St. Justin, martyr

Prior to the Second Vatican Council, today was St. Justin's feast day. EWTN has reprinted Butler's entry, and New Advent has an impressive write-up as well.

But what caught my eye was this quote, writen no later than 160 AD:

There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. And this food is called among us Euxaristia, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body; "and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood; "and gave it to them alone.

Eucharistic Mercy

This is a selection from St. Faustina's Diary:


This morning after completing my spiritual exercises, I began at once to crochet. I sensed a stillness in my heart; I sensed that Jesus was resting in it. That deep and sweet consciousness of God's presence prompted me to say to the Lord,

"O Most Holy Trinity dwelling in my heart, I beg you: grant the grace of conversion to as many souls as the stitches that I make today with this crochet hook."

Then I heard these words in my soul: My daughter, too great are your demands.

"Jesus, You know that for You it is easier to grant much rather than a little."

That is so, it is less difficult for Me to grant a soul much rather than a little, but every conversion of a sinful soul demands sacrifice.

"Well, Jesus, I offer You this whole-hearted work of mind; this offering does not seem to me to be too small for such a large number of souls; You know, Jesus, that for thirty years You were saving souls by just this kind of work. And since holy obedience forbids me to perform great penances and mortifications, therefore I ask You, Lord: accept these mere nothings stamped with the seal of obedience as great things."

Then I heard a voice in my soul: My dear daughter, I comply with your request.


How little Christ can deny us, Him who took flesh for us, who suffered the humilation of His Passion, Death and Descent into Hell for us! It would be foolish to think that we are not called to the holiness of the saints when we consider that He is most willing to grant us our every wish: He died for that privilage!

Christ told one saint (I want to say St. Rita, though I'm not sure) that He would have instituted the Eucharist for her alone. Think! Christ would have submited to His Life and Death, the most miserable a man could have experienced, all so that one simple woman could be one with Him for but a moment!

How could we possibly submit ourselves for Communion in a thoughless manner or not offer a most unworthy thanksgiving afterwards when we realize the excessive condescencion of God's Love! What could be more excessive than giving your whole self to a man who did nothing to deserve it. Luke warm companionship would have itself been excessive, and yet Christ gives us perfect love!

The saints considered their whole lives both a preperation for recieving the Eucharist and a perpetual thanksgiving. How pitiful are our inadaquate practices.

The Eucharist from Scripture

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne;” (Rev 8:3). When the Catholic Church pulls out all of her traditions, this passage comes to life in the liturgy. The priest takes a thurible filled with incense. Walking around the altar, he incenses it and man can see his prayers ascending to God. However, what I find most amazing, is that there is an altar in Heaven.

Why would there be an altar? This is Heaven we’re talking about! There doesn’t need to be any more sacrifice for sins. Why would we need to sacrifice? Won’t everything be perfect? Yes, it will, and perfect love demands sacrifice. Jesus revealed this when He told his disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her living put in all that she had” (Lk 22: 4). This was true love for God. In Heaven, we see the 24 elders falling down before the Lord while “they cast their crowns before the throne” (Rev 4:10). These were the crowns that God gave to them, but they recognized that He gives us gifts so that we can glorify Him.

Yet, any sacrifice offered by us, including those Heavenly crowns, would be, in a sense, insufficient. Certainly not worthy using Heaven’s golden altar! Our lives are worthless. There is only one Lamb pure and holy enough to be an eternal sacrifice: Jesus. As St. John continues his revelation the Lamb appears “as though it had been slain” (Rev 5:6). Whoa! Jesus is appearing… dead in Heaven? Well not quite, the Lamb is very much alive. St. John is expressing the nature of the life of Christ. He perpetually offers His entire self for the glory of Father and those He loves. We couldn’t expect anything less from the perfect King. He is the good Shepherd who always lays down His life for His flock, eternally pouring His life, His blood, into our souls. Think, if He loves us shameful humans, He couldn’t possibly, even for a moment, withhold the tiniest sliver of love from His Father. Jesus offers His perfect life always to the One who begot Him, Him whom He loves so sweetly. The altar in Heaven is for Christ.

