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Spiritual life:
Jesus Christ is the foundation of our lives. He is the beginning and the end. Everything happens through him. God sent his Son as the ultimate expression of his love. Jesus Christ is our way. He is God’s way to man. Conversely, Jesus is man’s way to God. Through Jesus, God comes to us, and through Jesus, we go to God. The Incarnation is the most crucial event in history. God united himself with human nature. Because of this, we can live with God. Through Jesus, we come to know the Father. As Jesus said, “Whoever sees me sees the Father.
” The Gospels reveal how Jesus revealed himself and what he did. St. Paul writes, “If God gave us his Son, he gave us everything else.” When we love one another, it is an expression of our affection. When God loves, he doesn’t just give something; he gives himself in Jesus Christ. This is why knowing Christ is so important. Through Christ, we receive salvation. By taking on our human nature and dying for us, he became the cause of our salvation. He saved us, and we will be saved when we unite our lives with his. Spiritual life means our relationship with Christ grows and deepens until it reaches the stage described by St. Paul: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” What does this mean? It means that Christ begins to fully manifest himself in a person. This is actually the pinnacle of Christian striving: giving space to Christ in our lives. Jesus Christ is at the beginning of our conversion. Because of him, we renounce sin. As St. Paul said, “What I once considered a gain, I have written down as a loss for Christ. For his sake, I have renounced everything.” Our conversion is not genuine unless it includes a relationship with Christ. However, Christ is also the cause of our rebirth. Our new life is possible only in Christ. No one can save himself. Even if he were perfect and did everything, it would not lead to salvation if he did not do it with Christ.”No one can rid themselves of sin on their own. No one can defeat death. Only Jesus defeated death. Spiritual life begins with baptism. That is when we became connected to Christ. But we must strive to live with Christ. This means letting die within ourselves whatever is contrary to union with Christ. One more thing is essential to our life with Christ. And that is our life in the Church. We all form the mysterious body of Christ, the Church. The Church is Jesus’ work from the very beginning. Our life with God takes place in the Church. Jesus’ spirit is at work in the Church—the Holy Spirit. When we are not connected to the Church, we are not connected to Jesus. Many people in the world are not interested in spiritual life. They live only for this world. St. Paul wrote about this. Their belly is their god, shame is their glory, and destruction is their end.
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Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C Joh 13, 31-35
They asked a nun why she selflessly served the sick, even though they were repulsive. She replied that she did it all for Christ and saw Jesus in them. Christians admire this answer, but an atheist was offended. He declared that Christian love was a kind of pious deception. We should love our neighbor because he is our neighbor, for his own sake. He added: “If someone truly loves me, he will not do so because I remind him of someone else, much less to curry favor with someone else.” And what would that atheist say if he read in the Ignatian Exercises that we should use all creatures, including our neighbors, only insofar as they serve our salvation, and that we should become completely indifferent to everything and everyone? Expressions of this kind are not uncommon in devotional books: “Love God, and God alone; consider everything else as nothing!” But in theology and spiritual matters, all expressions are one-sided. Those who understand them superficially will easily conclude that they should be avoided. So, how can we correctly understand the expression: love your neighbor for Christ’s sake, because we see Christ in him?
Let us begin with the fact that we love every person for something, for some quality, or even just for some occasion or circumstance. We remain friends. We went to school with someone because we were in the army together. Furthermore, we consider this quite natural. How surprised would a mother be if her grown-up son turned to her with these profound words: “You feed me and clothe me because I am your son. But you don’t really love me. If I were the way I am but not your son, you would kick me out of the house.” I don’t know who in that family would want to continue a conversation of this kind! However, since we have raised the issue, it is better to explore it further because it reveals deeper dimensions of Christian love. The nobility of love is truly measured by what inspires and motivates it. We warn young people not to cling to the outward appearance of their bride, to her pretty looks. After all, it is not dignified to judge a human being, who is a profound and mysterious reality, solely based on their hair, nose shape, or figure. The typical drama of Cyrano de Bergerac impressively depicts the absurdity of this attitude, where a pleasing appearance combined with banality tragically prevails over the true qualities of the soul and sincere love. Intelligence alone cannot be the ultimate measure of intimate human relationships. After all, a gifted person can be a saint, a profiteer, or even a criminal.
We say that we should judge others by their hearts, that is, by what they are, by their innermost “self.” From this consideration, it follows that close human relationships based on something external, a quality foreign to the person, are unnatural. It isn’t very ethical to marry a woman solely for her money. Morality also condemns as impure regular marital intercourse in which one’s mind is on another person and one is physically attracted to them. In the true sense of the word, we cannot, therefore, confuse one person with another in love, either in our imagination or our intentions. However, the objection raised at the beginning returns with full force. How can we truly love a person when we do not want to see anyone other than Christ in them?
The first and most straightforward answer points to the doctrine of the image of God in man. What do I worship when I take off my hat or kneel before the cross at a crossroads? Certainly not wood or stone. My memory and my interest are directed toward the Crucified One. Does the stone or wood of the cross suffer any damage? On the contrary! We would kick away the stone and burn the wood. But because it is the image of Christ, we protect even the material from damage and place it in a place of honor. Similarly, it can be said that a sick person being cared for by a merciful nurse does not suffer any harm because she sees Christ in him. His appearance may even be repulsive. But this is overcome by the firm conviction that it is a service to the Crucified One. Therefore, no injustice is done to the sick person; however, he benefits greatly. This is perhaps somewhat similar to the fact that a family helped a poor student during the war because he reminded them of their own son who was at war. Did they hurt him by doing so? Did he protest that their feelings were just a kind of substitution of persons?
This answer is not wrong. But it is not complete. In the case of the poor student cared for in place of a distant son, it is indeed a case of confusion between two people who look alike but are strangers. But can the same be said of the sick man and Christ? If we looked at Jesus only as a historical figure, only as someone who was born, lived, and died two thousand years ago in Palestine, then seeing him in our neighbor would indeed be just a kind of pious fiction. For us, however, Christ is a living reality, the foundation of all events, the head of the mystical body of the Church. According to St. Paul, we have “grown together” with him (Rom 6:5), just as two trees planted close together eventually form a single trunk. Through baptism, we have been “immersed into Jesus Christ” (v. 3) so that we may “live a new life in Christ” (v. 4).
St. Paul thus presupposes a close unity between man and Christ, a union that penetrates our innermost “I.” Therefore, if someone sees Christ in me, he does not know a stranger whom I remind him of, but he considers the most beautiful and innermost part of my self. He loves me with the most noble love because he values what is most precious in me; he values my heart, which is the temple of God. From this temple, the grace of the Spirit then spreads to the natural qualities, to thinking, willing, feeling, and even to bodily life. That is why a merciful nurse cares for the sick body of her neighbor with the same devotion with which a Christian educator cultivates the spiritual qualities of a child, with which a priest cares for the moral wounds of the heart. All this is done for Christ and in Christ, and therefore also for man, for one’s neighbor.
One of the nurses in Africa wrote in his diary: Some worship Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling before the host in a golden monstrance. I try to show him the same reverence in the sick. I kneel before him when I bandage the foot of a leper, I worship him when I place compresses on a feverish head. There is an objection that Christians of past ages were too concerned with their perfection, that theology was too preoccupied with the dizzying mysteries of dogma, and that what belongs to the very essence of the Gospel message, namely, love of neighbor, was neglected. Today’s spiritual literature on this subject is much more extensive than it used to be. But it is precisely this abundance that leads to the danger of flattening. J. Daniel called this horizontal Christianity, which loses its vertical dimension. What would remain of the admonition of St. John, the apostle of love, if our relationship with other people lost its Christological foundation and anchoring in God’s love, which is like the center of the circle of human relationships? “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. … if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is perfect in us. And by this we know that we remain in him, that he remains in us, because he has given us of his Spirit (1 Jn 4:7-13).
Unaware of belonging to God’s people, one cannot be a Christian.
… Since Paul was invited to speak in the synagogue in Antioch [v Pizídii] to clarify this new teaching, that is, to explain and proclaim Jesus, Paul begins with the history of the salvation of the ( Acts 13, 13-21). Paul got up and started like this: «God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted this people when they lived abroad, in the land of Egypt» (v. 17) … and narrated the entire history of salvation. Štefan did the same before the torture of the ( Acts 7, 1-54), and Paul does so again. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews also does, when he tells the history of Abraham and „all our fathers“ ( Heb. 11 1-39). We sang the same thing today: « I want to praise the Lord’s mercy forever; throughout all generations to proclaim your faithfulness with their mouths» (Ž 89,2). We sang about David’s story: « I found my servant David» (v. 21). Matúš ( do the same. Mt 1, 1-14) and Luke (. Lk 3, 23-38): when they start talking about Jesus, they give his family tree is O in the background behind Jesus? There is a certain history.
History of grace, history of election, history of promise. The Lord chose Abraham and walked with his people. At the beginning of the mass, in the entrance chant, we read: „God, when you walked at the head of your people, you made your way and lived with them…“. There is the story of God with his people. Therefore, when Paul is asked to explain the reasons for believing in Jesus Christ, he does not begin from himself; he starts from history. Christianity is a particular doctrine, yes, but not only that. It is not only those contents that we believe: it is history that carries this teaching, which is God’s promise, God’s covenant, a matter of God’s election. Christianity is not just some kind of ethics. Yes, it is true; it has moral principles, but we are not Christians purely because of an ethical vision. It’s about something more. Christianity is not a certain elite of people chosen for the truth. This elitist understanding then continues to stick in the Church. For example: I am from that institution, I belong to this movement that is better than yours, than this, than that. That is an elitist understanding. No, Christianity is not this: Christianity belongs to a certain people, to a people chosen by God selflessly.
Because we do not have this sense of belonging to the people, we will be „ideological Christians“, with a small doctrine confirming the truth, with ethics, with morality – that’s good – or with the elite. We feel part of the God-chosen group – Christians – and others will go to hell, or if they save themselves, it’s out of God’s mercy, well, they’re the eliminated ones… And so on. If we do not have awareness of belonging to the people, we are not true Christians. That is why Paul explains Jesus from the beginning, starting from his belonging to the people. And how often do we fall into this partiality, whether dogmatic, moral, or elitist? Elitist understanding harms us so much, and we lose that sense of belonging to the holy faithful people of God, who were chosen by God in Abraham and promised him a great promise, Jesus, and made him walk with hope, and made a covenant with him. People’s awareness.
NI am constantly captured by that passage Deuteronomy, I think it is the 26th chapter where it says: „ Once a year when you go to present a sacrifice to the Lord, the first fruits, and when your son asks you: But father, why are you doing this?, you should not say to him: „For God commanded it“, but: „ We were one nation, we were like this and the Lord set us free…“ ( Dt 26, 1-11). To recount history, as Paul did here. Transmitting the story of our salvation. The Lord advises in the same place in Deuteronomy: „ When you enter a land that you have not conquered, that I have conquered, and when you eat fruits, which you did not plant, and you will live in houses that you did not build, when presenting the sacrifice you will say“ – this is the famous Deuteronomic creed – „My father was a wandering Ara mean, then he descended into Egypt in small numbers… he stayed there for four hundred years, then the Lord freed him, took care of him…“ He tells history by singing, remembering a nation, and stating it is a nation.
In this history of God’s people, until the coming of Jesus Christ, there were saints, sinners, and many ordinary people, good, with virtues and with sins, but all of them. The famous “west” who followed Jesus had a nose that belonged to a certain people. Whoever claims to be a Christian but does not have this sense of smell is not a faithful Christian; he is somewhat distinctive and somewhat feels justified without the people. Belonging to the people, having the memory of God’s people. And this is what Paul, Stephen, and Paul teach again, apostles… And the author’s advice in the Letter to the Hebrews is: „Remember your ancestors“ ( Hebrews 11:2), that is, to those who preceded us on this path of salvation.
If someone asked me, „ What do you think is the deviation of Christians – today and at any time – the deviation that is most dangerous for Christians?“I would say without hesitation that it is a lack of memory of belonging to the people. When this is missing, dogmatisms, moralisms, ethicists, and elite movements come. People are missing. A people who are always sinners, we are all them, but who are not fundamentally wrong, who have a nose for being the chosen people who follow the promise and who made the covenant, which he may not fulfill, but he knows about it.
Let us learn from the Lord this awareness of the people, which the Virgin Mary sang so beautifully in her Magnificat ( Lk 1, 46-56), which Zacharias sang so beautifully in his Benedictus ( Lk 1, 64-79) – we pray those hymns every day, morning and evening. People’s awareness: we are the holy faithful people of God who, as the First and then the Second Vatican Council says, have a sense of faith in their whole being and are infallible in how they believe.
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Appointment of deacons.
OF mentions the word of God at the beginning of today’s liturgical reading (which you may have already listened to or may have listened to live at St. Mass in the church). It is an essential theme of the Acts of the Apostles. Peter and John boldly preached it (Acts 4,31); The twelve did not want to neglect him, therefore they appointed seven deacons, and it then spread (6,2.7). Later, Samaria received the word of God (8,14), and pagans in the person of Cornelius and his house also joined (11,1). God’s word goes further and further on its way from Jerusalem, touching different people and changing their lives. God’s word spreads and flourishes (v. 24) because it is alive.
is that actually God’s word? God enters into communication, he echoes. He speaks through creation, through events in history, through the Holy Scriptures; he speaks to man. But the big secret that is revealed to us is, as Benedict XVI writes. Verbum Domini exhorts that God „ from eternity utters his Word in the Holy Spirit…“ (Verbum Domini, 6). God himself is the communication of love that takes place between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the specificity of Christianity. The Son of God, who became man, the Word made flesh, invites us to enter into this constant communication of love.
The Holy Ghost says in our excerpt (v. 2), and Barnabas, with Saul and others in Antioch, hear him. The Word of the Spirit found a soil prepared by fasting and prayer in them. It is not that God is subject to these elements of piety, but that he arouses them. But there is always the listener’s responsibility not to dull the organ of hearing that makes it possible to capture God’s message. Barnabas and Saul went on an apostolic mission, during which they preached God’s word (v. 5), because the word had already taken root in them and was growing.
Now, when we again have the opportunity to be personally present at St. Mass and receive the Eucharist (even if in a limited mode), let’s make sure that the entirety of God’s word does not fall on the earth“ due to our inattention. May God’s word bring us an abundant harvest.
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Our Lady of Fatima
As for every 13th, even this month, the thirteenth day is the day of the Virgin Mary, our heavenly mother. God had already chosen the Virgin Mary at the beginning of the world, so he decided on the thirteenth day of the month for her. We know that on the thirteenth day, the Virgin Mary chose to come and show the world the way back to Jesus Christ. On the thirteenth, she came to Fatima. Since then, every thirteenth day of the month has been her day So let’s look at the Virgin Mary even today, so that we can see in her the great graces with which God gifted her, so that today we can see her as a woman chosen by God, a woman sent to people, to your children. We heard about it in the Letter to the Romans: „To those who love God, everything helps for good.“
There, whom God has looked for, He has also predestined. God chose the Virgin Mary and predestined her for a memorable and unique mission that has no parallel. God saw Mary become the mother of His Son and the mother of all the world’s people. Maria is truly our mother. And it is not only because she wants it to be her privileged wish, but because God gave her the mission to be a mother to every person. We have a beautiful mother. A lovely, pure, holy, immaculate, full of God’s graces, a mother who loves us endlessly, a mother whom, I dare say, we will not find anywhere else in the world. Mary has a very special mission in the life of every Christian, every one of us. Just as she had a very special mission when she lived in this world, a mission to give life to her Son, stand at the birth of the church, encourage the apostles, and teach them. Mary is the true mother of all, heaven, and earth.
We read the Gospel as it became our mother. It was under the cross of her Son who offered his life to God for the salvation of the whole world. As he completed his lifelong sacrifice, the sacrifice of love, the supreme sacrifice, he gave his mother this mission. At the cross, Mary became our mother. It’s strange why at the cross. Each of us is a child of God. Through Jesus Christ, we became children of God, and through our suffering and cross, we can become children of the Virgin Mary. And we are to become them. Jesus suffers in us if we suffer because we are his brothers and sisters. After all, we are children of God. Jesus gave us a special sign through baptism, in which God looks down on us as His children. When we have difficulties and are knocked to the ground under the weight of the crosses, our mother, the Virgin Mary, stands by us.
God sent the Virgin Mary to Fatima. He does not want us to suffer, trouble, or afflict ourselves. He never wants to leave us alone. Likewise, he does not want us to be abandoned in our hardships and tribulations completely without encouragement, like Jesus. Therefore, whenever we have difficulties, he sends the Virgin Mary. He points to her and asks that we remember that she is our mother, that we accept her, beg her, and be with her. Look at her, how she tolerates your pain and helps you in your difficulties. Mary’s special mission – to be the mother of the whole world – will be fulfilled and realized only when every person accepts her as his mother. God will be most glorified, then Jesus will be most glorified, her Son, because he gave us his mother at the end of his earthly life, in other words, when he was completing his will.
Let us rejoice at this sacrifice, on the day of the Virgin Mary, to give us the grace to know how much she loves us and to beg us for the graces we need to endure hardships and sufferings. Let us ask her to walk through her life with her and with all the life that God has prepared for us. Mary’s heart will win. She said it in Fatima. Her heart’s victory will manifest in the fact that people, every believer, will honor her as their authentic and unique mother. That they will honor and love her as Jesus Christ, her Son. We are not afraid to have great respect for the Virgin Mary. Even if one of the people looks at us wrong because our respect for her is too great, we can answer it: „You think that I have bad respect for the Virgin Mary? That I love her more than her Son, Lord Jesus? So it’s not true because I can’t.“
I remember that once I had significant worries that everyone must have, they buy up, and you don’t know where to go. In these worries, I recognized the great help of the Virgin Mary, especially when I prayed to her and entrusted all those worries to her. She let me know that she is my mother, that she does not want me to exaggerate my fears, but that she wants me to give all my concerns to her and through her to Jesus Christ. Humans often cannot solve big problems by ourselves, but the Virgin Mary can help us. Let’s be like her children; she will manifest as our true Mother.
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What God has cleansed, do not call defiled › Acts 11, 9.
In today’s reading, Peter explains a vision he could not understand at first – he had the impression that God was telling him to eat unclean foods. However, a little later, he tells James and the other leaders of the Church that he already understands that his vision is not only about food. God knew what challenges the Church would bring when even the Gentiles began to become believers. That is why he gave Peter a vision to soften his heart. Thanks to this, Peter received the Roman soldier Cornelius, for he began to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit among the Gentiles. God wanted Peter to no longer consider Cornelius and his relatives as „ defiled“, but to perceive them as brothers and sisters who also have a place in God’s kingdom (Acts 10, 15. 22-49).
And because Peter obeyed, the whole Church changed, Jews and Gentiles united to live as God’s redeemed family. God used Peter’s vision to help believers realize their imperfect thinking and align it with God’s. This vision brought them a whole new perspective on the world. God, like Peter, wants to help us recognize in which areas our thoughts and words do not coincide with his intentions. He “purified” everyone who belongs to Jesus. Although we do not get along best with some believers, we should remember that they, too, are redeemed as we are. They, too, are heirs of salvation and are our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord desires that our thoughts and speech reflect his heart’s love. Our words have great power! „Death just like life is in the power of language“ (Proverbs 18 21).
We have a huge responsibility: we can either build or tear down with our words. Every day, we can decide on one or the other. How will you think and talk about God’s children today? Can you use your words to encourage, build, and tell others how God looks at them? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you think about your brothers and sisters in Christ as he thinks. When he restores your mind, it will be easier for you to speak with love. And maybe your kind words will bring profound healing to someone
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Who is the new pope?
He is the first pope from the United States, he was born in 1955 in Chicago. Support for the Augustinian religious began to grow just before the conclave.

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During the second day of the conclave, the cardinals elected American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the new pope, whom Pope Francis had appointed a cardinal only two years earlier. He became the 267th head of the Catholic Church.
The new Pope Leo XIV is 69 years old. He is from the Augustinian order and held the post of prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
The American cardinal with Italian, French, and Spanish roots was close to Pope Francis, especially concerning the environment, migrants, and helping the poor.
Prevost is characterized by discretion but knows how to listen and handle issues. He is a polyglot who speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese and can read Latin and German, giving him a significant advantage in communication.
He has extensive experience with Latin America. He was a missionary in Peru and was the chief superior of the Augustinians for two terms.
In 1987 – 1988, he was in charge of the pastoral care of the vocations of the Augustinian order in the USA and the director of missions for the province in Chicago. He then returned to Peru, where he spent ten years. From 2001 to 2013, he was the superior of the Augustinian order.
The bishop is a shepherd, not a manager.
In January 2023, Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, so he was responsible for selecting bishops worldwide.
In one of the few interviews he gave, he presented his view of the role of bishops. According to Prevost, the bishop should primarily be a shepherd, not a manager.
„We are often concerned about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to convey the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus,“ said Cardinal Prevost for Vatican News.
As the American portal National Catholic Reporter writes, in Rome, Prevost has a reputation as a hardworking person who spends as much time looking for new bishops as solving problem cases. Such was the case of Bishop Joseph Strickland, who headed the Diocese of Tyler in Texas until his removal from office in 2023.

Pope Francis with Cardinal Prevost. Photo:
However, Prevost faced accusations that, as a bishop in Peru, he did not handle two cases of sexual abuse as he should have. Two priests were accused of abusing girls in the country in 2022. The transfer allegedly did not properly investigate the allegations and covered up the priests. However, the diocese claims that the Prevost followed all procedures and began an initial canonical investigation.
His supporters emphasize that documents indicate that Prevost not only paid attention to the victims but also did everything required by church law and followed all procedures.
However, in May 2025, there were allegations that the diocese paid three girls $150,000 to silence them.
Cardinal Prevost was a member of the seven Vatican decanates, indicating how much Pope Francis trusted the cardinal and valued his abilities.
Robert Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 14, 1955. In 1977, he entered the novitiate of the Order of St. Augustine in the province of Nostra Signora del Buon Consiglio in Saint Louis. He took his vows on August 29, 1981. He studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he received a diploma in theology.
Even before the conclave, the NC Reporter portal pointed out that Robert Prevost’s strength is the combination of his pastoral experience from the peripheries with his orientation and ability to manage complex matters in the church. „What is a rare combination for those looking for a potential pope who shares Francis’ priorities with more emphasis on governance,“ wrote the American Catholic website.
The first words of Pope Leo XIV.
Peace be with you all!
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the resurrected Christ, the Good Shepherd, who gave his life for God’s flock. I, too, wish that this greeting of peace will penetrate your heart, that it will reach your families, all people wherever they are, all nations and the whole earth. Peace be with you!
This is the risen Christ’s peace—unarmed and disarmed, humble and persistent. It comes from God, from God who loves us all unconditionally. The weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome, still sounds in our ears!
The Pope, who blessed Rome and the whole world on Easter Sunday. Let me continue with the same blessing: God loves us, loves you al,l and evil will not win! We are in God’s hands. Therefore, do not be afraid – hand in hand with God, and let us walk forward among ourselves. We are disciples of Christ. Christ is coming before us. The world needs its light. Humanity needs his presence as a bridge through which God and his love come to him. Help us too – and let’s help each other – build bridges through dialogue and meeting to be one people of peace. Thanks to Pope Francis!
I also want to thank all my fellow cardinals who chose me to become Peter’s successor and to walk with you as one church, which always seeks peace and justice, and who strives to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear to proclaim the gospel and be missionaries.
I am the son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian who said: „ I am a Christian with you, I am a bishop for you.“ In this spirit, we can all walk together to the homeland that God has prepared for us.
I especially greet the Roman Church! Together, we must look for ways to be a missionary church that builds bridges and conducts dialogue, always ready to accept, as this square with open arms, all who need our love, our presence, dialogue, and understanding.
(In Spanish)
And if you allow me, one word – greetings to everyone, and especially to my dear diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where the faithful people accompanied their bishop, experienced faith with him, and gave a lot, really a lot, to remain the faithful church of Jesus Christ.
To all of you, brothers and sisters from Rome, Italy, and all over the world: We want to be a synodal church, a church on a journey that is constantly looking for peace and love and strives to be close, especially to those who suffer.
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The Eucharist is a deep connection with God.
The Eucharist is the actual feast at which Christ is given as food. Illustration image: www.istockphoto.com
However, the Greek word eucharist was used to mean to thank as early as the 1st century. The first Christians named the Most Holy Altar Sacrament with this beautiful word. Historians say the word Eucharist was first used in writing in the Didache ( around the year 100).
The Eucharist is the third initiatory sacrament in catechism order, which completes the Christian consecration (Prov. CIC 842 § 2). It is the source and peak of the entire Christian life (Lumen Gentium 11).
All other sacraments—including liturgy—serve the Eucharist because it contains Christ himself, God (Prov. Thomas Aquinas, Theological Summa III).
Establishment of the Eucharist
At the Last Supper, Christ the Lord fulfilled the foreshadowing of the Passover when he established the Eucharist; he is in it the New Testament Lamb of God (porov. 1 Cor 5, 7; Sacrosanctum concilium 47). At the same time as the establishment of the Eucharist, Christ also established a new ministerial (hierarchical) priesthood.
None of Jesus’ disciples knew in advance how he would combine two facts in the Eucharist—his sacrifice and his body and blood—although he gradually prepared them for it.
The Lord pointed out the difference between fleeting food and food for eternal life (. Jn 6, 48 – 51) and called himself the life-giving heavenly bread (Jn 6, 35).
The oldest record of the institution of the Eucharist is from the apostle Paul (porov. 1 Cor 11, 23 – 34), which dates back to about 56. The other three reports are from synoptics (Prov. Mt 26, 29; Mk 14, 22-25; Lk 22, 14 – 20).
The core of the provision is the words: „Take and eat: this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying: ‘Drink from it all: this is my blood of the new covenant’“ (Mt 26, 26 – 28).
Christ presented himself as the living bread of (. Jn 6) and explained the relationship of the Eucharist to his sacrifice (porov. Jn 17, 19).
Theologically deep texts about the Eucharist were created in the early Church.
Saint Justin (100 – 165) wrote: „ The apostles left us in their memories, which are called the Gospels, what Jesus commanded them: that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me! This is my body. And likewise he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, This is my blood. And this was only passed by im“ . Apologia I., 66).
Church teacher of the West, St. Augustine (354 – 430) preached: „ With these Eucharistic signs, Christ the Lord wanted to entrust us with his body and his blood, which he shed for us for the forgiveness of sins“ (Sermo 227, 1).„ The fact that the presented gifts become the body of Christ and his blood is not caused by man, but by Christ himself, who was crucified for us. The priest that (h) represents utters those words, but effectiveness and grace are from God. He says, This is my body. This word transforms sacrificial gifts“ (De proditione Iudae homilia 1, 6).
Sacrifice and food. Jesus established the Eucharist as the presence of his unique sacrifice (anticipated—overtook ju) and as spiritual food (. Theological sum III). Priestly consecration creates (and makes present) both sacrifice and food on the altar.
The doctrine of the Eucharist – The Eucharist as a sacrifice and the Eucharist as food – has its basis with the apostle Paul: „And so whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes“ (1 Cor 11, 26).
The Eucharist, i.e. the Holy Mass, is simultaneously and inseparably a sacrificial monument in which the sacrifice of the cross persists, and a sacred feast of participation in the Lord’s body and blood—catechism of the Catholic Church, 1382, 1323, 1362; Sacrosanctum concilium 47).
Although the Eucharist is performed in one consecration, both as a sacrifice and as a dish, there is still a difference between the two.
The Eucharist is a sacrifice when Christ offers himself to God the Father. It is food when Christ is offered to people as Holy Communion (P. Theological sum III).
The purpose of the sacrifice is to glorify the Lord God. The purpose of food is to sanctify people. The Eucharist as a sacrifice is a transitory act. The Eucharist as food is a permanent reality (as long as the ways of bread and wine last).
Spiritual mystery—that bread and wine will become Jesus—is theology expressed in the words Eucharistic „reasoning.” In transforming the essence of bread and wine into the essence of the body and blood of Christ, God puts into creation the principle of radical change brought into the most profound intimacy of being.
Being is called to such a change: „That God may be all in all“ (1 Cor 15 28; cf. Sacramentum caritatis 11). Thus, the Eucharist has a performative ( sense „prenicate“) nature (porov. Verbum Domini 56).
Performing and shaping a person is more than educating them. Education realizes in it what is already „in a person“, but through formation it is possible to acquire something new that „in a person was not“ – a specific new lifestyle, „ sacramental connection with Boh“<TAG1>.
Do you think moving away from the fire when you’re cold is right? If you want to love Jesus Christ sincerely, you should approach the Eucharist even more often, precisely because your heart is cold.
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori
The reason for the establishment of the Most Holy Altar Sacrament
The Council of Trent summarized the justification of God’s institution of the Eucharist (11 October 1551, 13th session, 2nd chapter). The Council declared that when our Savior was about to leave this world for the Father, he established the Eucharist, into which he seemed to pour all the wealth of his love for people.
The Savior, therefore, wanted this sacrament of love and union to be received as spiritual food for souls to feed and strengthen themselves with:
„Even he who is me will live by me“ (Jn 6, 57); as a healing agent that frees us from mundane transgressions and protects us from mortal sins; as a gift of our future glory and eternal happiness; as a symbol of the unity of the mysterious body, whose Jesus is the head of the (. 1 Cor 11, 3; Ef 5, 23).
Preparation for Holy Communion
The Church teaches about preparation as „oznadia,” about the overall spiritual state of the recipient. Since, strictly speaking, no man or any other creature will ever be worthy to be sacramentally united with God’s Son Jesus Christ, it is also true here that man should do that; he can do his best.
The Council of Trent bindingly ordered that the baptized person properly prepare to receive Holy Communion: „ Those who are dressed in wedding dresses approach this table of God“ ( Mt 22, 11 – 14).
Being in biblical „wedding clothing“ means having sanctifying grace in the soul. Not having it means being in grave, mortal sin (. 1 Cor 11, 27 – 29).
Subsequently, one must have a pious intention, which is manifested by current regret for venial sins; appropriate prayer; Eucharistic (one-hour) fasting, and proper external behavior (odev, method of receiving).
The Church emphasizes the vital necessity of constant preparation (. KKC 1385 – 1388; CIC 912 – 919).
How best to dispose of the reception? The Church and the spiritual fathers proceed in their advice from the essence of the sacrament:
„ This is a deep connection of believers with Christ through Holy Communion: we accept him who sacrificed himself for us, his body that he gave for us on the cross, his blood that he shed ,for all, for the forgiveness of sins ⁇ “ (Mt 26, 28; Ecclesia de Eucharistia – Church lives from Eucharist 16).
Jesus himself assures us that such a connection, which he confirmed as an analogy of the life of the Holy Trinity, is truly taking place. The Eucharist is the actual feast at which Christ is given as food.
It is not a metaphorical dish: „For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink“ (Jn 6, 55). While the „external method“ of reception, which has changed many times in the history of the Church, is secondary.
Above all, we are bound to imitate Jesus, who often wanted his followers to take an example from him. The spiritual fathers emphasize that Christ’s humility and obedience should not be missing in the good Eucharist available.
We have already said that the Eucharist is formative (Prov. Verbum Domini 56), which means that we must strive to adopt Jesus’s new lifestyle.
Why are the two mentioned virtues – Jesus’ humility and obedience preferred when receiving the Eucharist? Because they are the most „materialized “ in receiving. The Son of God humbles himself when he enters ordinary bread and wine through priestly consecration.
Out of love for us, he puts aside his divine majesty and glorification when weak people can take it into their hands, mouths, and hearts. How much is done to our servants to change, renew, and sanctify us internally?
We know that the whole of the Lord’s redemptive work is an expression of obedience to the second divine person – Christ the Lord to the first divine person – to the heavenly Father:
„My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work“ (Jn 4, 34). And at the beginning of the tridua (trojdnia) – the culmination of the divine saving work in suffering and glorification, Jesus prays in absolute obedience: „Father, if you will, take this cup from me! Well, not mine, but your will be done!“ (Lk 22, 42).
How nice and encouraging it was when, in March of this year, after the introduction of security-hygienic measures, the Roman Catholic bishops unexpectedly—almost overnight—ordered a new way of receiving Holy Communion on our hands. The vast majority of believers did it in humility and obedience. She accepted.
Only such a disposition of a believing person – humility and obedience – is most suitable for receiving the Altar Sacrament.
Good preparation for communion held in a conscious and solemn way—although in variations of different traditions—was already established in the early Church.
Good preparation combined with humility and obedience possesses the features of liturgical sensitivity and can transform our Christian celebration of the Eucharist in accordance with the content of Easter.
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