Aquinas and Real Presence: Understanding Transubstantiation

When Augustine says, you will not be eating this body which you see, he does not intend to exclude the reality of Christ's body; what he does rule out is that they would eat it under the same form in which they were looking at it. When he adds, I have entrusted a mystery to you. If you take it in a spiritual way it will bring you life, he does not mean that the body of Christ is in this sacrament only as in a mystical symbol; it is said to be there spiritually, that is, invisibly and by the power of the spirit. For this reason, commenting on the text of John, 'the flesh is of no avail',19 he writes, it is of no avail, in the way they understood. They thought eating flesh as if it had been torn from the carcass or sold in the butcher’s stall; they did not understand flesh as enlivened by the spirit. When the spirit s united to the flesh, then indeed it is of great avail, for if flesh could never be of avail, the Word would not have been made flesh to dwell among us.20 57 59

3. The body of Christ is not in this sacrament in the way a body is in place. The dimensions of a body in place correspond with the dimensions of the place that contains it. Christ's body is here in a special way that is proper to this sacrament. For this reason we say that the body of Christ is on different altars, not as in different places, but as in the sacrament. In saying this we do not mean that Christ is only symbolically there, although it is true that every sacrament is a sign, but we understand that Christ's body is there, as we have said, m a way that is proper to this sacrament. 59

4. This objection considers the presence of Christ's body as if it were present in the way that is natural for a body to be present, that is visibly in its normal appearance; it does not envisage spiritual, non-visible presence, in the way of a spirit and by the power of the Spirit. For this reason Augustine says, if you have understood in a spiritual way the words of Christ about his flesh, they are spirit and life for you, if you have understood them in a carnal manner, they are still spirit and life, but not for you.2 59

NOTE: This article is a first step in the theology of transubstantiation. The doctrine of impanation holds that the substance of the bread is hypostatically united to Christ, the doctrine of companation holds that the substance of the bread is united in some unspecified way to the body of Christ; the Catholic dogma defined at the Council of Trent teaches that the substance of the bread does not remain but is changed into the body of Christ—transubstantiation.

Some have held that after the consecration the substance of the bread and wine remains in this sacrament. But this position cannot be sustained. First of all, it would destroy the reality of this sacrament which demands that the very body of Christ exist in it. Now, his body is not there before the consecration. But a thing cannot be where it was not before except by being brought in locally or by something already there being changed into it. For example, a fire is started in a household because either it is brought into it from outside or is newly kindled there. Now it is clear that the body of Christ does not begin to exist in this sacrament by being brought in locally. First, because it would thereby cease to be in heaven, since anything that is locally moved begins to be somewhere only by leaving where it was. Second, every bodily thing that is moved from place to place must pass through all the intermediate places, and there is no question of that in the present case. Third, it is impossible that the one movement of a bodily thing that is being locally moved should end up at the same time in different places; now the body of Christ in this sacrament begins simultaneously to be in different places. For these reasons it remains that there is no other way in which the body of Christ can begin to be in this sacrament except through the substance of the bread being changed into it. Now, what is changed into something else is no longer there after the change. The reality of Christ's body in this sacrament demands, then, that the substance of the bread be no longer there after the consecration.

God in the Streets of London

I believe it is a wonderful idea to get together with all the southern dioceses and take Jesus to the streets of London on Corpus Christi to pray for vocations to the Sacred Priesthood. Any others think we should try and pull this off? We could invite those going to WYD 2011 to join the procession!!!

Why Keep the Sabbath? by Father Stephen Wang

Fr Wang has written some nice theology for us to meditate on today as we enjoy our Sabbath rest. Do go and read it all as I am only quoting from a portion of it to get us thinking. Perhaps we can discuss some Christian ways to keep the Sabbath holy as we rest in the resurrection hope of Christ our Saviour.

So the Sabbath ‘forces’ us to remember that we don’t belong to ourselves or completely determine the meaning of our own lives. Our life is given. Our freedom, to the extent that we can discover and live it, is given. That weekly moment of rest and letting go is in one sense a restriction, because we can’t do everything we would like to do; but in another sense it is the very foundation of all our activity and striving, because it helps us remember that this freedom is not something we can create for ourselves. There are many ways of making the Sabbath holy, but the primary meaning of the Sabbath lies in ‘consecrating’ the whole day, in setting it apart from the rest of the week.

Of course there are many other meanings to the Sabbath, many other ways in which it must be kept holy; and for Christians it is given a radical new meaning in the light of the Resurrection. These thoughts arise just from reflecting on the explanations given in the Decalogue. The Sabbath is about God and about us as human beings. It’s both a theology and an anthropology. We lay hold of all this simply by the discipline of letting go – as far as possible – of work and shopping for one day a week…

Launching "Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in Britain"

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy British Province of Pope Saint Gregory the Great has now gone public. Do take a look at the very informative web site. The purpose is as follows:

Priests of various UK dioceses, meeting on 19th October 2010 with the good wishes and encouragement of many others, voted unanimously to Found the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy - in direct response to the recent State Visit to Britain of Pope Benedict XVI and his Beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman - for the sanctification and support of Priests, and in promotion of Priestly life, holiness and mission by:

