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Communion under both kinds

Although the practice of receiving Communion under both kinds was common in the Church for a time, with the growing external reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and awareness of the risk of profanation, the Church deemed it appropriate to limit it for the faithful. Although the form of receiving Communion (under one or both kinds) is a matter of variable Church discipline, the obligation to reverence and care for the Blessed Sacrament remains an unchanging element of dogmatic teaching, as it is directly linked to faith in the real presence of Christ, the God-Man. Council of Constance: "In some parts of the world certain people rashly dare to assert that the Christian people should receive the holy sacrament of the Eucharist under both kinds...contrary to the praiseworthy custom of the Church, with its rational foundations, which they condemnably seek to reject as sacrilege, referring to the origins... Just as this custom was rightly introduced to avoid certain dangers and scandals, so for a similar and even more serious reason the present custom could be introduced and reasonably observed. Although in the early Church the faithful received this Sacrament under both kinds, later on it was received under both kinds only by the consecrator, and by the faithful only under the species of bread. However, it must be believed with certainty and not doubted that the body and blood of Christ are contained in their entirety under both the species of bread and wine."

Listening to Christ's response to St. Thomas's profession of faith: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," let us ask ourselves sincerely whether we truly believe that Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, to whom we should render the highest veneration, is truly present under the consecrated species of bread and wine, and whether our actions, including external ones, follow this faith. It is not enough to believe in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We must also pay Him due reverence.

My Lord and my God! - on the duty to honor the Blessed Sacrament

The Savior comments on the titular confession of faith in the divinity of Christ by St. Thomas, which is mentioned in the Gospel fragment for White Sunday, with the words: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

The Real Presence of Christ

Remaining faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ: "My body is true food, and my blood is true drink," and to His words at the institution of the Eucharist: "This is my body...", the Church teaches us that in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, although invisibly, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is really and substantially present. The real presence of the Savior under the species of bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is a dogma of faith that all Christians must profess. Council of Trent: "Canon 1. If anyone denies that in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ are truly, really, and substantially contained, but says that He is in it only as in sign, image, or power, let him be anathema."

The necessity of venerating the Blessed Sacrament

Because of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we are obligated to accord the Blessed Sacrament the highest reverence, latria (adoration, adoration), which belongs solely and exclusively to God. Furthermore, as the Church dogmatically teaches us, this worship cannot be solely interior, but should also be exterior. As a spiritual-corporeal being, man expresses the attitude of his spirit outwardly through his body. Therefore, in addition to this essential interior attitude, the exterior attitude with which we receive Holy Communion is also crucial, as are the external gestures expressing our adoration of the Blessed Sacrament—whether exposed for adoration, present in the tabernacle, or on the altar. Council of Trent: "Canon 6. If anyone says that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should not be adored with the cult of praise, even externally... - let him be anathema."

Necessary care for particles

Faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is also expressed through caring for the particles, or separated fragments of the host or wine, in which the whole Christ is also present. This is an element of the external reverence we are commanded to have for the Blessed Sacrament. Council of Trent: "Canon 3. If anyone denies that in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist the whole and entire Christ is present under every species and in every separated part, let him be anathema."

The whole Christ is present in each form It is also worth remembering that, according to the Church's teaching, when we receive Holy Communion under one species, we always receive the whole Christ—His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Therefore, Communion under one species is in no way sacramentally deficient, nor does it contradict Christ's command to consume His Body and Blood. The Council of Trent: "It is true that under each of the two species the same thing is contained as under both. For Christ, whole and entire, is under the species of bread and under each of its parts, just as he is whole and entire under the species of wine and its parts."

