Is it a good idea to spend more physical time with Jesus arrived substantially for me in Holy Communion?

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WojciechKosek

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It is a common custom among people that if I physically (and not e.g. by letter, email, phone) visit someone from my friends in his house, he does not leave the house after a few minutes from my arrival, telling me: „Farewell!, I run to other people! And without a doubt, no one would be able to stand it if his friend would always do so whenever I visited him in his house.

The knowledge of the dogma of the true, real, substantial, real presence of the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion can unfortunately only be a theoretical knowledge, but not practically applied in the relationship to Jesus (so it will be a knowledge that has no salvific meaning for me).

Isn’t this analogous to what St. James wrote in 1:23-24?

In fact, we receive the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion, but we do not have time for him to be together after the celebration. We leave as soon as the Mass ended, before the end of which we received Jesus in Holy Communion. We do not stay concentrated on being with Him, we are not aware of the truth of faith about His unique presence, we do not appreciate the time when He has just come to us physically… Is not the physical presence of friends who, like us, leave the temple almost immediately, something special that we appreciate?

Let us think about what it actually means that Jesus comes in a unique way in Holy Communion? He comes, so he wasn’t before?

He comes, that is, he was not in the same privileged manner before – physical, substantial!

Note that the Church preaches:

(1) Jesus is present among us in different ways.

(2) One way is absolutely unique – His substantial presence in the Most Holy Sacrament. What does it mean that Jesus is present in different ways?

Jesus is always present as the One who sustains everything that exists. He sustains but does not reveal his presence on this occasion. Jesus, on the other hand, is present in every needy person: when I help the needy, I will help Jesus. However, our relationship with Him is not of the highest degree. Similarly, when I read the Scriptures, or when we believers gather together in the name of Jesus, Jesus is with me, but even then He is not with me in the most privileged manner.

It is only when I receive Him in Holy Communion that He is with me according to a way of presence that is absolutely exceptional! And most abundant in salvific benefits.

And what does Jesus say about it?

The answer is in the teaching of the Church, in the testimony of many saints, and also in the Scriptures. Let’s see how Jesus reacts to the complaints that Martha addresses to Mary:

“As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me’. The Lord said to her in reply, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her ’ ”(Luk 10:38-42).
 
How wrong you are about knowing Jesus is the true presence in the Eucharist is only theoretical knowledge.

And how wrong you are in saying it is not practically applied in the relationship with Jesus.
And that it has no Salvic meaning.

Please stop these continued attacks on the Eucharist. It is the summmit and source of the Church.
 
When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we (like the Apostles at the Last Supper) leave almost immediately because we aren’t meant to sit and keep him to ourselves but to carry him into the world as we are his hands and feet, his voice and heart to the world that seems to forget him or not know him.
 
Uh, did the OP edit his post? If not, what exactly are you talking about, Rose? I’m not seeing any attack on the Eucharist here.
WojciechKosek said:
One way is absolutely unique – His substantial presence in the Most Holy Sacrament. What does it mean that Jesus is present in different ways?

Jesus is always present as the One who sustains everything that exists. He sustains but does not reveal his presence on this occasion. Jesus, on the other hand, is present in every needy person: when I help the needy, I will help Jesus. However, our relationship with Him is not of the highest degree. Similarly, when I read the Scriptures, or when we believers gather together in the name of Jesus, Jesus is with me, but even then He is not with me in the most privileged manner.

It is only when I receive Him in Holy Communion that He is with me according to a way of presence that is absolutely exceptional! And most abundant in salvific benefits.
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Where’s the part about “theoretical knowledge”? Where’s the part about “not practically applied in the relationship with Jesus”?
Where’s the part about “no salvific meaning” when he says it’s “Most abundnt in salvific benefits”?

Was the post edited? I’m not seeing the orange pencil on OP’s post.
 
WojciechKosek said:
The knowledge of the dogma of the true, real, substantial, real presence of the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion can unfortunately only be a theoretical knowledge, but not practically applied in the relationship to Jesus (so it will be a knowledge that has no salvific meaning for me).
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It does say this, but I don’t think that’s an attack on the Eucharist. I think it’s more a consequence of English not being the first language of the OP.

-Fr ACEGC
 
WojciechKosek said:
The knowledge of the dogma of the true, real, substantial, real presence of the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion can unfortunately only be a theoretical knowledge, but not practically applied in the relationship to Jesus (so it will be a knowledge that has no salvific meaning for me).

Isn’t this analogous to what St. James wrote in 1:23-24?
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Thanks Father, I see it now. I was looking at the paragraph numbered (2) because Rose said read the second paragraph.

Reading the paragraph starting “the knowledge of the dogma…” in context, it appears that this paragraph is referring to the people who run right out of the Mass after Holy Communion, and the author means it as a criticism of their behavior. And yes, there is clearly a language barrier.

I further note that according to the OP’s link in his profile, he’s a Doctor of Theology from a Polish institute and I doubt that someone promoting a website full of such theological content is intending to diss the Eucharist here. More like the opposite.
 
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Thank you for your kindness to me as not only a novice on the forum, but also a man who does not speak English on a daily basis, unfortunately.

I did not suppose that I could construct a sentence in such a way that my speech would be perceived by the reader as an attack on the Eucharist! As you suppose, I love Jesus in Eucharist! Therefore, thank you for your kindness for me, for assuming that I have no bad intentions, only a lack of language.

And by the way: at which point is the phrase incorrect linguistically, that it looks like an attack on the Eucharist?

I would be grateful for your answer!
 
You made a stand-alone paragraph starting “The knowledge of the dogma…”

Because it’s a stand-alone paragraph with no context, it can look to the reader like you are making a general statement that knowledge of the Eucharist is always only a theoretical knowledge that has no salvific meaning. If you intended to say that this only applies in certain cases, such as when a person leaves the church right after receiving, or when a person doesn’t receive at all, then that isn’t made clear. It’s also confusing to the reader because the paragraph seems to contradict what you wrote in paragraph (2).

Now to comment on your overall post, I was taught (somewhere) that Jesus stays with you for about 15 minutes after you receive the Communion, so you should concentrate/ pray for at least that amount of time.

I find it interesting that when I go to daily Mass at the Newman Center, most of the students and other attendees seem to stay after Mass and pray for a few minutes. I presumed they were making thanksgivings after Communion or, like me, finishing up a few prayers I say every day that I did not have time to finish at Communion time. It seems rather a nice custom. Not done so often at the parish churches though.
 
By the way, your other thread on the “physical presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist got locked, which means I’m not really supposed to discuss it here, but the statements you made on that thread about Jesus’ physical body and blood not being present in Eucharist appear to directly contradict Church teaching the way you framed the statement. I suspect, having looked at your page, that this is due again to you not quite having a good enough command of English to use the right words to discuss the complicated subject of transubstantiation, which can be challenging even for a native English speaker to describe because there are certain words that we use.

I think that thread in connection with the general statement you wrote here about “no salvific benefits” led Rose to believe you are on here to attack the Eucharist.

Now like I said, I looked at your page and I can’t believe a person with a doctorate in theology who posts things on his page like Archbishop Nowak’s article about Pope John Paul II, intended to be disrespectful of the Eucharist in any way. But I would kindly suggest that maybe you would want to be careful posting about such important and complex subjects on an English language forum until you have developed your English writing skills a little more. Please understand that I am saying this out of charity and I have great respect for your skills because I myself could not even begin to write a children’s beginning sentence in Polish, so your English is actually very good, but the things you are writing about need to be expressed in English in a particular exact way, or people will misunderstand, as has already happened I think at least twice now.
 
Thank you for defending the Catholic faith! Perhaps this will amaze you, but contrary to your understanding of my post, I also confess that being with Jesus arrived in the Holy Host is of enormous salvific importance. As edward_george1 noticed, English is not my national language. My way of constructing sentences is not of the highest quality (I would rather say: it is of no quality), hence the difficulty in understanding what I wanted to say.
I want to say that, on the one hand, I will be grateful for any corrections and, on the other hand, for your patience. I promise to do my best to be communicative.

Coming back to the essence of the matter, I note that few believers turn words into deeds, i.e. few of us, after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, remain with Him in conversation, in worshiping the Trinity with Him, in reaping abundant benefits from His salvific activity, which is the most privileged at that time.
It is really a great spiritual harm to them personally and to God’s salvific plan. Why do I say so? Note: the purpose of God’s plan is that we love Jesus from our hearts, that we know Jesus as our Lover, and that we respond to His love with love. The sign that we don’t really love Jesus more than we love ourselves or our friends is that we can unscrupulously abandon Him in a moment when He comes to us in such a unique way.

The uniqueness of this time after Jesus’ reception in the Blessed Sacrament is proclaimed by the Church in most serious documents. The Church also strongly encourages believers to remain with Jesus in prayer meeting after the end of the holy celebration.
Thank you wholeheartedly for taking the trouble to understand my ineptly written explanations!

A good day!
 
WojciechKosek said:
The uniqueness of this time after Jesus’ reception in the Blessed Sacrament is proclaimed by the Church in most serious documents. The Church also strongly encourages believers to remain with Jesus in prayer meeting after the end of the holy celebration.
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The Church says, moments after sharing communion: “The Mass is ended. Go in peace.” Or adds “… to love and serve the Lord.” I have never heard a priest say “The Mass is ended. Stay and pray.”

There is nothing wrong in what you say imo, but it reflects a private piety that can become problematic. Jesus assumed our humanity in order to redeem us, out of love for us. When we receive the Body of Christ, when we become what we receive, we have an obligation to go and serve others in the way that Jesus did. That is what it means to receive the Holy Spirit we just prayed for it, the same spirit Jesus has.

Perhaps the Transfiguration is a good example. Jesus did not stay, building tents with St Peter to sit with the mystery he just encountered. Jesus came down from the mountain into the chaos of a crowd and started healing the sick.

I am not criticizing what you say, but pointing to a greater reality. (60 years of speaking English and I cannot express as well as you!) We receive Christ in the Eucharist, a wonderful thing, but we are transformed by Christ to bring the good news to all humanity in union with him. Living Christ’s mission is the blessing of our lives.
 
It seems to me that the OP is asking the age-old question: if we truly believe Christ is the Eucharist, why do we not spend more time with Him physically?
WojciechKosek said:
The knowledge of the dogma of the true, substantial, real presence of the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion can unfortunately only be a theoretical knowledge
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I would have written something like: It appears as if the knowledge… is only theoretical for many people, since they do not act in accordance with a true belief in the Real Presence.
In my view, in the US we do not have close parish neighborhoods. For many of us, the only time we have to talk with other Catholics is at the church on Sundays, and this is not a good situation.

If I were in charge 🙂 rather than leave and start shaking people’s hands after Mass, the priest would process out, turn and pray for several minutes. Then everyone could go for coffee and donuts, where they could relax with other Catholics. There could even be discussion groups-- corners labeled with a topic that people could go and talk in.

Because while it is true that we should spend time with Christ present in the Eucharist, we are also human and need to hear things with our ears.
 
While I understand what you’re saying about works being important too, you know and I know that the vast majority of people in a hurry to get out of church on Sunday aren’t rushing off to do some corporal work of mercy or duty for the day. Some probably are, for instance those who are tending to children, the elderly, the ill, spending family time (like heading to Grandma’s for a visit or to their kids’ soccer match), and of course those who need to leave because they themselves are ill or have to get to work. On weekdays, people might need to be even quicker to leave because of work or school responsibilities.

But a large percentage of people are rushing put of the church simply because they checked off the box for church and can’t wait to get out of there and get on with their leisure activities like eating lunch and sitting in front of the TV. They might even be in a rush to get out of the parking lot first. Some of them are dashing out while still swallowing the Host.

Like I said above…I’m really impressed with the many students and people at the Newman Center who hang around for 5 or 10 minutes after Mass or in some cases I even see someone doing a quick Stations or Divine Mercy…just to reflect on the encounter they just had with Jesus. And then they go out and do their good works. Simples.
 
Thank you for your comment!

As we both know the Bible, we know that after the Last Supper none of the Apostles went to the people to speak about our Lord! One of them, John (it is a pity that he alone) went to Calvary to be with Jesus and Mary and a few women in the most dramatic hours of his life…

As we both remember, Jesus rose up on the third day, and after forty days he invited the Apostles to the mountain from which He was taken up to heaven.

Before He did this, He commanded them: “And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high” (Luk 24:49).

So they were in prayer until the day when they were clothed with power from on high.

“All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Act 1:14).

They lasted for nine days - and “they were all filled with the holy Spirit” (Act 2:4) on the ninth day! Only then, having the power of the Holy Spirit, did they begin to preach the Good News. Only then, not before.

Conclusion? It is a good idea to remain in prayer for some time after participating in the Eucharistic Feast in order to receive the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel.

If someone immediately runs out to preach, he does what St. John described about Judas in the Gospel: “So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night” (Joh 13:30).

And St. John Chrysostom commented on it in this way:

https://www.adoracja.bielsko.opoka.org.pl/amp/Texts_of_Church_Fathers.html#spp5

(by the way: if You have better translation of this text, send me, please)
 
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Annie said:
It seems to me that the OP is asking the age-old question: if we truly believe Christ is the Eucharist, why do we not spend more time with Him physically?
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I’m a bit baffled by this myself, given that he’s told various mystics and saints He gets lonely when people don’t spend time in His presence.

I mean, I was raised to do what this poem “Just for a Minute” says, pretty much. It’s harder to do nowadays when churches are mostly locked, but right after Mass is a time when they are open for a few minutes, or longer if there’s going to be another Mass soon.

http://www.maryshelper.com/justforaminute/
 
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Once some really bad stuff has happened and you’ve kind of been forced into a closer relationship with God, he seems more real, and you want to visit Him more. Like seeing a friend every day.
 
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