaining his apostles w
ests He made them participants in His priest re
ID, and by eonsecratng He perpetuated the Sac
&c which He was about to complete on the NOR
Y by giving up His life. Henceforth from every
lple in the Church of God there would be of q
ed the pure holy, spotlcss Victim. to halow the al,
tn and to praise the loving condescension of the
st High God. ne
AS there is sterner fact in the history of me
world than the Incarnation of the Son of God. sh
there IS no sterner fact in the history of the of
arnatlon itself there is important doc liza
lie which the Incarnate Word proposes to our so,
ct, than His Real Presence in the Holy Euchar- wi
through the ministry of the Mass-that abiding VIII
sence more wonderful and touching than His mo