"This is my Body."

I've been in Pittsburgh with my father while an ill family member receives medical care. My dad and I are both Christian, but we belong to different denominations. I'm Catholic; he's not. We've both had the opportunity to attend church while we're here.

For me, it's been a real treat to be able to attend Mass more regularly than I generally can. For one thing, I've not been working. For another, Mass is held at least once each day at the hospital. And for a third, the cathedral is about 8 blocks from where we're staying. It's a beautiful structure, and they hold more than 20 Masses there each week. This is a far cry from what is typical in North Carolina, where there are far fewer Catholics and far fewer Catholic churches.

The other day while Dad and I walked to the hospital, I mentioned that I planned to go to daily Mass. He said that he didn't understand the purpose of going to daily Mass... he didn't see what someone would "get" from going to Mass so often.

As a former Protestant, I understood where he might be coming from, for there is a vast difference in the way Catholics and most Protestants understand Eucharist. It seems to me that most Protestant denominations emphasize the verses from 1 Corinthians 11 - "Do this in memory of me," while Catholics emphasize the verses from Matthew 26: "This is my Body", and "This is my Blood".

This difference in outlook is not insignificant. Because if you accept (as I do) that the bread and wine are truly transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, there is no more intimate way to partake in the life of Christ while we are on this earth.

My description of the importance of Eucharist is certainly not eloquent, but St. Francis de Sales phrased it beautifully:

When worldly people question you about your receiving Communion so frequently, answer them that it is to learn to love God, to be purified from your faults, to be freed from your miseries, to be comforted in your troubles, to be strengthened in your weaknesses. Tell them that two sorts of persons are to receive Communion often: those who are perfect because, being well disposed, they would be very wrong if they did not draw near to the source and spring of perfection; and those who are imperfect, that they may be able to rightly to seek perfection; the strong, that they may not become weak, and the weak, that they become strong; the sick that they may become well and the healthy that they may not become sick. Say about yourself, that being imperfect, weak, and sick it is necessary that you have frequent contact with him who is your perfection, your strength and your doctor.

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