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Posts Tagged ‘Jesus Christ’

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“He encourages and teaches and guides us”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2013/01/25 at 9:15 AM
Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect Man. There are many Christians who follow Christ and are astonished by his divinity, but forget him as Man. And they fail in the practice of supernatural virtues, despite all the external paraphernalia of piety, because they do nothing to acquire human virtues. (Furrow, 652)

Fall in love with the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ. Aren’t you glad that he should have wanted to be like us? Thank Jesus for this wonderful expression of his goodness. (The Forge, 547)

I give you thanks, my Jesus, for your decision to become perfect Man, with a Heart which loved and is most loveable; which loved unto death and suffered; which was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and showed us the way to Heaven; which subjected itself heroically to duty and acted with mercy; which watched over the poor and the rich and cared for sinners and the just. I give you thanks, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours! (Furrow, 813)

That is what true devotion to the heart of Jesus means. It is knowing God and ourselves. It is looking at Jesus and turning to him, letting him encourage and teach and guide us. The greatest superficiality that can beset this devotion would be a lack of humanity, a failure to understand the reality of an incarnate God.

Jesus on the cross, with his heart overflowing with love for men, is such an eloquent commentary on the value of people and things that words only get in the way. (Christ is passing by, 164-165)

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“Jesus is still looking for shelter”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/12/28 at 9:11 AM
Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem because, Sacred Scripture tells us, “there was no room for them in the inn.” I am not departing from theological truth when I say that Jesus is still looking for shelter in your heart. (The Forge, 274)

I am not at all stretching the truth when I tell you that Jesus is still looking for a resting‑place in our heart. We have to ask him to forgive our personal blindness and ingratitude. We must ask him to give us the grace never to close the door of our soul on him again.

Our Lord does not disguise the fact that his wholehearted obedience to God’s will calls for renunciation and self‑sacrifice. Love does not claim rights, it seeks to serve. Jesus has led the way. How did he obey? “Unto death, death on a cross” [1]. You have to get out of yourself; you have to complicate your life, losing it for love of God and souls. “So you wanted to live a quiet life. But God wanted otherwise. Two wills exist: your will should be corrected to become identified with God’s will: you must not bend God’s will to suit yours” [2].

It has made me very happy to see so many souls spend their lives — like you, Lord, “even unto death” — fulfilling what God was asking of them. They have dedicated all their yearnings and their professional work to the service of the Church, for the good of all men.

Let us learn to obey, let us learn to serve. There is no better leadership than wanting to give yourself freely, to be useful to others. When we feel pride swell up within us, making us think we are supermen, the time has come to say “no”. Our only triumph will be the triumph of humility. In this way we will identify ourselves with Christ on the cross — not unwillingly or restlessly or sullenly, but joyfully. For the joy which comes from forgetting ourselves is the best proof of love. (Christ is passing by, 19)
[1] Phil 2:8
[2] St Augustine, On Psalms, Ps 31:2, 26

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Fr. George Rutler: Christ in the City II

In 15 Audio on 2012/08/02 at 9:11 AM

Please click on this site to access programs: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=7067&T1=Rutler

Christ in the City, 2005

1.The Perfect Parable: The Prodigal Son…Fr. Rutler examines one of the paradigms of Christian living, the story of the Prodigal Son, which is really the tale of the fathomless mercy of the prodigalʼs Father. The story shows how one is much more grateful for having been forgiven much, like the younger son, as opposed to being forgiven little, like the faithful older son. The mystery of salvation is played out in our hearts, and blessed is the man who appropriates its meaning, taking it to heart and producing the fruition of virtue.

2.The Temptations of Christ in the Wilderness…Fr. Rutler delves into the account of Christ tempted in the wilderness by the devil. He enumerates the principal temptations of humanity as the following: materialism, or satisfying our passions; the happiness that comes through power; and gnosticism, or the seduction to think we can define and control reality.

3. The Transfiguration…Fr. Rutler probes the event of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, revealing how it is a defining manifestation of Christʼs Divinity, which Jesus wanted his disciples to have before his suffering and death. He is glorified, lifted up and clothed in light, speaking with the giver of the Law, Moses, and the greatest prophet, Elijah, to show that he is the fulfillment of all the Jewish people hoped for. When the vision ceases, the disciples only see Jesus. He becomes all they know and all they need to know.

4.The Woman at the Well…Fr. Rutler recalls the encounter had by the Samaritan woman at the Well of Jacob in Sychar. A simple everyday moment proves to be life-changing when it involves a recognition of the divinity of Christ. His revelation to her of everything she ever did moves her to in effect tell the whole town that God knows us all intimately and even has the hairs of our heads counted. A personal God with transformative power in the here and now is what the world needs to come to know.

5. Sermon on the Mount…Fr. Rutler probes the highpoint of the Lordʼs three-year public ministry, the Sermon on the Mount. On the Mount of the Beatitudes, a natural amphitheater in which a person can speak normally and be heard clearly from a great distance, Jesus imparts a code of heavenly ethics for our eternal salvation known as the Beatitudes. Far from espousing a legalistic restriction of freedom, these proverbs counsel life-giving generosity.

6.The Recovery of Truth...Fr. Rutler recounts the finding of the book of the Law by Ezra in the Book of Nehemiah.  The people had not heard such wisdom before, or only vaguely remembered a vestige from a long forgotten past. Ezra restores to the consciousness of the house of Israel the great tradition, which gives life. Though the memory slips, tradition is the way of faith. When we attend the Mass, the priest utters words that are 2,000 years old. Transformation of lives comes through a renewal of the heart. Freedom comes from acknowledging that Christ is the Word sent from God and the darkness of forgetfulness has not overcome it.

7. The Baptism of Jesus…Fr. Rutler shares that the Baptism of Christ is an event calling out for a response in our lives today. With the coming of Christ into the world, the slavery of sin is ended. Our Lord is the source of joy that comes from the washing away of the rebellion that separates us from God–pride or the Original Sin. Fitting as it was, though not strictly necessary, Christ was baptized into his own messiahship. He offers us a happiness far greater than anything the world can give. We must be satisfied with nothing less than that. What satisfies us? He calls us to launch out into the deep and prepare our nets for a catch.

8. The Holy Family…Fr. Rutler relates the blessing of family life lived out to its fullest potential after the example of the Holy Family. With God, nothing in life is wasted, even the hidden quiet times. It is in that silent period, divinely willed, that we see the humility of God. Such mysteries cannot be explained as much as they need to be lived. The family is divinely intended by God. Family becomes the earthly sign of a higher reality. It becomes the witness to the world of the God who made the world, who sustains the world, and who saves the world.

9. Eternal Light…Fr. Rutler witnesses to the necessity of the light of Christ in a world immersed in darkness. Our world has known many blackouts, caused not by a failure of electricity but of a failure of moral vision. It is precisely when the whole sky grows dark, when Jesus is on the cross, that we are able to focus on a light that is not of this world. We are similarly to put a light on a candle-stand so that it gives light to all the house of God. The light of Christ gives life, for wherever there is life, there is no darkness.

Please click on this site to access programs: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=7067&T1=Rutler

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Fr. George Rutler- Christ in the City I

In 15 Audio on 2012/07/12 at 9:11 AM

Christ in the City

Host – Fr. George Rutler

Fr. George Rutler talks about finding Christ the Redeemer in the midst of the cares of life as represented by the city, in the heart of the Church he founded. Filmed at The Church of Our Saviour in New York.

Please click on this link to access these programs: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=6754&T1=Rutler

Christ in the City 

1.Godʼs House…Fr. Rutler declares the rightness in church architecture reflecting Godʼs glory: “on earth as it is in heaven”

2. Healing the Paralytic…Fr. Rutler declares that, though Christ gives signs of his mercy in the gift of healing, the chief work of the Redeemer is the forgiveness of sins.

3. Wisemen…In terms of spiritual light and darkness, Fr. Rutler describes the search for God through religion, and in particular, the Wisemenʼs search for Christ.

4.The Voice of Christ…Fr. Rutler describes how the revelation of Christ turns the world on its head, causing humanity to either accept or reject him as the definitive way of Redemption.

