Blog # 208 John Chapter 6 -8

Blog # 208 John Chapter 6 -8 We customarily refer to the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle as His 'Real Presence'. This should not indicate or imply that His Presence in the tabernacle is any more real than His divine Presence as the Person of the Word , that is, anywhere, everywhere and however God is present. The personal identity of the Word and the personal identity of Jesus is the same. In other words, we believe the Person referred to as the Word, and Jesus , the Word Incarnate , born of Mary and having shared our humanity in every way but sin in a certain moment of history two thousand years ago. and now glorified through the Resurrection, is the same person. The term 'real presence' was useful, subsequent to the Reformation , in combating a false understanding on the part of some of the theology of the Real Presence which identified the presence of Jesus in the Mass and in the tabernacle as merely symbolic rather than real. A term I use that avoids the danger of weakening or of losing our awareness of the origin nature and reality of the presence of Jesus in the Mass and in the tabernacle is Eucharistic Presence. The term Eucharistic Presence correctly identifies and emphasizes the unique supernatural active presence of Jesus :1 in the LAST SUPPER, and: 2 DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES through the theological connection of the Last Supper with the act of sacrificial worship experienced and offered by Jesus to the Father on Calvary and in the Mass, NOW available by faith in tabernacles throughout the world. The love for the Father and for us that Jesus experienced and offered the Father and us on Calvary is the same love Jesus offers the Father and us in Holy Communion and in our tabernacles around the world! That paragraph may well be taken as the high point in the various blogs I have been presenting which were initiated by my response to the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John. You might want to read it over a few times to make sure you understand what I have been saying and to help you determine whether you agree with it. It deals with a central issue in the message Jesus came from Heaven to reveal. It is also of utmost importance in the content of our Catholic faith and in any discussions we might have with regard to comparisons and points of similarity and difference between our Catholic faith and that of the various and multiple Christian bodies not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In the practical order it serves in giving me a solid basis and clear background primarily for my understanding and appreciation of the Mass as an act of sacrifice and as such of worship which is the theological name we give to our unique total love for God the Creator of all that exists, and secondarily for my understanding and appreciation of the supernatural presence of the Resurrected Glorified Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion and in our tabernacles around the world.