It is the glorious mystery of Christianity that we should follow Christ wherever He might go. Therefore, we offer ourselves “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rm 12: 1). God calls us to offer up our lives to praise Him, our perfect Good. Yet, should our worship stop there; I couldn’t help but fall on my knees and weep. Even if I should live a perfect life, I would have nothing worthy to offer God (cf. Rm 11: 35). So holy is our Father that nothing but the sacrifice of an infinite life equal to His own could satisfy Him. Blessed be the Lord that He has made this possible! Or are you unaware that by being sons of God, we share the inheritance and priesthood of Christ (cf. Rev 1:6)?

The core of the Old Testament and priestly life is sacrifice. At the institution of the Passover, Moses tells the Hebrews to buy a male, unblemished lamb. He instructs them to follow the two components of a sacrifice by first, slaughtering the lamb, and second, eating the lamb. Then, Moses has his people smear blood over the doorway to mark them as safe from the Lord’s wrath (Ex 12: 1-13). In Leviticus, a similar sacrifice is institutionalized and codified into law for the celebration of the harvest. Interestingly, there’s an addition. It is written, “you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the cereal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, to be offered by fire to the LORD, a pleasing odor; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin” (23: 12-13). Here, the sacrifice of lamb and the offering of bread and wine are placed together, side by side.

Another Old Testament practice was the “bread of the Presence” which was placed on a golden table (1 Kings). This was housed in the temple of the Lord, signifying God’s presence. This bread was always present physically as an offering to God. The Law declared the bread holy, not merely normal. Jesus discusses this in Mt 12: 4. “Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?”

I ask you brothers and sisters, if God loved Israel so as to give them signs of His presence and means to offer sacrifices to Him and somehow, we as priests will participate in the sacrifice of Christ in Heaven, what are we sacrificing now?

The eve of the Passover. The one True, perfectly unblemished, paschal Lamb lifts up a loaf of bread saying, “this is my body which will be given up for you.” Jesus completes the link between the bread and wine and the sacrificial lamb. In less than 24 hours, the Perfect Lamb would hang limp on the Cross, sacrificed. Jesus reveals at the Last Supper that His death on the Cross is the offering of bread and wine, not separate from the crucified Lamb. The bread and wine are fulfilled in Christ. Now if the sacrifice of Jesus was real. If He actually died, and it wasn’t just a symbolic death, we need to finish the sacrifice and actually eat the Lamb (cf. Ex: 12:8). Oh that is cannibalism! How can Jesus give us His flesh to eat? “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and you drink his blood, you do not have life within you… for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks by blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6: 52-56).

The Apostle Paul says this explicitly, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10 16-17.) If we “participate” in something, we are part of that reality. Participation definitely does not mean symbolic, but to share a nature. The species of Bread share the reality of being Christ’s body and the wine, His blood. Paul continues that through this marvelous reality that something miraculous occurs: we who are many become one body. How can a merely symbolic presence do this? “I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say” (1 Cor 10:15).

I am astonished that people believe Christ came to earth and gave us more symbols and powerless rituals to observe. He came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Christ is present; Christ is King now. He was not here to mess around with human symbols and holy bread, but to give to us the reality of Heaven. Of course, we’re not ready to see this face to face, so like Moses who came down from the mount, His face shining, Jesus also veils Heaven for us. He gives us our Eternal Happiness in a reality we can cope with (Cf. Ex 34:29-33).

As “a high priest after the order of Malchizedek” (Heb 5:10), Christ too offers bread and wine (cf. Gen 14:18), but because Christ is infinitely greater than this mere mortal, His offerings and sacrifices cannot be merely symbolic lest we dishonor Him by saying that His gifts to us are equivalent to those of Moses. Nay, while the holy bread on the golden altar signified the presence of the Lord in the temple, the Eucharistic Bread is greater. It is the presence of the Christ’s eternal sacrifice on the altar of Heaven.

The Kingdom of Heaven is here (Alleluia, Alleluia!); Christ has ascended His throne and rules the world. He is Emanuel, God with us. Heaven is in our midst like a fig tree about to blossom. Its beauty is here, its fullness concealed beneath the sepals, safeguarded from the elements of the world. Because Heaven is here and truly now, we offer the same sacrifice of Heaven: the Eucharist, Jesus the Christ.

Heavenly Gold

Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in via!

Fundamental to understanding Christian doctrine is knowing the four last things: death, judgment, Heaven, and hell. These help define and guide the entire Church toward her Spouse. Without them, Christianity is crippled in being meaningful at all. It becomes a pleasure as fleeting as atheism which dies whenever we do. Unless we know what is eternally true and valuable, we could never learn to value what’s actually important in this world. We learn to choose the good and avoid the wide chasm of hell by understanding the end to which we aspire, Heaven.

When we begin contemplating Heaven as children, we imagine unlimited skittles, mansions, or x-boxes and other non-sense. We associate Heaven with unlimited physical pleasures while we begin knowing hell as a place of eternal pools of fire, unlimited physical suffering. As we grow older, our picture of Heaven should become more complicated. We imagine choirs of angels and a city of gold with walls made of jasper. Precious stones decorate its foundations. We hear a fanfare of blazing trumpets as Christ descends from above. On the other hand, hell’s pain intensifies as we encounter real suffering beyond scraped knees and stubbed toes. Heaven is clearly more desirably than hell.

Yet, Christians seem to think there’s a choice involved. So, why do people choose hell? If, when we died, St. Peter showed us the gates of Heaven and hell, we would need to be irrational to go to hell! Yet, seemingly rational people certainly will and do choose hell. Contrary to what some think the devil is rather deceptive. Surely both we and many others who presumptuously believe we’ll choose Heaven could be easily fooled into hell.

Sacred Scripture loves painting spiritual truths in terms our physically orientated brains can understand. Considering our human nature, this shouldn’t be surprising. It’s impossible to describe anything not physical. Poets have tried to describe love; the end result has been confusing the general populace. In my thought, such things as a “quickening heart beat,” a “tremble in the voice,” or a “fluttering stomach” are typically accidently related to love and are more likely caused by an unchecked concupiscence. Real love is measured in sacrifice. As human beings, we reason that we love our spouses or other people by realizing what we’re willing to give. Do you forgive the whining? Do you call her even if you don’t want to? Would you drop your desires at a moment for the sake of the other? No matter why we think we’re in love, it’s not because we actually perceive love. We only know love because of the physical effects, whether in the body or by our actions, because love is an abstract reality.

In describing Heaven and hell, Scripture’s authors explain such invisible, eternal realities. For, how can we articulate the glory of God? He is by definition a spiritual being. There is no way we could see Him with our eyes; however, to encourage us in persistence, our Lord willed to reveal these mysteries to us. Thus, He described Heaven in terms of physical things. This doesn’t mean we should stop describing Heaven in terms of gold and silver or even something as tasty as skittles. These do help us understand. The problem is stopping there. For, the Father has revealed His splendor in more than just physical objects by giving the beautiful actions of Christ’s birth, death, and the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

By entering into time as a mere human being rather than an angel or any other heavenly creature, the Divine declared the goodness of His creation and His own humility. A lowly human, bodily form was good enough for God. Can you imagine what Christianity is claiming? A perfect, infinite being, who could have incarnated as anything, assumed the physical appearance of the men who wallow in sin against Him. Even more, Jesus could have appeared as an adult man, but He went further than that. He began life at conception, the most vulnerable moment in mankind’s life, in the womb of the Most Blessed Ever-Virgin, Mary. He then consecrated the entire life of humanity by unjustly suffering, dying on the Cross, and descending into hell.

That is humility. A total sacrifice of one’s self, a Divine sacrifice. Even going to hell to find His lost sheep? That is love. Of course, Christ still wasn’t done. He continues His unwavering promise to be “with [us] always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). In a mystery that defies the wise, we enjoin our High Priest in offering the eternal sacrifice of His Body and Blood in Heaven (cf. Heb 9:12). Christ humbles Himself further to a status lower than even man by assuming the form of simple bread and wine, which we then offer back to the Father in the Eucharistic sacrifice.

What does all this have to do with the New Jerusalem and walls of jasper? Humility, love, and sacrifice are the gold and the silver. God has revealed that these are beautiful; these are true strength and power. This is what He wants. To think that Heaven’s greatest glory will be singing angels or mansions, is to make the same mistake of the Jews who believed that their King would give them simply political salvation. No, Heaven will be much more akin to an eternal Holy Mass where we join Christ in making our lives into a burning sacrifice, giving every penny into the coffers of God, not just 10%.

There’s something about this that’s quite horrifying because the end of our happiness is usually found in things. On Earth, we seek what we want; in Heaven, we’ll only want God. Here and now, we cling to our will. In Heaven, we’ll surrender our entire self, our entire will, a total sacrifice to be enjoined perfectly to God. Is it a surprise that many will choose hell? Who wants this Heaven where you give all your glory away?

Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat.