St Justin Martyr – the Saint of the Day for June 1

"This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus." St Justin Martyr

 Justin Martyr is the saint we celebrate today.  I heard a lot about him while I was in seminary at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin, because even though he died way back in the year 165, his description of the mass is the earliest one we have.   Justin shows that the mass we celebrate today has all the elements of the Eucharistic celebrations in the early Church.  Justin was a philosopher of pagan religions, having grown up in the West Bank area of Palestine.   Yet, he converted to the Way of Jesus, and was an ardent defender of the faith in the early Church.  He died a martyr of Rome for the faith.  The above quote describes how the early Christians viewed the Eucharist, a view that we Catholic share today.  We give thanks to the Early Church Fathers like Justin Martyr who, by their words and their deeds, passed down the faith to us.