Receive Communion every time as if it were the first time, pope says

Jun 24, 2019

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Vatican


Vatican City — Every time a Catholic receives Communion, it should be like his or her first Communion, Pope Francis said.
Marking the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ June 23, the pope spoke about the gift of the Eucharist during his midday Angelus address at the Vatican and at the Rome parish of Santa Maria Consolatrice, where he celebrated an evening Mass and led eucharistic Benediction after a Corpus Christi procession.

The feast, he told visitors in St. Peter's Square, is an annual occasion for Catholics "to renew our awe and joy for the stupendous gift of the Lord, which is the Eucharist."

Catholics should concentrate on receiving Communion with gratitude every time they receive it, he said, rather than approaching the altar "in a passive, mechanical way."
"We must get used to receiving the Eucharist and not go to Communion out of habit," the pope said. "When the priest says to us, 'The body of Christ,' we say, 'Amen.' But let it be an 'Amen' that comes from the heart, with conviction."
"It is Jesus, it is Jesus who saved me; it is Jesus who comes to give me the strength to live," Pope Francis said. "We must not get used to it. Every time must be as if it were our first Communion."
Later, celebrating an evening Mass on the steps of the Rome parish of Santa Maria Consolatrice, about six miles east of the Vatican, Pope Francis' homily focused on the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and the connection between the Eucharist and blessings.
"When one blesses, he does not do something for himself, but for others," like Jesus did when he blessed the five loaves and two fish before they were miraculously multiplied to feed the crowd, the pope said. "Blessing is not about saying nice words or trite phrases; it is about speaking goodness, speaking with love."
The Mass is "a school of blessing," the pope said. The people gathered for the Eucharist are blessed, they bless the Lord, and they, in turn, are sent forth to be a blessing to the world.

"It is sad to think of how easily people today speak words not of blessing but of contempt and insult," the pope said. "Sadly, those who shout most and loudest, those angriest, often appeal to others and persuade them.
"Let us avoid being infected by that arrogance," he said. "Let us not let ourselves be overcome by bitterness, for we eat the bread that contains all sweetness within it."
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves also is a lesson in giving, a lesson Jesus taught in a supreme way by giving up his life and giving himself in the Eucharist, the pope said.
Taking the small basket of food offered by a boy and feeding a multitude with it shows that "whatever we have can bear fruit if we give it away — that is what Jesus wants to tell us — and it does not matter whether it is great or small."
"Being simple and essential, bread broken and shared, the Eucharist we receive allows us to see things as God does," the pope said. "It inspires us to give ourselves to others. It is the antidote to the mindset that says, 'Sorry, that is not my problem,' or, 'I have no time, I can't help you, it's none of my business.' "

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-chronicles/receive-communion-every-time-if-it-were-first-time-pope-says

Until which “coming” would Apostle John live?

Beyond the “Second Coming”

 

Part Two:

Until which “coming” would Apostle John live?

 

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

^“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.

(This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said,

‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’)

When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’

Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return,

what is that to you? You must follow me’.”

 

John 21:20-22

 

 

 

 

The Apostles of Jesus Christ were the types who were never going ‘to die wondering’.

Philip, for instance (John 14:8): ‘Master, show us the Father; then we shall be content’.

And Thomas (20:25): ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe’.

Now Peter: ‘Lord, what about him [John]?’

 

Jesus often met such questions with a mild rebuke.

In the case of Philip (John 14:9-11):

 

‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves’.

 

In the case of ‘Doubting Thomas’ (20:27): ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’.

In the case of Peter: ‘What is that to you?’, etc.

 

But there may now arise a modern question: If, as most Christians seem to believe, Jesus has not yet come as He spoke of to his disciples - {and as they (e.g. Sts. John, Paul) wrote of with phrases like “soon”, or even “very soon”} - in what Christians term (wrongly, I think) the “second coming”, then how is it that the risen Jesus can say that He wanted John ‘to remain alive until I return’?

This statement, by the way, is perfectly in accord with what the pre-Resurrection Jesus had told his followers (Matthew 16:28): ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom’.

Apparently, while Peter was not going to be one of these, John was.

Had Jesus Christ, who had risen from the dead by his own power, by the power of his Father (John 10:17-18): ‘The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father’, all of a sudden, despite his now being in a higher (transformed) state of being, become confused about when He would actually come again?

No, the fact is that there was a “coming” before the final coming, as I estimated in Part One: https://www.academia.edu/29837194/Beyond_the_Second_Coming_ thus:

 

As the Americans say, Let’s do the math.

 

First: “In the Gospel the Lord shows us that His first coming was in humility, as a Servant, to free the world from sin”. http://www.ewtn.com.au/devotionals/mercy/coming.htm

 

Second: His soon-to-take-place “coming” as gleaned from the quotes above, follows that one. And it is this particular “coming” that I would designate the “Second Coming”.

 

Last: There is yet to be a Final Coming, as indicated by the Catechism: “God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the last judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world” (No. 667). The Last Judgment.

 

Peter’s lifetime approximated to only the First of these.

John would live on until the Second.

We still await the Final coming of Jesus Christ.