Fidelity Formation Fraternity

Humility in Formation: A Crockpot Approach Rather than Microwave

We live in a culture that demands immediacy for everything. Everything is hurry and hurry so more can be accomplished in a day. One of the greatest gifts to me over the past nearly two years has been the gift to sit out from ministry in the Church of England and get my feet grounded as a Catholic. That time out becomes the much-needed space for prayer and a lot of searching for the will of God and not my own. That is a very hard thing for many of us. After a while, the space of waiting becomes a gift rather than a burden. Waiting and preparing our hearts is the way Jesus told us to go if we want to find his will for our lives and the vocation he has set out for us. I remain in that period of my life and though impatient at times due to my human condition, I have found this period of time to search, pray and wait on God to be a real spiritual maturing for me. Vocation deserves such time no matter where God calls us to serve in his kingdom. Recently, I have been reading Archbishop Timothy Dolan's book Priests for the Third Millennium. Though it is written for priests primarily or seminarians, I have found the book to really speak to all vocations of life. One particular chapter that has my attention is the chapter on humility. When we get antsy and impatient about finding God's will for our lives we are reminded that humility puts us in the hands of God and looks to the Church for guidance. Archbishop Dolan writes,

The Lord and the Church say: Take your time! Wait! Prepare! Get ready! Years of preparation are essential if you are to be an effective apostle. Yes,we prefer the microwave - put the food in, push the button; in a matter of minutes,the meal is ready. The Lord, the Church, prefer the crock-pot: let it brew, stew, be seasoned, mellowed, for hours, then have your meal. And the food from the crock-pot beats the stuff from the microwave any day.

Let's be honest, the temptation to pragmatism,as Archbishop Dolan illustrates, is difficult for all of humanity. We struggle with this. Archbishop Dolan suggests we mediate on the "hidden life of Jesus". Every one of our desires must always come second to the Church's. May God give us the grace we need to live in the humility of Christ!

Fr Stephen Langridge: Invite to Invocation 2011

Untitled from Stephen Langridge on Vimeo.

Three Former Anglican Bishops Receive the Title Monsignor

The Pope has honoured three former Anglican bishops, the first members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, with the title of monsignor.

Fr Keith Newton, the leader of the Ordinariate who has most of the functions of a bishop, and Fr John Broadhurst, the former Bishop of Fulham, have been granted the papal award of Apostolic Pronotary, the highest ecclesial title for non-bishops. Fr Andrew Burnham, the former Bishop of Ebbsfleet, has been granted the papal award of Prelate of Honour, and is therefore also a monsignor.

Catholic Herald

Benedict XVI: Jesus of Nazareth and the Church Greeting the Eucharist

I have been very busy of late and preparing for an important weekend so I have not had very much time to blog. I also have heavily reduced my Internet time during Lent, which is something that I plan to carry on doing. I would like to give myself more time to read and study. So, last night before going to bed, I began the Holy Father's second volume on Jesus. Discussing the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and the statement that was being made concerning his activity around this entrance, the Holy Father moved us to see the humility of Jesus coming to us in the Eucharist. There is something of a living of Holy Week every time the Mass is celebrated when we think about it. Jesus comes again and again in the humble form of bread and wine and this is how the Church saw the celebration of Mass. The Holy Father put it as follows:

The Church greets the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as the one who is coming now, the one who has entered into her midst. At the same time, she greets him as the one who continues to come, the one who leads us toward his coming. As pilgrims, we go up to him; as a pilgrim, he comes to us and takes us up with him in his "ascent" to the Cross and Resurrection, to the definitive Jerusalem that is already growing in the midst of this world in the communion that unites us with his body.

Evangelium Conference

Mass Setting for the Creed

ENGLISH CHANT MASS • Richard Rice • CREDO (Creed) from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

So nice!!!

Sanctus Mass Setting: Dedicated to Saint Ralph Sherwin

New ICEL Translation of the Missal • HOLY HOLY HOLY from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Very nice!

Priesthood: The Joy of Being Called

Pope Benedict XVI recently said the following to the priests of Rome at their annual Lenten gathering. Quite encouraging to all priests who need our love, prayers and support. Read the entire story at CNS.

Priesthood is not an occupation a man chooses as a career, he said. "Only God can make a priest, and if there's a choice involved, it's God's."

Priests must preach the truth, the whole truth, taught by the church, and not "an ala carte Christianity according to his own tastes; he mustn't preach a Gospel according to his own ideas and theological preferences. He must not hesitate to proclaim God's whole truth, even the truth that is uncomfortable, even on themes that personally I don't like very much," the pope said.

Pope Benedict said that like St. Paul, today's priests must go forward with the Gospel knowing that sometimes they may face physical danger because of what they preach.

"St. Paul says that pure biological survival is not my priority; my primary concern must be to carry out my service and to be with Christ," the pope said.

"Being with Christ is true life," he said, and while "we certainly must care for our health and work at a reasonable pace, we also must recognize that the ultimate value is to be in communion with Christ."

Pope Benedict told the priests that it's natural that young priests are full of enthusiasm and that a priest's physical energy wanes as he ages, but "it's important that even in old age, even as the years pass, we do not lose our zeal and the joy of being called by the Lord."

