A couple of weeks ago Mike Aquilina linked to and recommended the Daily Gospel which is a free service that emails you the readings of the day along with some commentary which can range from the Fathers of the Church to modern day saints and others. I have been reading it for the last couple of weeks and found the commentary to excellent. I especially like the one they had today.
Saint Theresia Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, Martyr, Co-patroness of Europe
The Prayer of the Church
“The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”
Christ is the way that leads to interior life and to the choirs of the blessed who sing the eternal Sanctus. Christ’s blood is the curtain in the Temple through which we penetrate into the Holy of Holies of divine life (Heb 9:11f.; 10:20). In baptism and the sacrament of penance, he purifies us of sin, he opens our eyes to the eternal light, he opens our ears to perceive the divine Word, he opens our lips so that we begin to sing the song of praise, so that we pray the prayer of reconciliation, of petition, of thanksgiving; and all those prayers are nothing but various forms of the one adoration…
But it is above all the sacrament in which Christ is personally present, which makes us members of his body. By participating in the sacrifice and in the sacred meal, by being nourished with the flesh and blood of Jesus, we ourselves become his flesh and his blood. And only when we are members of his body, and to the extent to which we are that in truth, his Spirit can give us life and reign in us… We become members of the body of Christ “not only through love…, but also really and truly by being one with his flesh. That is realized through the food he gave us in order to prove to us his desire for us. That is why he lowered himself even to the point of coming to us, and that he formed his own body in us, so that we might be one, as the body is united with the head.” (St. John Chrysostom) As members of his body, animated by his Spirit, we offer ourselves in sacrifice “through him, with him and in him,” and we unite our voices to the eternal thanksgiving.
