A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside. After he had sat down, his disciples gathered around him, and Jesus began to teach them. How blessed, our lord said, are the poor in spirit. The reign of god is theirs.
Blessed also are the sorrowing. They shall be consoled. Blessed are the lowly. They shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for holiness.
They shall have their fill. Blessed are they who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs. Blessed are the single hearted, for they shall see god. Blessed too, the peacemakers. They shall be called sons of god.
Blessed are those persecuted for the sake of holiness. The reign of god is theirs. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward in heaven is great. They persecuted the prophets before you in the very same way.
And this is the gospel, gospel, the good news of the lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. Yesterday we celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi, but in many, many ways you wouldn't notice it. It is just another indication of the way I say the worship of the presence of Jesus Christ, body and blood, soul, and divinity, present under the appearances of the bread and under the appearances of the wine, how that has been downgraded, downgraded.
I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. I'm only saying that's the fact. Most of us here present can recall when the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with a great deal of pomp and circumstance. Most of us can remember with what reverence the chalice was treated. Most of us remember how with much reverence people entered the church and genuflected because they said, We have the real presence here.
In many instances, the benediction of the blessed sacrament was one of our most popular and consoling services. It's almost disappeared. Now the Council of Trent only stated ages, ages, the truth of ages, when it said that the holy Eucharist is the center and the core of Catholic life. That it wasn't saying anything new at all. That's how the council introduces in the catechism its treatment of the holy Eucharist.
That's the very first sentence. And who can deny it? How much you see, our emphasis has become so much on man now. And this world, making this world such a wonderful place to live in, making man so comfortable in this world, when all that Jesus Christ preached was the cross. Now if there's any truth at all in the Catholic doctrine, because it is the Catholic doctrine, remember, there is no dispute about this between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and all the Uniad churches.
There is no difference of opinion on this score at all. And even Luther, but he was the only one of the early Protestant reformers, Even he insisted that there was some kind of real presence under the appearances of bread and wine. Some kind. The others rejected it entirely. The very doctrine the very doctrine of the holy Eucharist and the real presence and and how in some way no.
We don't know how. That Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, now glorified with his father in heaven, that that same Jesus is fully and completely contained and is. Notice, not contained, but is. This is not consubstantiation. Christ isn't present with real bread and real wine.
The doctrine of the church and I spent a good bit of time there last week looking over the council, and I skimmed through at least six of the documents. Documents. There is absolutely no suggestion of a change of the Catholic doctrine here in the council, Vatican II. Vatican II talks it accepts Trent, of course, but it does accept Trent. Now we believe, and it's the church's doctrine.
This is not a matter of knowledge. This is not a matter of experience. This isn't anything you can prove experientially. You can't go to a computer and get an answer. It's a matter of the most profound faith.
Faith. And the and that rests upon the teaching of the church. And the church has taught I don't now remember, you can't speak without using words, and words are involved in philosophical systems. But the church has never, never made it an article of faith to accept any philosophical system. It's condemned a good many of them, but it's never put it it's never said you've got to be an Aristotelian to be a Catholic.
Saint Augustine wasn't an Aristotelian, and he's pretty well reputed to be a Catholic. But the doctrine of the Church, however you express it, is this: appearances of bread remain, and appearances of wine remain. Now by appearances, we mean everything that falls under your senses, sight, touch, taste, odor, you name it. They remain. But there is no bread there and there is no wine there.
As bread or as wine? Appearance is yes. The reality, the underlying the underlying essential actuality is nothing but, nothing but, the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. And it makes no difference whether you receive under the species of wine or under the species of bread, quel deferens. You don't have to accept both to accept Jesus Christ.
And this is one of my objections to this having communion under both rights. I think it's a great idea, but it can give a false impression, and often does give a false impression. Impression. Our Blessed Lord and of course, you see we don't even use the sequence anymore of Saint Thomas for the feast of We skip it, you can use it, but it's usually skipped because it's long. And yet Saint Thomas Aquinas put into into that mass of the Corpus Christi, he put into that all the essential doctrine of the church regarding the Eucharist.
But we don't even read that. Now if there's any doctrine which calls forth two sentiments, the first is this, and it's no sentiment. I humbly apologize for that word. The first is a commitment of faith. There is no way we can verify experientially or experimentally the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and it's absurd to try.
It's it's an it's an ascent of profoundest faith on the words of Jesus Christ, the tradition of the church, and its authentic mysterium. On this, there is absolutely no doubt and no hesitation, no ambiguity, no confusion, and let me hasten to add, no explanations. You don't explain the profoundness of mysteries. And the second sentiment, if I may dare use that word, is one of gratitude. Because this doctrine is either true or false.
Either Jesus Christ, the son of God, God almighty, omnipotent God, is present there or he is not really present. And by real, I mean there's no fiction of my imagination, there's no creation of my faith. I don't make him more real by my more feeling about it or my convictions or my persuasion. I don't change Jesus Christ at all. The only thing that I can change is myself.
Myself. And this isn't a matter of of building up all kinds of emotions and feelings. We get these once in a while, and thank God for them. Some of us remember first communion or our wedding or the Christmas or special Christmas or a special Easter or Christmases in general or Easters in general or some special occasion when we feel lifted up and we know that Jesus is present because we feel so good about it. That is no test for anything.
All that may mean is you had a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. What counts is I believe. I believe. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.