One on the 'physical presence' of Christ in the Eucharist.
One on the 'local presence' of Christ in the Eucharist according to the teaching of St Robert Bellarmine.
'To avoid misunderstanding this sacramental presence which surpasses the laws of nature and constitutes the greatest miracle of its kind we must listen with docility to the voice of the teaching and praying Church.
This voice, which constantly echoes the voice of Christ, assures us that the way Christ is made present in this Sacrament is none other than by the change of the whole substance of the bread into His Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood, and that this unique and truly wonderful change the Catholic Church rightly calls transubstantiation. As a result of transubstantiation, the species of bread and wine undoubtedly take on a new meaning and a new finality, for they no longer remain ordinary bread and ordinary wine, but become the sign of something sacred, the sign of a spiritual food.
However, the reason they take on this new significance and this new finality is simply because they contain a new "reality" which we may justly term ontological. Not that there lies under those species what was already there before, but something quite different; and that not only because of the faith of the Church, but in objective reality, since after the change of the substance or nature of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, nothing remains of the bread and wine but the appearances, under which Christ, whole and entire, in His physical "reality" is bodily present, although not in the same way that bodies are present in a given place.' ~ Pope Paul VI
Fr Stefano Manelli, in his book, 'Jesus: Our Eucharistic Love' maintains...
"Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, the God with us."
Could an over-emphasis on the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist be the real reason for the suppression of the Franciscans of the Immacualte? Think about it. Love for the Eucharist marked out their missionary work, their theology, even in terms of their love for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
3 comments:
This reminds me of the film "Catholics" in which a ultramodernist priest reminds an abbot that the fourth(!) Vatican Council had decided that Catholics aren´t obliged to believe in the Real Presence anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI239cSpF_M
In the film the ecumene and the World Council of Churches is often mentioned (which nowadays feels that an ecumenical springtime has arrived with Pope Francis http://www.news.va/en/news/ecumenical-springtime).
It was obvious to our family of three converts that Brian Moore, author of the novel on which the film is based, which was first published in 1972, must have been written by a (masonic?) insider.
The article on the local presence of Christ in the Eucharist appears to completely contradict Aquinas. He refers to St Robert Bellarmine, but does not provide a citation which is very frustrating!
Whether people agree with Fr John or not, I think he is absolutely correct in suggesting that the doctrine needs clarification by the Magisterium. Once again, there appear to be different schools of thought simultaneously extant, which could both be said to be orthodox prior to clarification.
Deacon Augustine, I think Ron Conte is in error (once again), and you are right, it contradicts Aquinas. Conte would thus hold that Our Lord is locally present in each fractioned piece of the Host, and that makes no sense. Hence Thomas's position.
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