Wishing Everyone a Holy Lent

Sacramentum Caritatis: Figura transit in veritatem

As we prepare to receive the improved translation of the Missal, I was pondering on Sacramentum Caritatis this morning and am reading through it again. What is said by the Holy Father below reminded me of what St Jean Vianney said about the Eucharistic transformation of individuals as well. The Holy Father writes,

11. Jesus thus brings his own radical novum to the ancient Hebrew sacrificial meal. For us Christians, that meal no longer need be repeated. As the Church Fathers rightly say, figura transit in veritatem: the foreshadowing has given way to the truth itself. The ancient rite has been brought to fulfilment and definitively surpassed by the loving gift of the incarnate Son of God. The food of truth, Christ sacrificed for our sake, dat figuris terminum. (20) By his command to "do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:25), he asks us to respond to his gift and to make it sacramentally present. In these words the Lord expresses, as it were, his expectation that the Church, born of his sacrifice, will receive this gift, developing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the liturgical form of the sacrament. The remembrance of his perfect gift consists not in the mere repetition of the Last Supper, but in the Eucharist itself, that is, in the radical newness of Christian worship. In this way, Jesus left us the task of entering into his "hour." "The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving." (21) Jesus "draws us into himself." (22) The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of "nuclear fission," to use an image familiar to us today, which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).

St J Vianney writes about the soul who has worthily received Jesus in the sacrament:

My children, we know when a soul has worthily received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is so drowned in love, so penetrated and changed, that it is no longer to be recognised in its words or its actions... It is humble, it is gentle, it is mortified, charitable, and modest; it is at peace with everyone. It is a soul capable of the greatest sacrifices; in short, you would not know it again.

The Petrine Ministry: Primacy in Love

Since I was away in Ars on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter, I was not able to write up a blog post that I wanted to reflect on that was given by the Holy Father in his book Images of Hope. The Holy Father writes,

The Petrine service is primacy in love, which means care for the fact that the Church takes her measure from the Eucharist. She becomes all the more united, the more she lives from the eucharistic dimension and the more she remains true in the Eucharist to the dimension of the tradition of faith. Love will also mature from unity, love that is directed to the world. The Eucharisit is based on the act of love of Jesus Christ unto death. That means, too, that anyone who views pain as something that should be abolished or at least left to others in someone incapable of love. "Primacy in love": we spoke in the beginning about the empty throne, but now it is apparent that the "throne" of the Eucharist is not a throne of lordship but rather the hard chair of the one who serves.

Let us now look at the third level of the altar, at the Fathers who bear the throne of serving. The two teachers of the East, Chrysostom and Athanasius, embody together with the Latin Fathers Ambrose and Augustine the entirety of the tradition and thus the fullness of the faith of the one Church. Two considerations are important here: love stands on faith. It can no longer perceive God. Like and with love, order and justice also stand on faith; authority in the Church stands on faith. The Church cannot conceive for herself how she wants to be ordered. She can only try ever more clearly to understand the inner call of faith and to live from faith. She does not need the majority principle, which always has something atrocious about it: the subordinated part must bend to the decision of the majority for the sake of peace even when this decision is perhaps misguided or even destruction. But in the Church the binding to faith protects all of us: each is bound to faith, and in this respect the sacramental order guarantees more freedom than could be given by those who would subject the Church to the majority principle.

Anglo-Catholics:Leave the Battlefield for the Mission Field

Bishop Peter Elliott writes,
“I would caution people who still claim to be Anglo-Catholics and yet are holding back,” he told The Record during the festival.“I’d say ‘when are you going to face realities’, because there’s no place for classical Anglo-Catholics in the Anglican communion any more.”Following a formal request for full communion made by the leaders of the Traditional Anglican Communion in 2007 where several of their Bishops signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church to show their fidelity and seriousness, Pope Benedict XVI issued his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus in 2009 to allow the group reception of disaffected Anglo-Catholics into the Catholic Church.People coming into the Ordinariate are the “last fruits” of the Oxford Movement started in 1833 by the likes of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman to restore Catholic identity in their Church. But he warned that times have changed and events have taken a “new and confronting turn”.“These realities seem to be lost on some Anglo-Catholics who are tempted to make a desperate last stand by just staying where they are,” he told the festival which drew over 100 people, including the Catholic Archbishop of Perth Barry Hickey and his Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton in a strong show of support for the formation of the new non-geographical diocese. “Permit me to suggest that it is a waste of time and spiritual energy to cling to such a dangerous illusion. Valuing the Catholic Faith should not be confused with polemics. Let me quietly invite you to lay down weapons of controversies that are now pointless, to set aside endless intrigues which led nowhere, to walk away from futile conflicts which cannot build up the Body of Christ in charity. Accept the invitation of the Vicar of Christ on earth. “The gentle man who reaches out to you in (Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 apostolic constitution allowing the group reception of disaffected Anglo-Catholics into the Catholic Church) Anglicanorum coetibus has no ulterior motives. “His apostolic offer is clear. There is no deception here. He calls you to peace.”