Monday, February 13, 2006
The Eucharist and the Priesthood

I wanted to pass along some articles that are worthily from the Real Presence Association. These are articles on the priesthood by Fr. John A. Hardon. My favorite is "The Eucharist and the Priesthood."

Part of that article:

"A priest makes the Real Presence possible and no one, no king, no genius, not even the will of a thousand people, or the combined efforts of a whole nation, can substitute for the power of a priest’s consecrated words: “This is My Body...This is the chalice of My Blood.”"

An ordained priest, bishop, cardinal, or Pope are the only people that can perform such a miraculously act. Consequently the Eucharist of other Christian denominations is not the Body and Blood of Christ as is the case in the Catholic Church.

More: "No less than the Real Presence, so the Mass is impossible without the priest. In fact, it is only at the Mass that the Consecration takes place, changing bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Yet, we know that the Mass is not merely the Eucharistic Consecration. The Mass is not only a means to give us Christ's Presence, it is also Christ's Sacrifice."

This divine power comes only from Christ. He gave his disciples this power: "Do this in remembrance of Me," which has passed from them (the first bishops) to our priests today throuhg apostolic succession. This is truly miraculous. Christ is there at every Mass. He is there as truly present as He was in Jerusalem on the Cross or in Bethlehem in the manger. Yet, how sad that still so many don't understand and know him. The pharisses are not gone; today they are none other than false teachers claiming to know Christ. But if one does not know Christ in the Eucharist, he does not know Christ at all.

Pray for our priests!

3 comment(s):

del_button February 13, 2006 at 5:51 PM
Saint Peter's helpers said...

Beautiful and powerful words. Without priests we would surely perish!

del_button February 13, 2006 at 6:29 PM
Anonymous said...

Hello Moneybags, What Sain Peter's Helpers said is most certainly true. You are doing a great job with your blogs.

Love and Prayers to you.

del_button February 14, 2006 at 1:32 AM
Steve Smith said...

Moneybags,
Father Hardon is one of my favorites. He was a great writer, and truly a great teacher and inspiration through all of his writings. I was introduced to him, through "The Pocket Catholic Dicitionary" which he wrote. It is available online to any who would like access to this great resource at: http://www.therealpresence.org/dictionary/dictaintro.htm

It was invaluable to me as a convert 2 years ago, and is still invaluable today. Great job on your blog!

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