Holy Eucharist: the Beauty of Catholicism and the Glory and Essence of the Catholic Priesthood; the Scandal of Its Abuses

By Christopher Ezeh

1. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the development of the Eucharistic adoration in the Catholic Church are explored to harvest the rich insights and contributions of the saints, sacred theologians of the Church, the Popes and a host of others including the laity ad the clergy through their sacred writings and exemplary pious devotions to the Blessed Sacrament.

2. The Holy Eucharist is God in our midst. This book relates a number of miracles that individuals have received directly from the Eucharistic Lord by visiting the Blessed Sacrament or by participating in the Eucharistic adoration.

3. The Holy Eucharist is a healing tool par excellence in the ministry of a Catholic priest. How the priest can deploy its healing resources in his daily ministrations to those who approach him with all kinds of problems, is fully explored in this book. The implications of what it means for the priest to engage himself and Gods people with visit to the Blessed Sacrament are fully developed in this publication.

4. How can a Catholic priest access the healing resources in the Holy Eucharist and employ those healing resources in the healing of those who approach him with all kinds of life issues and problems which could be spiritual, moral, social, physical, material, mental, psychological, etc? That is part of what this book is all about.

What constitute the abuses of the Holy Eucharist? Could we still receive favors from the Eucharistic Jesus when we knowingly abuse the Holy Eucharist? In what ways do we abuse the Holy Eucharist thereby insulting the Eucharistic Jesus without knowing? These issues are dealt with in this book where the author identified and discussed some of the abuses of the Holy Eucharist. This book, therefore, is about how to visit the Blessed Sacrament and receive favors from the Eucharistic Lord and how to avoid abusing the Holy Eucharist.

5. The Real Presence: Fact or FancyWhat Lies Concealed in the Sacred Host? Some classical Eucharistic miracles which took place through the centuries especially in the 20th, 13th and 9th centuries are narrated in this book to help unravel the hidden divinity in the Sacred Host after consecration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496902375

Christopher Ezeh

Fr. Christopher O. Ezeh is a citizen of the United States of America. He published his first book in 1994, titled Children: A Blessing or a Curse; The Task of Family Child Upbringing. Christopher earned his bachelors degrees in philosophy and in theology in 1990 and 1994, respectively, from the Pontifical Urban University Rome. He did his masters degree in educational administration, with specialization in higher education, at the University of Rochester, New York, USA, and graduated in March 2006. He also earned a masters degree in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, USA, graduating in December 2009. Fr. Christopher was endorsed as a Chaplain for and by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, in 2007. Fr. Christopher is currently a PhD research student. His hobbies include reading and writing, music, badminton, and jogging.

Book preview

HOLY EUCHARIST

THE BEAUTY OF CATHOLICISM

AND THE GLORY AND ESSENCE

OF THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD;

THE SCANDAL OF ITS ABUSES

CHRISTOPHER OSITA EZEH

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Copyright © Christopher Ezeh, 2014.

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0238-2 (softcover)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0237-5 (ebook)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying or recording, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Nihil Obstat

Rev. Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo

March 8, 2014

Imprimatur

Most Rev. Dr. Paulinus C. Ezeokafor

Bishop of Awka, Nigeria.

March 8, 2014

Printed and Published in USA by

AuthorHouse™ LLC

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Phone: [phone]

To order additional copies of this book contact Authorhouse

at the above address, phone number or website.

Contents

ACKNO WLEDGEMENT

PREFACE

FOREWORD

1    INTRODUCTION

2    EUCHARIST: THE SACRAMENT OF HEALING: IT’S HISTORICAL, BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.1    The Origin of the Eucharist vis-à-vis the Paschal Lamb in the Old Testament

2.2    Sanctuary

2.3    The Brazen Altar

2.4    The Table of Showbread

2.5    The Menorah

2.6    The Golden Altar of Incense

2.7    The Holy of Holies and the Veil

2.8    The Ark of Covenant

2.9    The Tabernacle

3    THE THREE LEVELS OF CONDESCENSION OF THE WORD OF GOD

4    THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST BY CHRIST

4.1    The Use of Symbols in the Institution of the Holy Eucharist

5    WRITINGS OF SOME OF THE EARLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST

6    THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST

6.1    The Impact of Protestant Reformation on the Theological Controversies on the Holy Eucharist

6.2    Magisterial Statements on the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist

7    PRIESTS AS THE ORDINARY MINISTERS OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST IN THE CATHOLIC TRADITION

8    TRANSUBSTANTIATION—ITS THEOLOGICAL MEANING

8.1    The Twin Miracles of Transubstantiation

8.2    The Real Presence: Fact or Fancy—What Lies Concealed in the Sacred Host?

9    EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

9.1    The Eucharistic Miracle on the Street of Buenos Aires in Argentina in 1996 (20th Century)

9.2    The Eucharistic Miracle of Orvieto in Italy in the 13th Century

9.3    The Lanciano Eucharistic Miracle in Italy in the 9th Century

10    THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUCHARISTIC ADORATION IN THE CATHOLIC TRADITION

10.1    Appeals from Heaven for Eucharistic Adoration

11    ENGAGING ONESELF AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD WITH VISIT TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT AS ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL PASTORAL DUTIES OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST IN HIS EUCHARISTIC MINISTRY

11.1    Engaging Oneself with Visit to the Blessed Sacrament as a Pastor

11.2    Engaging God’s People with Visit to the Blessed Sacrament

11.2.1    Sample Stories of my Eucharistic Healing Ministrations in Nigeria

11.2.2    Sample Stories of my Eucharistic Healing Ministrations in the United States of America

12    THE HUMAN SOUL AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST

13    THE ABUSES OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST AND ITS CHALLENGES AS THE GREATEST TEST OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH

13.1    Receiving the Holy Eucharist in the State of Mortal Sin that has not been Confessed and Forgiven

13.2    Exposing the Holy Eucharist to danger of abuse when a lay person takes communion on regular basis to the sick in the hospital or to the homes of the sick people in the community where a priest never visits

13.3    The desecration of the fragments of the consecrated host or the precious Blood which are left after Holy Communion by discarding the fragments into the dust bin or pouring the precious blood into the sink.

13.4    Admitting to First Holy Communion children who have reached the age of reason without having them make their first sacramental confession

13.5    Allowing non ministers of the exposition of he Blessed Sacrament to expose the Blessed Sacrament in the presence of the ordinary minister of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament when no special circumstance or necessity exists

13.6    Allowing the sanctuary lamp to be extinguished on a permanent basis notwithstanding the presence of the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the tabernacle

13.7    Inappropriate physical comportment toward the Blessed Sacrament whether exposed in the monstrance or reposed in the tabernacle

14    SAFEGUARDING THE HOLY EUCHARIST FROM PHYSICAL ABUSE

15    PROVISION OF PHYSICAL SECURITY TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE THAT DOES NOT HINDER OR DISCOURAGE ANYONE FROM VISIT TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

16    WHAT MAKES IT WORK AND WHAT MAKES IT FAIL—THE EFFICACY OF VISIT TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

17    CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO:

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

ACKNO WLEDGEMENT

Such work, the substance, aesthetics and magnitude of which are to be cherished and admired by so many cannot be the output of one head alone because no man or woman has the monopoly of knowledge. Thus, this publication on the Holy Eucharist is never an intellectual product of one man alone.

My gratitude, therefore, goes first to God, the almighty, the alpha and omega, the beginning and end of all things, by whose grace and inspiration I was able to organize my thoughts toward the production of this book.

I remain profoundly grateful to my Local Ordinary, Most Rev. Dr. Paulinus Ezeokafor, the Bishop of Awka diocese in Anambra State, Nigeria whose moral support has enabled me to produce this book and whom it has pleased to grant his imprimatur to the book. I remain most grateful to him.

I will never forget our Bishop Emeritus, Most Rev. Dr. Simon A. Okafor, the retired Bishop of Awka diocese, who sent me to America for mission and for studies without whose benevolence I would never have had the opportunity to exercise my priestly apostolate in the United States of America.

My gratitude also goes to the Archbishop and the Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, namely, Most Rev. Dr. Timothy Broglio, Most Rev. Dr. Richard Higgins, Most Rev. Dr. Richard Spencer, Most Rev. Dr. Neal Buckon and Most Rev. Dr. Robert Coyle. May the good Lord bless and strengthen them for the great work they do for our honorable active men and women in the military, home and abroad, and for our wounded soldiers in the Veterans Administration facilities all over the country. I remain grateful to them all for the great opportunities they had given me to minister to our wounded soldiers in the VA and to our active men and women in the military.

I will never fail to express my gratitude to the newly installed Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Rochester, NY, USA, Most Rev. Dr. Salvatore Matano, and in a special way I remain grateful to the Bishop Emeritus of Rochester diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Clark for the great opportunity he gave me to minister to God’s people in his diocese for three years before joining the Military Archdiocese, USA.

I am highly indebted to my University Professor, Rev. Dr. Fr. Jorge R. Colon, of the Graduate Theological Foundation University, who motivated me to publish this book. In a special way my profound gratitude goes to Fr. Joseph Lanzalaco who wrote a beautiful preface to this publication and to Rev. Dr. Fr. John Galeano who wrote another beautiful foreward to this book.

In a special way a bushel of gratitude goes to Rev. Dr. Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo who is the Bishop’s secretary and a classmate of mine in the seminary who took the time and energy to proof read the manuscript and made some inputs before the publication of this book. I am highly grateful to the above named priests whose great contributions added significantly to the substance of this book because a tree does not make a forest.

I remain very much indebted to my parents, Francis and Monica Ezeh of the blessed memory, my step-father and benefactor, Mr. Felix Nnanor who assisted greatly in the sponsoring of my education in the seminary, and to my brothers, sister and sister-in-laws namely, Josephat Ezeh, Emmanuel Ezeh of the blessed memory, Juliana Chikeluba, Louisa Ezeh, Alice Ezeh and all their children.

My gratitude is immensely due to family friends and parishioners who have been very supportive of my priestly ministry in the United States of America from different parishes, dioceses and states. They include but not limited to these people namely: Paul Shinal, Diana Craddock, Joel Craddock, Jeff and Stacy Fletcher, Chad and Becky Robacker, Steve and Debbie Craddock, Charles and Maryelle Compton, Dave and Darlene Duprey, Keith and Karen Bunkers, Joseph and Mary DiDominico, Kyle Bunker, Kendra and John, Kimberly Bunker, Ceil Klueber, Bob and Rosemarie DeRose, Maura Spencer, Thomas Falbo, Agnes Falbo, Mary Ann Greco, Tony Greco, Thomas Temple, Martha Temple, Scott and Debra Honan, Denis Fronheisor, etc.

PREFACE

For almost 27 years as a Roman Catholic Priest I have celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass every day of my Priestly life. Often times I have celebrated Mass several times in a day. The total of Masses is around 10,000. Celebrating Mass is what I do. To be sure, the definition of Priest is, one who offers sacrifice.

As a Priest I have a Eucharistic Spirituality and in the Mass I become in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. It is a truly humbling experience every time I celebrate. In his book, The Holy Eucharist, Father Christopher Ezeh has made a tremendous contribution to our understanding of the Holy Eucharist, the Mass, and the Priesthood. He has done so in a very succinct and clear way. He has written in a classical, systematical way, the whole history of the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of the Eucharist. Indeed, Father Ezeh starts off with the foreshadowing of the Eucharist in the Hebrew Scriptures 1200 years before the birth of Christ and brings us up to modern days.

Of particular interest to me was Chapter 7 of the book where Father states, The Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders were instituted by Christ at the same time. This, of course, was at the Last Supper before Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of His life for the salvation of all. In the same chapter Father goes on to discuss the writings of the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965) to give us a more recent understanding of the Priesthood, Mass, and Eucharist. In his earlier chapters Father Ezeh explains the writings of the early Church Fathers, the Middle Ages, and the Eucharistic controversies during the Protestant Reformation.

I believe this work will prove invaluable in seminaries, classrooms, RCIA programs, or simply read by Priests and Lay People who would like a refresher course on the Holy Eucharist. As Father Ezeh so elegantly states in his introduction, The Eucharist is to the Church what the soul is to the body. No truer words were spoken in regards to the Eucharist. It has been, for two thousand years, the Heart and Soul of the Roman Catholic Church and Father has done quite well in explaining it to us.

By Rev. Joseph M. Lanzalaco, CSB

(Chaplain: John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, USA)

FOREWORD

The Eucharist is the center of Catholic life. Without the Eucharist there is no Church; the Eucharist is the source from which ecclesial life is derived, since it is the celebration of the Paschal Mystery, and it is the strength which the Body of Christ receives to carry out the mission entrusted to it by Christ. Christ himself told his disciples that they must live in communion with his Eucharistic presence in order to know the gift of the life he promises: I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).

Throughout history, the Church has designated the Sacrifice of the Mass as the center of Christian life precisely because the Eucharist is the promise of communion with the Lord and his Church and is the pledge of eternal life: This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever (John 6:59). The Church continually reflects upon the meaning of Eucharistic celebration in the Church because it is the source of her life.

For the liturgy to be celebrated faithfully and well it requires continued openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, reflection, and care given to Eucharistic celebration. Thankfully, Father Ezeh has made a great contribution to help those who participate in the celebration of the Eucharist to take appropriate care to celebrate the Eucharist with the dignity and joy it deserves. All of the elements of the Eucharistic Sacrifice have been carefully arranged for theological, doctrinal, ecclesial, and liturgical reasons. To carelessly approach the celebration of the Eucharist can lead to a casual approach to faith. The Church is served by three great teachers namely: Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and Revelation.

Father Ezeh in his book, points out a number of elements that are important: historical, sacramental, scriptural, and theological elements and discusses their development along a continuum that highlights their importance in the Church.

The liturgical life of the Catholic Church is surrounded by rubrics and sacred actions that allow us to celebrate and to be immersed in the Paschal Mystery. Father Ezeh highlights the importance of careful attention to the celebration of liturgical actions, especially the celebration of the Eucharist. Tracing the lines of the historical development of the liturgy, Father Ezeh notes that the rites and rubrics of Holy Mass have not been arrived at carelessly or casually and thus their observance should not be the subject of a careless approach either.

In his work, Father Ezeh tells us that the Eucharist reflects the mystery of divine life and also expresses the great truths of the Catholic faith: Jesus in his great power and love for us assumed the human nature, taking on our flesh and blood. In the Eucharist he remains close to his people. Father Ezeh writes: The Holy Eucharist is to the Church what the soul is to the body. Without the soul the body is lifeless and is nothing but a corpse doomed to rot and decay. Without the Holy Eucharist the Church in its entirety is empty and a hollow gong… It is the Holy Eucharist that animates the Church and all that it holds with meaning, life, power and authority. It is the Real Presence of Christ in the Church that gives the Church a unique value and makes the Church christocentric throughout the ages.

Through the action of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s presence abides with his Church and this is especially seen in the Eucharistic consecration. Jesus commanded the apostles, Do this in memory of me. The Lord’s promise is to remain with us even to the end of time and He remains with the Church through the Eucharist. Father Ezeh, therefore, highlights that we owe this august Visitor, our sincere welcome, worship and adoration. His work is a great contribution in fostering devout Eucharistic celebration, visit to the Blessed Sacrament with our needs, problems, joys and sorrows; sincere and fervent adoration of the Holy Eucharist among the clergy and the laity in the Catholic Church.

By: Rev. John J. Galeano, M.A., M.Div., Ph.D

Lodi, NJ, 2014

1

INTRODUCTION

The Holy Eucharist is to the Church what the soul is to the body. Without the soul the body is lifeless and is nothing but a corpse doomed to rot and decay. Without the Holy Eucharist the Church in its entirety is empty and a hollow gong. Without the Holy Eucharist the Bishop’s miter is nothing but a piece of cloth and his crosier is nothing but a piece of metal. Without the Holy Eucharist, the priest is nothing but a man like every other man. It is the Holy Eucharist that animates the Church and all that it holds with meaning, life, power and authority.

The Holy Eucharist is Christ the Head of His Mystical Body. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ which constitutes His members who are the believers in Christ. The laity and the clergy with Christ as the Head hierarchically constitute the living Mystical Body