Gospel Photo of the Week



A recent Pew Research study found that just 31% of U.S. Catholics they surveyed believe that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, through a process called transubstantiation, become the body and blood of Jesus, this is a fundamental teaching that is central to the Catholic faith, known as the Real Presence. This means that sixty-nine percent of Catholics surveyed reported their belief that the bread and wine used during the Eucharist “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.”

The Church teaches in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1374, that: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained...' it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present."

The Second Vatican Council teaches that the Eucharist is the “Source and Summit of the Christian life” and that Christ “is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, 'the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formally offered himself on the cross,' but especially under the Eucharistic species.” In the Bread of Life Discourse found in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus Himself tells us “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Throughout the Gospels Jesus says: “This is my body… this is my blood.” He is telling us exactly what the Eucharist consists of. We see in these teachings from the Church, and Jesus Himself, not only the importance of the Eucharist but that it is much more than a mere symbol. Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, body, blood, soul and divinity.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone, let alone sixty-nine percent of Catholics, can hear these words of Jesus and not recognize what takes place at each and every Mass. We have two thousand years’ worth of thought and writings on the matter to help us comprehend this teaching. We have recourse to the works of the early Fathers of the Church, saints and popes who have written on the subject.

I pray that as we approach the altar to receive the Eucharist, we take the time to reflect on the reality that is before us. Right before our very eyes in what looks to be an unassuming piece of bread is Jesus Christ Himself, present to each one of us, body, blood, soul, and divinity.

On Saturday, August 24, during the 5:00 p.m. Mass, Bishop Roger J. Foys will install Fr. Eric as the Pastor of St. Anthony Parish. A reception following the Mass will be held in Fleming Hall. Please make sure to join us for this joyful occasion.

St. Anthony Fall Fest



Saturday, September 14, 2019
6:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Click here for all the details!

2019 Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal