In Switzerland a married couple and their little girl, dressed in white, were coming down from the snowy summit. As they drew near to the parish church, they saw a crowd kneeling because some Hosts that had been sacrilegiously stolen had appeared in the bushes. Upon their arrival they too knelt down to pray. Then a fervent old man proposed: “You child, with the pure soul and white veil, will take this reassure to the church in your pure hands.” The procession started and the people sang and prayed. When the priest reached the altar, he turned to the girl and said: “since you have carried God in your hands, it is only fair that you should receive Him into your heart.” So then and there she celebrated her first communion.

CELEBRATION - Growth in love- 4th stage
SACRAMENTS-56-EUCHARIST 30

The celebration of he Holy Mass when celebrated with understanding and full participation brings the faithful to the foot of the Cross. There we are to celebrate His death until He comes again. By celebrating His death that occurred over 2000 years ago, the priest and the laity die to the world and join into his death. Paul expressed this in Galatians (2:19b-20a) “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me..” Through our lives of grace, we share the glory of Christ crucified. We can then understand Paul when he wrote; “But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.“ (Galatians 6:14) Through a life style that puts Christ before all else, we can bring ourselves to the Cross. The death that is required to live such a life is truly a crucifixion. In this sense we view crucifixion as a time in our lives when the worldly life we live (represented by the cross-arms of he Cross) unite with the heavenly world of he risen, glorified Jesus (represented by the vertical bar of the Cross). This is accomplished by a crucifixion of the passions and desires the limit our love in order to love without expecting anything in return except to be with Him. By overcoming our fallen nature, the sin in us dies and we begin to live the life of the Holy Spirit. By bringing our souls purified of sin to the Cross, we join into His crucifixion and become one with Him as the Sacrifice of the Altar.

St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross describes these events in her discussion of the Sacrifice of the Mass (The Science of the Cross p. 22) when she writes; “to die on the cross with Christ in order to be resurrected with him becomes a reality for every Christian and especially for every priest in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Faith teaches that it is the renewal of the sacrifice of the cross. For those who, with living faith, offer or participate in the Mass the same thing happens in them and for them that happened on Golgotha.”

What happened on Golgotha? The author of the Book of Hebrews (9:12) puts it, “he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” In order that there be no misunderstanding, this statement is reemphasized (9:25-28); “Not that he might offer himself repeatedly…. But now once for all he appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many,” Through the ages the teaching of the Church has emphasized that Jesus does not die again on our altars but that His death is made present by the separate transubstantiation of Bread to his Flesh and Wine to his Blood.

The death that occurs at the altar is that of the death of the priest and the faithful. It is a mystical death in which they become immolated into the Body and Blood through the crucifixion of sin and temptation. Through union of a perfected faith, each person is then consecrated to be the living Body and Blood, the Eucharist of our Lord Jesus.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO.1359

The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic sacrifice the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the resurrection of Christ. Through Christ the church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity.

EUCHARIST IS PRAISE
Deacon Jim Breazile OCDS

Eucharistic praise

Celebrating crucifixion

The Lord is upraised

A sign of contradiction

Sacrament of salvation

Requiring life’s surrender

Befits our veneration

Of Christ’s royal splendor

Eucharistic celebration

Presents to the Father

The whole of creation

On loves Holy Altar

Eucharistic thanksgiving

Is love and adoration

Forsaking all misgiving

Of humanity and creation

The fruit of His sacrifice

Confirmed in resurrection

Proven as suffice

For creations perfection