The Wonder of the Eucharist
A sister from my parish brought me, my wife, and son, a parcel of food last Thursday given by the parish, and enquired as to how I was. It was a lovely gesture and really appreciated. But when I say 'sister' was I referring to a nun? No, she is my sister because she is a daughter of Christ the New Adam, as St Paul told us, but more she is the daughter of Mary the New Eve, as the Early Church Fathers taught. When I go to Church on Sunday, I am part of that great family you will find mentioned in the last verse of Revelations 12. And my family is not reserved to my nation, I have Indian brothers and sisters, Philipinno, African , Asian, every human being on earth, whatever race or colour, is a daughter or son of Jesus and Mary.
Maybe this is just a sentimental thought which helps us in our prayers and devotions, but there is no way in the physics sense that we can be related either to one another or to Jesus. And that is where the receiving of Holy Communion is important. There was once a great heresy in the Church which was called Arianism. It taught that Jesus was the Son of God, but somehow a Divine Person created by God to carry out the work of Redemption. At the Council of Nicea this was condemned by the Church, which is why when we recite the Nicene Creed on a Sunday we say in reference to Jesus Christ His Son, ......"God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Begotten not Made, Consubstantial with the Father ....." We are reminded of the Arian Heresy and God the Father and God the Son are One. No, when we receive Holy Communion we receive God the Father God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Spirit.
We must go now to the Council of Ephesus 431AD There were many heresies surrounding the nature of Jesus. Was he God in a human body? Was his nature Divine and not human? A great deal of thought and speculation was going on. The Council of Ephesus declare that Mary was not the Mother of a nature but the Mother of a person. That person had two natures, the nature of God and the nature of man. but insofar as she was the mother of the person with two natures she was therefore the Mother of God.
So having established that Jesus was God and Mary was His mother, we come to the Eucharist. If Mary was the Mother of Jesus then His flesh was Her flesh, and since she was a virgin, then his entire flesh was her flesh. You might say that she polluted the Body of Christ with her fallen humanity, but this is a charge the Early Church dismissed. As the Angel Gabriel said (a point I have covered time and time again) she was "full of Grace"
But is the Eucharist the flesh of Jesus. Most certainly. At the Breaking of Bread in the early Church we know that the people were taking the flesh of Jesus. Ignatius of Antioch condemned those who would not receive because they did not believe that the bread was the flesh of Christ. And the third Pope Clement in a letter to the Corinthians in 96AD condemned those who had decided to replace those who had offered the sacrifices. As J N D Kelly a Protestant Historian pointed out they were guided by Malachi 1:11. "From the rising of the sun until its setting my name is great among the Gentiles and everywhere there is offered sacrifice, a spotless victim" A Prophecy of the Mass throughout the world.
So now that everything is in place we can go back to the original question. Is the motherhood of Mary merely sentiment? When we receive Holy Communion our flesh is absorbed by the flesh of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of Mary and his flesh is inherited from Mary. Therefore when we become one in Jesus we inherit Mary as our Mother. So how can we say she is just an ordinary woman, she is an extraordinary one. Jesus is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve, through her Immaculate Conception, and we, brothers and sisters, are her chiidren.
Maybe this is just a sentimental thought which helps us in our prayers and devotions, but there is no way in the physics sense that we can be related either to one another or to Jesus. And that is where the receiving of Holy Communion is important. There was once a great heresy in the Church which was called Arianism. It taught that Jesus was the Son of God, but somehow a Divine Person created by God to carry out the work of Redemption. At the Council of Nicea this was condemned by the Church, which is why when we recite the Nicene Creed on a Sunday we say in reference to Jesus Christ His Son, ......"God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Begotten not Made, Consubstantial with the Father ....." We are reminded of the Arian Heresy and God the Father and God the Son are One. No, when we receive Holy Communion we receive God the Father God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Spirit.
We must go now to the Council of Ephesus 431AD There were many heresies surrounding the nature of Jesus. Was he God in a human body? Was his nature Divine and not human? A great deal of thought and speculation was going on. The Council of Ephesus declare that Mary was not the Mother of a nature but the Mother of a person. That person had two natures, the nature of God and the nature of man. but insofar as she was the mother of the person with two natures she was therefore the Mother of God.
So having established that Jesus was God and Mary was His mother, we come to the Eucharist. If Mary was the Mother of Jesus then His flesh was Her flesh, and since she was a virgin, then his entire flesh was her flesh. You might say that she polluted the Body of Christ with her fallen humanity, but this is a charge the Early Church dismissed. As the Angel Gabriel said (a point I have covered time and time again) she was "full of Grace"
But is the Eucharist the flesh of Jesus. Most certainly. At the Breaking of Bread in the early Church we know that the people were taking the flesh of Jesus. Ignatius of Antioch condemned those who would not receive because they did not believe that the bread was the flesh of Christ. And the third Pope Clement in a letter to the Corinthians in 96AD condemned those who had decided to replace those who had offered the sacrifices. As J N D Kelly a Protestant Historian pointed out they were guided by Malachi 1:11. "From the rising of the sun until its setting my name is great among the Gentiles and everywhere there is offered sacrifice, a spotless victim" A Prophecy of the Mass throughout the world.
So now that everything is in place we can go back to the original question. Is the motherhood of Mary merely sentiment? When we receive Holy Communion our flesh is absorbed by the flesh of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of Mary and his flesh is inherited from Mary. Therefore when we become one in Jesus we inherit Mary as our Mother. So how can we say she is just an ordinary woman, she is an extraordinary one. Jesus is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve, through her Immaculate Conception, and we, brothers and sisters, are her chiidren.
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