5. The Parable of the Wedding…Fr. Rutler describes Christʼs call to discipleship as an invitation to an eternal wedding banquet.

6. Abide With Me…Fr. Rutler relates that human fulfillment depends on our turning to Christ and abiding with Him, fully living the Christian life.

7. Presentation in the Temple…Fr. Rutler describes how the encounter of Simeon and Anna with Christ in the Temple revealed more of Jesusʼ nature as the Messiah.

8. The Better Angels of Our Nature…Fr. Rutler relates that we can either choose to follow the better or the bad angels of our nature, therefore affecting the person we become.

9. Padre Pio…Fr. Rutler shares how Padre Pio is a shining example of what we can become if we respond to the graces God gives us daily.

10. Thomas  More….Fr. Rutler relates how Thomas More is a reminder to the universal call to holiness amidst family and political life to remain true to God by following the dictates of conscience.

Please click on this link to access these programs: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=6754&T1=Rutler

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Divine Healing

In 07 Observations on 2012/05/16 at 9:11 AM

Now if, when Jesus went about in the world, the mere touch of His robes cured the sick, why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while He is within us and that He will give what we ask of Him since, in Eucharistic communion, He is in our house? His Majesty is not accustomed to paying poorly for His lodging if the hospitality is good. If it pains you not to see Him with your bodily eyes, con­sider that seeing Him so is not fitting for us…

But our Lord reveals Himself to those who he sees will benefit by His presence. Even though they fail to see Him with their bodily eyes, He has many methods of showing Himself to the soul, through great interior feelings and through other different ways. Be with Him will­ingly; don’t lose so good an occasion for conversing with Him as is the hour after having received Communion.

St. Teresa of Avila.  The way of perfection, ch. 34 (©Institute of Carmelite studies)

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“Take courage, Jesus said, it is myself; do not be afraid”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/04/18 at 9:11 AM
The Lord’s calling – vocation – always presents itself like this: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Yes: a vocation demands self-denial, sacrifice. But how pleasant that sacrifice turns out to be — Gaudium cum pace, joy and peace — if that self-giving is complete. (Furrow, 8)

If you agree to let God take command of your boat, if you let him be the master, how safe you will be!… even when he seems to have gone away, to have fallen asleep, to be unconcerned; even though a storm is rising and it’s pitch dark all around you. St Mark tells us how once the apostles were in just such circumstances and Jesus ‘when the night had reached its fourth quarter, seeing them hard put to it with rowing (for the wind was against them), came to them walking on the sea… Take courage, he said, it is myself; do not be afraid. So he came to them on board the boat, and thereupon the wind dropped’ [1].

My children, so many things happen to us here on earth!… I could tell you so many tales of sorrow, of suffering, of ill treatment, of martyrdom — and I mean it literally — of the heroism of many souls. In our mind’s eye we sometimes get the impression that Jesus is asleep, that he does not hear us. But St Luke describes how the Lord looks after his own. ‘When they (the disciples), were sailing, he slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake and they began to ship water perilously. They came and awakened him saying, Master, we perish! But Jesus arising, rebuked the wind and the rage of the water. And it ceased and there was a calm. And he said to them, Where is your faith?’[2]

If we give ourselves to him, he will give himself to us. We must trust the Master completely, place ourselves unreservedly in his hands; show him by our actions that the boat is his; that we want him to do as he pleases with all we possess. (Friends of God, 22)

[1] Mark 6:48,50-51
[2] Luke 8:23-25

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Advent: the Coming of Christ

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/12/11 at 9:11 AM

 

• Advent is the particular time of the year in which we meditate on the two comings of Christ: one coming which has already been fulfilled in history; and another which we still await.

• While Advent is certainly a time to prepare our hearts to receive the Christ Child anew at  Christmas so that He may be incarnate in the world once again through us, there is another coming of Christ for which we must still prepare.

• It is His second coming when Christ will come again in glory at the end of time with salvation for His people, and I spoke about this at length last Sunday.

• And I also spoke about how we should prepare for these two comings of Christ by growing in love for one another and by truly striving for virtue.

• But while it is important for us to prepare for these two particular comings of Christ, St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells us that there is yet another coming of Christ which we must not neglect.

• For those of you who may not be familiar with St. Bernard, he was a Cistercian monk who lived in France during the 12th century and who was well known for his preaching and great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

• In preaching on the two comings of Christ for which we prepare during the season of Advent, St. Bernard tells us that there is also a third, intermediate coming, that exists between these two comings of Christ.

• While the first coming and last coming of Christ are visible and manifested in history, this intermediate coming of Christ is invisible, hidden, and only seen by the elect within their own selves.

• St. Bernard tells us that “in His first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness.” “In the final coming He will be seen in glory and majesty.” But “in this middle coming He comes in spirit and in power.”

• This intermediate coming of which St. Bernard speaks is Christ coming to us through the Word, which we keep in our hearts.

• You see, my dear friends, 40 days after His resurrection when our Lord ascended into Heaven with the promise that He would one day return again, He did not leave us bereft of His divine presence.

• To the contrary, our Lord abides with us even now, and not simply in the Word of Sacred Scripture, but through the sacraments, which provide us with a visible manifestation of and encounter with the Word Made Flesh!

• As Christians we know that we always have our Lord with us. He comes to us in this intermediate way first through the sacrament of Baptism, by which He enters into our souls and makes a home there, forging a covenant of love with us.

• And throughout the course of our lives Jesus comes to us again and again through all the sacraments, most especially the Blessed Sacrament: the Eucharist, by which He feeds us with His very own flesh.

• But Jesus also comes to us through the reading of Sacred Scripture, especially when it is proclaimed at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, speaking to us His word of truth.

• And so that we may never be without Him, our Lord remains with us in the tabernacle, His divine presence signaled by the glow of the sanctuary lamp, waiting for us to come to Him.

• Yet while it is true that our Lord blesses us with His presence in the tabernacle, we must remember that Jesus did not come to earth to dwell in a tabernacle of gold. He has come to earth because He wishes to dwell within something much more valuable: the tabernacle of our souls!

• While it is right and good that we prepare for our Lord’s two comings in human history

during Advent, we must not neglect to prepare for the daily coming of the Word-made-flesh in our souls. For indeed, this is the most intimate and personal way Christ comes to us.

• Just as we’ve spared no effort in making this church a suitable dwelling place for God through the use of noble materials, beautiful and theologically rich architecture and artwork, all the more must we work to make our souls suitable dwelling places for the Lord!

• Instead of the intricate stained glass, marble, and gold that adorns this church, we must adorn our souls with virtue and good works.

• Just as the light of the morning sun pours through these stained glass windows, illuminating them and providing us with a glimpse of the heavenly realities, so too must the light of faith, hope and charity pour through our words and actions so that people can get a glimpse of the Christ within us.

• Yet, my dear friends, if we wish to fully experience the grace of this intermediate coming of Christ, then we must come to Christ!

• We do this by making every effort to avail ourselves of His grace through our prayers, through our worthy participation in the sacraments, through our obedience to His Church, and through our service to others.

• My dear friends, if we are truly going to be prepared for our Lord’s coming as man in the Incarnation and His second coming at the end of time, then Christ must reign in our hearts now.

• And when we do this, when we allow Christ to reign in our hearts, He grants us the priceless gift of joy – that same joy that our first and second readings speak about today.

• As we now prepare ourselves for our Lord to come to us in the Eucharist, let us pray that we may have the courage to rid from our lives and from our souls all that prevents us from receiving our Lord as we should.

• Let us pray that we may receive Jesus now as the welcome guest of our souls, and in so doing, let us trust that when our lives on earth are over, He will receive us as His welcome guest in Heaven.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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“The great Friend who never lets you down”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2011/12/06 at 11:09 PM
You seek the company of friends who, with their conversation and affection, with their friendship, make the exile of this world more bearable for you. There is nothing wrong with that, although friends sometimes let you down. But how is it you don’t frequent daily with greater intensity the company, the conversation, of the great Friend, who never lets you down? (The Way, 88)

Our life belongs to God. We are here to spend it in his service, concerning ourselves generously with souls, showing, through our words and our example, the extent of the Christian dedication that is expected of us.

