Corpus Christi - Catechesis with Pope St John Paul II - Totus2us

St John Paul II, 13 June 1979: "The Eucharist brings us closer to God in an amazing way. And it is the Sacrament of his closeness in respect of man. God in the Eucharist is precisely this God who wanted to enter into the history of man. He wanted to accept humanity itself. He wanted to become man. The Sacrament of the Body and Blood reminds us continually of his divine humanity. We sing "Ave, verum corpus, natum ex Maria Virgine". And by living with the Eucharist, we find again all the simplicity and depth of the mystery of Incarnation. It is the Sacrament of God's descent to man, of his approach to all that is human. It is the Sacrament of divine "condescension" (cf St John Chrysostom). The divine entry into human reality reached its culmination through the passion and death. Through his passion and death on the Cross, the Son of God Incarnate became, in a particularly radical way, the Son of Man, he shared right to the end that which is the condition of every man. The Eucharist, Sacrament of the Body and Blood, reminds us above all of this death, which Christ suffered on the cross; it reminds and, in a certain way, that is bloodless, renews its historical reality. This is testified by the words spoken in the cenacle about the bread and the wine separately, the words which, by Christ's institution, realise the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood; the Sacrament of his death, which was expiatory sacrifice. The Sacrament of his death, in which all the power of love was expressed. The Sacrament of his death, which consisted in giving his life so as to reconquer the fullness of life. "Manduca vitam, bibe vitami: habebis vitam, et integra est vita ("Eat life, drink life: you will have life, and life in its entirety" - St Augustine). Through this Sacrament, the death which gives life is continually announced, in the history of man (cf 1 Cor 11, 26). It is continually realized in this very simple sense, which is the sign of the Bread and Wine. God is present in it and close to man with that penetrating closeness of his death on the cross, from which sprang the power of the Resurrection. Man, through the Eucharist, becomes a participant in this power." (General Audience, 13 June 1979) Visit Totus2us.org for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, Mother Mary, it was inspired by our Holy Fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI.