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Reflections: Sacraments Sctn. (Eucharist-Praise/Benfts.)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Traditional Latin 'Tridentine' Mass)

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Praise / Benefits of the Holy Eucharist & Mass

 

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Quotation

Praise / Benefits of the Holy Eucharist & Mass

Also See: Holy Eucharist (Topic Page) | Mass (Topic Page)

Note: For More on This Topic, Try Here (Holy Eucharist / Mass, Gen'l. Info.)

"Even God Himself could do nothing holier, better, or greater than the Mass." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)

"There is no prayer or good work so great, so pleasing to God, so useful to us as the Mass." (St. Lawrence Justinian)

"What is better than the Blood and Body of Christ?" (St. Isidore of Seville, Doctor of the Church) 

"There is nothing more to be added when we have said 'The Eucharist', since It is Jesus Christ." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"The happiness of the World comes from the Sacrifice of the Mass." (St. Odo of Cluny)

"Without the Holy Eucharist there would be no happiness in this world, and life wouldn't be bearable." (St. John Vianney)

"You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?" (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"The Church draws her life from the Eucharist." (Pope John Paul II, 2003 A.D.)

"When we receive Holy Communion, we receive our joy and our happiness." (St. John Vianney)

"[T]o drink the Blood of Jesus is to share in His immortality." (St. Clement of Alexandria, c. 3rd century A.D.)

"When they see the Blood of the Lord, demons flee while angels gather." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

"[The Eucharist is] a medicine of immortality, an antidote to death" (St. Ignatius of Antioch, c. 110 A.D.)

"Henceforth my motto shall be: 'Give me the Eucharist, or let me die!" (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"Is there a greater happiness than to imitate on earth the choir of angels?" (St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"[T]he Eucharist [is that] in which 'the whole spiritual good of the Church is contained'" (Pope Paul VI, 1967 A.D.)

"It would be easier for the earth to exist without the sun rather than without the Holy Mass." [St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)]

"[The Eucharist is] the elixir of immortality" (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei")

"The Eucharist creates communion and fosters communion." (Pope John Paul II)

"Holy Communion is an antidote by which we are freed from daily sins, and are preserved from mortal sins." (Council of Trent)

"This morning my soul is greater than the world since it possesses you, you whom heaven and earth do not contain." (St. Margaret of Cortona)

"The proper effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"[T]hrough this sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of our Lord's Passion." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"A soul can do nothing that is more pleasing to God than to communicate (receive Holy Communion) in a state of grace." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church).

"For it is not the flesh of man simply, but of God: and it makes man divine, by inebriating him, as it were, with divinity." (St. Theophylact)

"Jesus! My Lord, my God, my All! How can I love Thee as I ought? And how revere this wondrous gift, so far surpassing hope or thought?" (Faber)

"The participation of the Body and Blood of Christ has this as its chief work - to change us into Him." (St. Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"The Eucharist is the sun of the feasts of the Church. It sheds light on those feasts and renders them living and joyous." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"[N]othing can be more excellent or more conducive to salvation [than this gift of the Holy Eucharist]" (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"The Mass is the chief act of divine worship; it should also be the source and center of Christian piety." (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 1947 A.D.)

"[T]he liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows." (Second Vatican Council)

"The whole sanctuary and the space before the altar is filled with the heavenly Powers come to honor Him who is present upon the altar." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

"[T]he Eucharist is, in itself, the greatest of the sacraments" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"The sacred Bread, for which we are indebted to Mary, remains always with us. May it, through her intercession, preserve us from all evils!" (Liturgical Year)

"A man suffering from a wound needs a remedy. The wound is our being slaves to sin - and the remedy? The heavenly and adorable sacrament." (Pope St. Gregory VII)

"[T]his sacrament is greater than all the others and perfects them." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"The Bread of angels becomes the Bread of men; the Bread of heaven puts an end to the types; O wonderful thing! He that is poor, and a servant, and lowly, eateth the Lord!" (Hymn, Corpus Christi)

"[The] day you hear Mass is worth a thousand days to you, that all the labors and works of a day, or a week, or a whole year are nothing in comparison with the value of one Mass." (Fr. O'Sullivan)

"The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth. It is a glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem which pierces the clouds of our history and lights up our journey." (Pope John Paul II)

"The Eucharist, as Christ's saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history." (Pope John Paul II)

"The soul must be in an utter swoon, if it be not roused and enlivened by the Holy Eucharist... For is it not true that the Holy Eucharist raises the faithful above themselves, and from its efficacy a worldly man becomes a heavenly man?" (St. Cyprian)

"No human tongue can describe the immense favors and blessing which we receive from the Mass. The sinner obtains pardon, the good man becomes more holy, our faults are corrected and our vices uprooted by hearing Holy Mass." (St. Lawrence Justinian)

"The faithful, being united to God by means of the Sacrament, may thence derive strength to resist their sensual passions, to cleanse themselves from the stains of daily faults, and to avoid those grave sins to which human frailty is liable." (Pope St Pius X)

"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood, which is love incorruptible." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, c. 110 A.D.)

"Participation in the Body and Blood of Christ effects nothing else but that we become that which we consume, and we carry Him everywhere both in spirit and in body, in and with whom we have died, have been buried, and have risen." (Pope St. Leo I the Great, Doctor of the Church, c. 455 A.D.)

"The mystery of the most Holy Eucharist which Christ, the High Priest instituted, and which He commands to be continually renewed in the Church by His ministers, is the culmination and center, as it were, of the Christian religion." (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 1947 A.D.)

"The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift - however precious - among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work." (Pope John Paul II)

"Here is the Church's treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns. A great and transcendent mystery, indeed, and one that taxes our mind's ability to pass beyond appearances." (Pope John Paul II, 2003 A.D.)

"Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly banquet." (Pope Leo XIII)

"When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that Sacrifice praying, and all the people purpled by that precious Blood, can you think that you are still among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?" (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, c. 387 A.D.)

"[The Mass] is the only Holy Act which keeps the wrath of God from a sinful world, because it holds the Cross between heaven and earth, thus renewing that decisive moment when our sad and tragic humanity journeyed suddenly forth to the fullness of supernatural life." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

"I found myself far from You in a region of dissension; and it was as if I heard Your voice from on high: 'I am the food of adults; grow, and you shall eat Me. You will no then change Me into yourself, like [as with your food], but you shall be changed into Me.'" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 400 A.D.)

"Oh, the wonderful and hidden grace of this Sacrament, which only the faithful of Christ know; but unbelievers and such as are slaves to sin cannot experience. In this Sacrament is conferred spiritual grace; lost virtue is repaired in the soul; and beauty disfigured by sin returneth again." (Kempis)

"Without the Eucharist, Christ's love would be nothing more for us than a lifeless love, a love of the past, which we would quickly forget, and which it would be almost excusable for us to forget. Love has its laws, its requirements, which the Eucharist alone fully satisfies." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"The Eucharist is the sacrament of the unity of the whole Church: and therefore in this sacrament, more than in the others, mention ought to be made of all that belongs to the salvation of the entire Church." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"To you be praise indeed, O eternal God, and endless thanksgiving for the fact that you deigned to become a human being and that for us in the world you willed to consecrate your venerable Body out of material bread and lovingly bestow it on us as food for the salvation of our souls!" (St. Bridget of Sweden)

"[T]he all-holy Eucharist, forasmuch as it is a divine gift proceeding from the very Heart of the Redeemer, Who 'with desire desireth' this singular mode of union with men, [is] a gift most admirably adapted to be the means whereby the salutary fruits of His redemption may be distributed." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.) 

"[T]o the Holy Eucharist we owe the future resurrection of our bodies. Our Savior himself teaches us this, where he says: 'Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat of it, he may not die... He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day (Jn. 5:49,50,55).'" (Dom Gueranger)

"History bears witness that the virtues of the Christian life have flourished best wherever and whenever the frequent reception of the Eucharist has most prevailed. And on the other hand it is no less certain that in days when men have ceased to care for this heavenly bread, and have lost their appetite for it, the practice of Christian religion has gradually lost its force and vigor." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"Be thou blessed, O Jesus, for having instituted, in the Holy Eucharist, not only the greatest of the sacraments, but also a Sacrifice which surpasses all others; a Sacrifice whereby we are enabled to offer to the divine Majesty the only homage that is worthy of Him, give Him thanks in keeping with His favors to us, make Him a superabundant atonement for our sins, and finally beg and obtain from Him all the graces of which we stand in need." (Dom Gueranger)

"What blessing, or what praise, or what thanksgiving can we render to you, O God, Lover of Humankind, for when we were cast away by the doom of death, and drowned in the depth of sin, you granted us freedom, and bestowed on us this immortal, this heavenly food, and manifested to us this mystery, hid from ages and from generations? This, your supreme act of mercy, and the greatness of your benignity and fatherly care for us, grant us to understand. Amen." (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church)

"The true Flesh which he took from the Virgin, is what we eat; the true Blood, which he shed for man, is what we drink. In this banquet, the Word made Flesh is truly eaten; it is on him that our worship rests, and by him that we enter heaven. This Bread, which is all full of sweetness and grace, is the King of eternal glory, that was carried in the virgin's womb. Let us feed on the richness of Angels' Bread; that we may find delight in the sweetness of a viaticum so full of mercy. O thou heavenly banquet! O Glory of the redeemed! O repose of the humble! Grant us eternal joys." (Ancient Compline Hymn)

"Let the whole world of mankind tremble the whole world shake and the havens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is on the altar in the hands of a priest. O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him. Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally." (St. Francis of Assisi)

"Are you sick in soul? Does the weight of your sins press you down? Are you blind? Are you wanting in the necessary light and knowledge on the path of salvation? Are you lame? Do you desire to make more rapid progress in virtue, but find yourself unable? Are you exhausted? Do your strength and energy flag when you are striving for grace and merit? Oh, then come to the Divine place of healing, to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. He will help you, He will heal you! He is present there, not for the Angels, but for you, O happy child of man! And He wills that you do not fear, that you do not hesitate, but that you come with joy and confidence and ask much of Him." (Etlin) [Note: Of course, one must be in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion. To receive Holy Communion unworthily would be a grave sin.]

"Of all the good acts wherewith a Christian can sanctify his day, there is not one which bears comparison with that of assisting at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is in that Sacrifice, the supreme act of religion, that is centered all the homage due from man to his Creator; and it is also from the same Sacrifice that God pours out profusely upon his creature man every sort of blessing. The very Son of God is really present there; there He is offered up to His Father, and the offering is always well-pleasing; and they who assist at this Divine Immolation with faith and love receive into their souls graces of a far richer kind than are given by ordinary means." (Liturgical Year)

"That genuine charity, therefore, which knows how to do and to suffer all things for the salvation and the benefit of all, leaps forth with all the heat and energy of a flame from that most holy Eucharist in which Christ Himself is present and lives, in which He indulges to the utmost. His love towards us, and under the impulse of that divine love ceaselessly renews His Sacrifice. And thus it is not difficult to see whence the arduous labors of apostolic men, and whence those innumerable designs of every kind for the welfare of the human race which have been set on foot among Catholics, derive their origin, their strength, their permanence, their success." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"Eucharist or thanksgiving, is its most suitable name; for this Sacrament holds within it Him who is the object of all praise, and all the heavenly gifts He has bestowed upon us. It is the admirable summary of all the divine operations which God has achieved for man: it is the stay of our life; it gives back to our souls the divine image, and that upon the model of an archetype which is eternal beauty; it leads us, by admirable ascensions, into a path which, naturally, we could never have entered; by it are repaired the ruins of the original fall; by it we cease to be poor; it takes our whole being, gives its whole self to us, and thereby makes us partakers of God Himself and of all His gifts." (Liturgical Year)

"It is an unquestionable fact that the work of our redemption is continued, and that its fruits are imparted to us, during the celebration of the liturgy, notable in the august [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the Altar. Christ acts each day to save us, in the sacraments and in His holy [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. By means of them He is constantly atoning for the sins of mankind, constantly consecrating it to God. Sacraments and [the Eucharistic Sacrifice] do, then, possess that 'objective' power to make us really and personally sharers in the divine life of Jesus Christ. Not from any ability of our own, but by the power of God, are they endowed with the capacity to unite the piety of members with that of the head" (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 1947 A.D.)

"Finally, to comprise all the advantages and blessings of this Sacrament in one word, it must be taught that the Holy Eucharist is most efficacious towards the attainment of eternal glory. For it is written: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day. That is to say, by the grace of this Sacrament men enjoy the greatest peace and tranquility of conscience during the present life; and, when the hour of departing from this world shall have arrived, like Elias, who in the strength of the bread baked on the hearth, walked to Horeb, the mount of God, they too, invigorated by the strengthening influence of this (heavenly food), will ascend to unfading glory and bliss." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"My God and my Savior, of all the wonderful gifts which You have bestowed upon men in this earthly life, none can begin to compare with the wonderful gift of the Holy Eucharist. Under the appearances of bread and wine, You come to me in person, with your Body, blood, soul, and divinity. Your love for me is so deep that You could offer me nothing less than yourself. This you did in a manner which reminds me of Your death upon the cross for my sake. In the appearance of bread and wine I see you ready to be consumed in order to give me eternal life. This holy sacrament is truly the most perfect image of Your boundless love for me. Lord, let me make full use of this divine gift so that I may learn to give myself to You in my daily life. Amen." {Paone}

"But indeed a Sacrament so great and so rich in all manner of blessings can never be extolled as it deserves by human eloquence, nor adequately venerated by the worship of man. This Sacrament, whether as the theme of devout meditation, or as the object of public adoration, or best of all as a food to be received in the utmost purity of conscience, is to be regarded as the center towards which the spiritual life of a Christian in all its ambit gravitates; for all other forms of devotion, whatsoever they may be, lead up to it, and in it find their point of rest. In this mystery more than in any other that gracious invitation and still more gracious promise of Christ is realized and finds its daily fulfillment: 'Come to me all ye that labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you' (St. Matt. xi., 28)." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"Christ, our Head, has long since ascended beyond the clouds; the Church, flowing with delights and leaning upon her Beloved, is continually going up after Him from this desert-land (Cant. viii. 5); one or another of His members, our brethren, is every moment going in, to complete the number of guests at the heavenly and eternal and new Passover; and as each one goes in, Jesus says: 'This now is bone of My bones, and flesh of My flesh'; for all these are then united to Him as the bride to her Spouse, for they are but one body. It is the Eucharist which has produced this marvelous capability of perfect union between the members and their divine head. This union will not be manifested till the day of glory: but it is here below, under the shadow and cloud of faith, that the Eucharist is thus transforming the elect into Christ, that is, into eternal union with Him, so as to make one body." (Liturgical Year)

"O precious and wonderful banquet! Health-giving, and replete with every sweetness! For what can possibly be more precious than this banquet?... What more wonderful than this sacrament? For, in it, bread and wine are substantially changed into the Body and Blood of Christ: and, therefore, Christ, perfect God and Man, is contained under the species of a little bread and wine. He is, therefore, eaten by the faithful, but not lacerated: nay, when the Sacrament is divided, he remains whole, under each particle of the division. But the accidents subsist in the same, without a subject, in order that there may be room for faith, inasmuch as the visible is invisibly taken, being hid under a species not its own; and the senses are kept free from deception, for the judge of accidents, (which are the only things) known by them." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church") 

"Again, there is no sacrament more health-giving than this, in which sins are wiped away, virtues are increased, and the mind is made rich with the abundance of all spiritual gifts. It is offered, in the Church, for the living and the dead; that what was instituted for the salvation of all, may profit all. Finally, no one can adequately express the sweetness of this Sacrament, by which spiritual sweetness is tasted in its very source: and remembrance is solemnly made of that most perfect charity evinced by Christ in his Passion. Wherefore, in order that the immensity of this charity might the more deeply be impressed on the hearts of the faithful, it was at the Last Supper, when, having celebrated the Pasch with his disciples, he was about to pass out of this world unto his Father, that he instituted this Sacrament, and left it as the perpetual memorial of his Passion, the fulfillment of the ancient figures, the greatest of the miracles done by him, and the special consolation to them that were to be sad because of his absence." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"The Holy Communion is the principal and indispensable weapon of the Christian in his spiritual combats with the infernal powers; it is because they either do not receive Holy Communion, or receive it badly, or too seldom, that the devils are terrible to the frail children of Adam. As soon as a Christian [a Catholic] nourishes himself with the bread of the strong, as [a saint] remarks, all is changed; that Christian returns from the Holy Table 'like a lion, inflamed with Divine ardor, terrible to the demons,' and what wonder? That Christian marches to battle clothed not only with the armor furnished by Jesus Christ but with Jesus Christ Himself! Hell may, doubtless, in its fury, assail him with desperate rage at the very moment when he receives his God; that has been seen, and is seen every day. But hell shall not enslave him. 'He who Communicates well, does all well,' further said St. Vincent de Paul. Yes, he who communicates well, that is to say, frequently and worthily, shall count his steps by victories; he shall keep the treasure of the holy and glorious liberty of the children of God, and his last struggle with hell shall be a splendid triumph." (Fr. Delaporte)

"To know with an entire faith what is the excellence of the Most Holy Eucharist is in truth to know what that work is which, in the might of His mercy, God, made man, carried out on behalf of the human race. For as a right faith teaches us to acknowledge and to worship Christ as the sovereign cause of our salvation, since He by His wisdom, His laws, His ordinances, His example, and by the shedding of His blood, made all things new; so the same faith likewise teaches us to acknowledge Him and to worship Him as really present in the Eucharist, as verily abiding through all time in the midst of men, in order that as their Master, their Good Shepherd, their most acceptable Advocate with the Father, He may impart to them of His own inexhaustible abundance the benefits of that redemption which He has accomplished. Now if any one will seriously consider the benefits which flow from the Eucharist he will understand that conspicuous and chief among them all is that in which the rest, without exception, are included; in a word it is for men the source of life, of that life which best deserves the name." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more honorable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as far as possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now this is precisely what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, wherein, after having raised man by the operation of His grace to a supernatural state, he yet more closely associates and unites him with Himself. For there is this difference between the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that St. Augustine makes Christ Himself say: 'You shall not change Me into yourself as you do the food of your body, but you shall be changed into Me' (confessions 1. vii., c. x.).. Moreover, in this most admirable Sacrament, which is the chief means whereby men are engrafted on the divine nature, men also find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind of virtue. And first of all in faith." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"Moreover there is another twofold fruit which we may and must derive from this great [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. The heart is saddened when it considers what a flood of wickedness, the result - as We have said - of forgetfulness and contempt of the divine Majesty, has inundated the world. It is not too much to say that a great part of the human race seems to be calling down upon itself the anger of heaven; though indeed the crop of evils which has grown up here on earth is already ripening to a just judgment. Here then is a motive whereby the faithful may be stirred to a devout and earnest endeavor to appease God the avenger of sin, and to win from Him the help which is so needful in these calamitous times. And they should see that such blessings are to be sought principally by means of this [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. For it is only in virtue of the death which Christ suffered that men can satisfy, and that most abundantly, the demands of God's justice, and can obtain the plenteous gifts of His clemency. And Christ has willed that the whole virtue of His death, alike for expiation and impetration, should abide in the Eucharist, which is no mere empty commemoration thereof, but a true and wonderful though bloodless and mystical renewal of it." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"For the edge of that longing for happiness which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all men from their birth is whetted even more and more by the experience of the deceitfulness of earthly goods, by the unjust violence of wicked men, and by all those other afflictions to which mind and body are subject. Now the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist is both the source and the pledge of blessedness and of glory, and this, not for the soul alone, but for the body also. For it enriches the soul with an abundance of heavenly blessings, and fills it with a sweet joy which far surpasses man's hope and expectations; it sustains him in adversity, strengthens him in the spiritual combat, preserves him for life everlasting, and as a special provision for the journey accompanies him thither. And in the frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the immortal Body of Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one day must germinate. That to this source man's soul and body will be indebted for both these boons has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has dutifully reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day' (St. John vi., 55)." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

"[O]ur Lord said (John 6:50): 'This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die': which manifestly is not to be understood of the death of the body. Therefore it is to be understood that this sacrament preserves from spiritual death, which is through sin... Sin is the spiritual death of the soul. Hence man is preserved from future sin in the same way as the body is preserved from future death of the body: and this happens in two ways. First of all, in so far as man's nature is strengthened inwardly against inner decay, and so by means of food and medicine he is preserved from death. Secondly, by being guarded against outward assaults; and thus he is protected by means of arms by which he defends his body. Now this sacrament preserves man from sin in both of these ways. For, first of all, by uniting man with Christ through grace, it strengthens his spiritual life, as spiritual food and spiritual medicine, according to Psalm 104:15: '(That) bread may strengthen man's heart.' Augustine likewise says [to those who will receive worthily] (Tractatus 26 in Joannis): 'Approach without fear; it is bread, not poison.' Secondly, inasmuch as it is a sign of Christ's Passion, whereby the devils are conquered, it repels all the assaults of demons. Hence Chrysostom says (Hom. 46 in Joannis): 'Like lions breathing forth fire, thus do we depart from that table, being made terrible to the devil.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of man's intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims [even] of pagan philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more, in the region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the light of faith, or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on lust by increasing charity, according to the words of St. Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, 'As it grows, lust diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more' (De diversis quaestionibus, lxxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria taught, 'For Christ abiding in us lulls to sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members' (Lib. iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the words of the prophet: 'What is the good thing of Him,' that is, of Christ, 'and what is His beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins' (Zach. ix., 17), producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a strong and constant purpose of virginity which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and spread abroad in the Catholic Church, with those advantages to religion and to human society, wherever it is found, which are plain to see." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)

Also See: The Holy Eucharist (Gen'l. Info.) | Holy Eucharist (Catechism of the Council of Trent) | Holy Eucharist / Mass (Basics / Misc.) | The Holy Eucharist & The Goodness and Love of God | The Real Presence / Transubstantiation | The Holy Eucharist (Our Father's Love Reflections) | Holy Communion [Pg.] | Frequent Communion | Necessity of Receiving the Holy Eucharist | Eucharistic Adoration / The Eucharist Reserved in the Tabernacle | Reverence / Proper Behavior (Mass / Holy Eucharist) | The Holy Eucharist (Classic Encyclicals) | Holy Mass / Sacred Liturgy (Classic Encyclicals) | Latin Mass / Catholic Tradition | Latin Mass / Catholic Tradition (Reflections) | Church Talk: 'Favorite Roman Catholic Churches' | Church Talk Reflections | The Importance of Being Catholic: Combating Religious Indifferentism / No Salvation Outside the Church | Mass / Holy Eucharist Prayers

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