QUOTES ON THE EUCHARIST From the Saints and Early Church Fathers and Mothers

Last week, I did a presentation on the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the RCIA class.  I am also studying the Eucharist and the formation and the strengthening of Eucharistic community through the Mathis liturgical leadership program at the University of Notre Dame.  As a part of my presentation to the RCIA candidates and catechumens last week, I compiled some quotes about the Eucharist from some of the saints and the Early Church Fathers and Mothers. The saints have so many profound insights to share with us from their teachings and their writings.  I thought I would share these quotes with you in our Flocknote email reflection this week. These quotes are a great way for us to reflection upon the Eucharist as a mystery of our faith. Blessings to all of you - have a blessed week.  Father Lincoln.  

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185 - 254)

We give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along with thanksgiving and prayer for the blessings we have received, we also eat the bread presented to us; and this bread BECOMES BY PRAYER A SACRED BODY, which sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it.(Against Celsus 8:33)

You see how the ALTARS are no longer sprinkled with the blood of oxen, but consecrated BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST. (Homilies on Joshua 2:1)

St. Athanasius (c. 295 - 373)

You shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ….Let us approach the celebration of the mysteries. This bread and this wine, so long as the prayers and supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But after the great prayers and holy supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread and wine -- and thus is His Body confected. (Sermon to the Newly Baptized, from Eutyches)

St Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274): “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622): “When the bee has gathered the dew of heaven and the earth’s sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven, and true son of Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food.”

St John Chrysostom (347-407): “It is not the man who is responsible for the offerings as they become Christ’s Body and Blood; it is Christ himself who was crucified for us. The standing figure belongs to the priest who speaks these words. The power and the grace belong to God. ‘This is My Body,’ he says. And these words transform the offerings.”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386): “Since Christ Himself has said, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt that it is his Body?”

St Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941): “If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”

St Augustine (354-430) “What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)  “We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do, something breaks. People ask, 'Where do the sisters get the joy and the energy to do what they are doing?' The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ. He says, 'Come to Me.' He is hungry for souls.”