September 3, 2023

Twenty-Second sunday of ordinary time

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, OP

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

Tomorrow we celebrate Labor Day and the importance of manual labor. As Christians we honor those who work with their own hands—St. Joseph himself was a carpenter. Have a great Labor Day holiday!

Also, this Friday is Mary’s birthday, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessing Virgin Mary.

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface

Mass Tidbit:

Here we reach the holiest part of the Mass: the consecration, where the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ. The substance of bread and wine are transformed into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood respectively. Transubstantiation means the transfer of one substance into another and is the technical term of what happens at the Mass when the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Although they still look to the human eye as bread and wine, in their substance they are in fact no longer such, but rather, by divine action, the real Body and Blood of Christ. They are God’s literal presence on earth, worthy of adoration and worship. This is a central mystery of our Faith: Christ’s presence to us in the Eucharist. Therefore, we kneel during the consecration because we are kneeling before God in adoration. For those who reject transubstantiation, who think the Eucharist only bread and wine, kneeling before them is idolatry. Our actions at Mass only make sense in the light of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. 

When we receive the Eucharist we receive Christ into ourselves—not symbolically, but in actual reality, literally. The Mass is not simply a remembrance of things past, but also an encounter with Christ in the present. 

Next week we’ll look at the words of consecration, where God, through the words and actions of the priest, transforms the bread and wine into Body and Blood of Christ.