On this Gaudete (Latin: “Rejoice!”) Sunday, the tone of our prayer at Mass is cued by the entrance antiphon: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! Indeed, the Lord is near” (Phil. 4:4-5). As we draw closer to the Christmas mysteries, we pray “to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing” (Collect of the 3rd Sunday of Advent). Tied up with this theme of joy is the notion of God’s saving power, and we who are so often at risk of becoming fainthearted are inspired to be unafraid, because “Our God will come, and He will save us” (Communion Antiphon for the 3rd Sunday of Advent). There is a lesson for all of us here: Christian joy goes beyond what we feel, it goes beyond the satisfaction of passing desires; Christian joy flows from our Faith that, in Christ, the Lord has drawn near, and in drawing near He visits us with His salvation, which is the fulfilment of all desire. The Christian is joyful because of the Lord who strikes courage into our hearts and frees us from sin and unending death. Where He is, sin and sadness flee, and if we have Him, we have all we need to be joyful. This doesn’t mean we never struggle with changing emotions or dissatisfaction in our day to day lives; but it does mean that, beneath the sometimes choppy surface of our lives there is the stable current that flows from our Faith that the Lord is near.
As Catholics, we are privileged and blessed to come into physical contact with the Presence of the Lord in Holy Communion. In the Eucharist, we commune with joy incarnate. We believe Our Lord Jesus Christ is present, “Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity” – meaning, with the fullness of Who He is – in the Eucharist. At the Last Supper, when He instructed His Apostles to “take and eat…take and drink” because the bread and wine He had offered truly became His Body and Blood, He told them to do so in remembrance of Him. That was their mission: to continue that same offering by which Christ truly becomes present as our sacred food and drink to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age. Whenever a priest validly celebrates the Mass, the Faithful have presented to them once more the Saving Banquet of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, from which flows the whole treasury of grace and salvation. I want to take this opportunity to offer some catechesis on the Eucharist, specifically as It is presented to us under the two species of bread and wine.
A constant teaching of the Church regarding the Eucharist is the principle of concomitance. In short, this principle teaches that Christ is truly and fully present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in both the species of the wine and the blood, and whether the communicant receive under both species or under a single species alone they receive the entire Christ. While it is permitted to distribute Holy Communion under both kinds, doing so in no way, shape, or form increases the quantity or quality of the grace received: the communicant does not receive half of Jesus if they receive from the Host or the Chalice alone, and they do not receive twice as much of Jesus if they receive from both. The Lord is fully present in the tiniest particle of the tiniest host, and in the smallest drop from the chalice. The practice of offering both species for communion only serves the purpose of more vividly presenting to the hearts and minds of the faithful these signs of our salvation, but that does not mean that the value is deficient when this is not done – we see with eyes of faith in all things pertaining to the Mysteries. While it is necessary that the priest celebrant (or concelebrant) receive under both forms to ensure the validity of the Mass, this is in order to fulfil the direct mandate given to the Apostles (and their successors) by Christ at the Last Supper. The Faithful, however, participate fully in the Sacrifice of the Altar when they approach Holy Communion in a state of grace, whether they receive the Host, from the Chalice, or both.
The Church has always taught that the faithful are deprived of nothing necessary for their salvation even if they receive the Eucharist under a single form; in fact, the infinitude of grace we receive in the Eucharist far excels our wildest imaginings even if only a single Particle or Drop were to grace our tongues. His Infinite Majesty is veiled under the finite and humble appearances of poor bread and wine, but to the one who receives in Faith and grace, an abundance of spiritual nourishment flows from the rivers of His Saving Grace, which have as their Source and their Summit this Most Blessed Sacrament. Our Fatih in the abundance of God’s goodness found in the Eucharist is in large part the true cause of our joy. In the coming weeks, I want to revisit this theme and offer further catechesis and plans for our parish family. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