Jesus expects us to nourish the desire to acquire this knowledge, so that he can repeat to us: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink” [1]. And we answer: teach us to forget ourselves, so that we may concern ourselves with you and with all souls. In this way, our Lord will lead us forward with his grace, just as when we were learning to write. Do you remember that childish scrawl, guided by the teacher’s hand? And we will begin to taste the joy of showing our faith, which is yet another gift from God, and showing it with clear strokes of Christian conduct, in which all will be able to read the wonders of God.

He is our friend, the Friend: “I have called you friends” [2], he says. He calls us his friends; and he is the one who took the first step, because he loved us first. Still, he does not impose his love — he offers it. He shows it with the clearest possible sign: “Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends” [3]. He was Lazarus’ friend. He wept for him when he saw him dead, and he raised him from the dead. If he sees us cold, unwilling, rigid perhaps with the stiffness of a dying interior life, his tears will be our life — ”I say to you, my friend, arise and walk” [4], leave that narrow life which is no life at all. (Christ is passing by, 93)

[1] John 7:37
[2] John 15:15: Vos autem dixi amicos
[3] John 15:13
[4] Cf John 11:43; Luke 5:24 [Top]

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Christ the King (Whose feast is this Sunday)

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/11/18 at 11:11 AM

From the mid-17th century until the end of the 18th century most of Europe and even our American Colonies were caught up in the philosophical, intellectual, and cultural era we now call The Enlightenment.

• The great irony of this era is that we call it “The Enlightenment,” when in actuality it was a period that truly darkened and impoverished the great intellectual and scientific advances mankind enjoyed in previous centuries.

• I say this because the Enlightenment advocated reason, completely separated from faith, as the primary source of intellectual authority. The intelligentsia turned its back wholesale on the immaterial world, deciding instead that only that which is material was worth believing in.

• Of course this was a radical departure from the intellectual milieu common to the medieval and Renaissance periods, which understood Creation as a happy harmony of material and non-material elements.

• Ever since the Enlightenment, we have witnessed a growing antagonism between the sciences and religion in Western society. This is a sad development because it was the Church who gave rise to the sciences in the first place.

• Physics, chemistry, astronomy, and so many of the scientific disciplines were borne out of the patronage, intellectual inquiry, and hard work of Holy Mother Church and her members.

• But even sadder than the divorce of faith and reason is the loss of belief in and appreciation of the spiritual and non-material world by so many people.

• Every week at Mass we profess our faith in God with the Creed, acknowledging Him as the Maker of all that is, seen and unseen. Very clearly, our Catholic faith professes belief in and relies upon both visible and invisible realities.

• Understanding fallen mankind’s weakness of faith and need for concrete, visible realities, the Church makes the invisible realities of our faith visible through signs and symbols woven into our art, architecture, music, and most especially the liturgy itself.

• So part of the maturation process as a Catholic is learning to look beyond these signs and symbols to see and believe in these invisible realities.

• So well did our Lord understand fallen mankind’s need for material realities that He became man in the Incarnation, as St. Paul says: “the image of the invisible God.”

• But even though Jesus became man, in His humility He kept His divinity hidden for most of His life on earth. Of course we got glimpses of His divinity at His baptism, at His transfiguration, and through His miracles.

• Our Lord gave mankind these glimpses of His divinity in order to elicit faith and to build a body of believers who would become the nucleus of the Church that would continue His work after His ascension into Heaven.

• Interestingly, never was Jesus’ divinity more hidden yet more visible to the eyes of faith than in His suffering and death. At the same time, never was Jesus more “kingly” than in His suffering and death. As we consider today’s feast of Christ the King, we must strive to look beyond the visible reality of Calvary to see Jesus as king.

• His crown is a crown of thorns, but no less of a crown. His throne from which He reigns is a cross, but it is no less a throne. Rather than fine silk or linen, He is appareled with bloody wounds, but they are regal vesture nonetheless.

• There is a sign above His head that reads “Jesus, King of the Jews”, and yet there is nothing about Him that would suggest that He is a king. But we know by faith that “in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible.”

• Our faith teaches us and St. Paul reminds us today that Jesus “is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.”

• And we must recognize Jesus as such not for His sake, but for our own!

• Seeing the rise of atheistic communism and secularism as a result of people denying the  sovereignty of Christ, Pope Pius XI instituted today’s feast of Christ the King in 1925 to remind people of the absolute authority of Christ and His Church.

• The whole point of today’s feast is to draw us closer to Christ so that we might allow Him truly to rule our hearts. We must learn to be His loyal subjects so that He might save us from our sins.

• Being the gentle and humble king that He is, Jesus invites us to take joy in Him, to love Him, to honor Him, to serve Him, and to obey Him.

• Christ’s kingship is a spiritual sovereignty; it’s not a coercive sovereignty. His sovereignty is a gentle invitation to holiness – an invitation that must be accepted if we hope to go to Heaven.

• While we know by faith that Jesus is Lord over all creation, over all things – seen and unseen – He did not come to rule on earth, but rather to establish the Kingdom of God within the hearts of all men so that we might one day share in eternal life.

• But in order for this to happen, we must be willing to look beyond that which is visible and material to see the invisible realities our Catholic faith professes, especially with regard to today’s Gospel, which presents us with a great paradox.

• By all appearances the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is defeated upon Calvary, but it is His death that gives us life.

• So be not duped like Pilate, the Pharisees, the centurions and the mocking crowds that surround Him on the cross. This paradox is at the very heart of the Gospel!

• In order to save our lives, we must first lose them!! We must die to self, and Christ fulfills this paradox in His very body.

• The good thief, whom Tradition tells us was named Dismas, was not duped. He looked beyond the visible reality of the crucifixion scene and saw the regal majesty of Christ reigning from the cross.

• And like Dismas, we must look with the eyes of faith and see the truth that we were created by and for Christ. We were created to live and love as Christ lived and loved, and we were created to reign with Him forever.

• And so, my friends, let us pay homage to Christ our King, by living and loving as He did. Let us honor Him, not by waving palm branches, but through our charitable acts toward one another.

• Instead of throwing down our cloaks before Him, let us lay down our very lives and die to ourselves. My friends, surrender to our King. Get rid of whatever is in your heart or in your life that is keeping you from serving Him as you should.

• And have no fear of Him. While it is true that He is the mightiest of kings, He is also the most gentle and loving. And as we surrender all to Him, my friends, let us know that someday, like Dismas the Good Thief, we will be with Christ forever in Paradise.

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Do You Know Jesus?

In 07 Observations on 2011/07/20 at 11:11 AM

Often, this question is posed directly and suddenly by well-meaning individuals who love Jesus Christ to determine the state of another’s relationship with Him.

Like many, I’m asked this question often.  My reply is: “Absolutely!  I receive Him, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, every Sunday in Communion.  Can you think of a more intimate union than that?”

So, how do I know this is true, that Jesus Christ is truly present in Holy Communion, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity?  It’s right in the Scriptures.

First, the writer of Corinthians presents the case for Christ’s presence in Holy Communion throughout several passages of Corinthians.  He writes in I Cor. 11: 23-27: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This IS my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup IS the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.”

He then goes on to explain in 1 Cor.15:3 that “it was attested to us by those who heard him” meaning the Apostles at the Last Supper.  The Apostles confirmed the veracity of the words of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper and proclaimed His message of  salvation in the Gospels: in Matthew 26:26-29, in Mark 14:22-25 and in Luke 22:19-20.

Each Gospel account captures the words of Our Lord, the Eternal Word of God, when He says: ”This IS my body.”  He doesn’t say, “This is like my body” or “This symbolizes my body.”  He says, “This IS my body.”

The writer of Corinthians continues in I Cor. 1: 21: “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

And, 1 Cor. 15 :1, he admonishes: “Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, 2 by which you are saved, if you hold it fast–unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

So, how do I know that Jesus Christ is truly present with us in Holy Communion?  Through the Word of God, the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ Himself . . . to him be Glory, Praise and Honor forever.