🔗p.2- Communion under both kinds

#eucharist

Politics is not separated from moral criteria

“The inner criteria of all politics is found in those moral values which we do not invent, but only recognize, and which are the same for all men. Let us say it plainly: these politicians drew their moral concept of the State ,of peace and responsibility, from their Christian faith…there can be no peace in the world without genuine peace between reason and faith, because without peace between reason and religion, the sources of morality and law dry up… There are pathologies of religion as we can see, and there are pathologies of reason, as we can also see. Both sorts of pathology pose a fatal threat to peace, and even to mankind as a whole, in our age of global power structures...Sick reason and manipulated religion eventually lead to the same result.” “I would like to conclude with the words of Kurt Hubner, a German philosopher from Kiel…’We will be able to avoid conflict with the cultures that are hostile to us today only on the condition that by becoming once again, fully conscious of how deeply rooted our culture is in Christianity we disproved their vehement reproach that we have forgotten God…’”

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger 2004, The True Europe, Its Identity and Mission

#politics

To be a Christian soldier is a vocation

"...This is the context in which the mission of the Christian soldier is situated. Defending the weak, protecting peaceful coexistence, intervening in disasters, operating in international missions to preserve peace and restore order. All this cannot be reduced to a mere profession: it is a vocation, a response to a call that challenges the conscience. The soldier’s identity is forged by generosity, a spirit of service, high aspirations and deep feelings. But these values require a foundation, a gift of Grace capable of fostering charity to the point of total self-sacrifice. It is therefore necessary to inspire the codes, norms and missions of military life with the lifeblood of the Gospel so that, in the service of security and peace, the common good of peoples is always the first priority."

Leo XIV To the Military Ordinariate of Italy 3.7.26

#war

The rabid madness of war" (1550 A.D)
Domingo de Soto O.P

"As much as it is within you, be at peace with all men." [Romans 12:18-19]. ... We are not deprived by this exhortation of Paul of the right to defend ourselves. Yet it remains salutary counsel—and especially so for Christians—that if anyone would sue us at law and take away our tunic, we should let him have our cloak as well, so as to redeem the time. And this principle applies most of all to avoiding and repelling public wars. As long and bitter experience has taught us, such wars can neither be waged nor concluded without such hardships and detriments, such disasters and plagues, that nothing could be more ruinous to the Christian people. For we need say nothing of the ravaging of lands, the pillaging of farmsteads, the burning of cities, the adulteries, the rapes, the slaughter of the innocent, the fathers robbed of their sons and the wives of their husbands, the overturned altars, the destruction of all things sacred and profane, and other such violations of rights, which the mind shudders even to speak of. Wherever it is waged, war leaves behind no trace of virtue, piety, or the Christian religion. Instead, one may witness the human spirit quickly growing wild and descending into savagery. While I do not share the view of those who claim it is entirely unlawful for kings to defend themselves and their rights through war or to repel injuries inflicted upon them, I nevertheless do not doubt that a Christian prince must first apply the utmost care and diligence in exploring and examining whether he has a just cause to undertake a war, so far is he from being justified in waging it rashly. For cases are exceedingly rare in which both sides are not somewhat at fault, and there is scarcely any in which the side that is more just is not shrouded in doubt. What Christian, then, upon a doubtful cause, would plunge himself into so great an abyss of evils, for which he must answer to God on the Day of Wrath? But why do I waste words? He who would be capable of persuading monarchs to spare their own people - or rather, Christ's people - from this rabid madness of war, this most pestilential fury, this most savage plague, would need to be altogether more eloquent than I, or surely to be endowed with the spirit which comes from God. This is especially true in these times, when peace among Christians is so urgently needed to raise up the faith and the religion of the Church, which have been laid low not only by our other sins, but also by our wars."

source: In Epistolam ad Romanos, cap. XII.

#war

The Lord's Resurrection - A Soteriological Perspective

The Resurrection and Redemption

It should be noted at the outset that the Resurrection in itself is not directly the cause of our Redemption, because the cause of humanity's liberation from sins is solely the death of the incarnate Son of God. However, the Resurrection completes the work of Redemption, which was initiated by the Incarnation and, in its essence, fulfilled by the voluntary sacrifice of the Savior on the cross. The raising of Christ's body is also a testimony confirming that the Redemption was actually accomplished by Him, and that His teaching is true.

The Application of Redemption

Jesus Christ, acting in His glorified (resurrected) body, truly completes the work of Redemption only then. For it is at that time that He establishes the holy Church along with all the Sacraments and sends the Apostles throughout the world to convert all nations. Thus, it can be said that after the Resurrection comes the proper application of redemption to humanity. For this very reason, Scripture attributes our salvation to the Resurrection: "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Rom 4:25).

The Lord's Resurrection is the Model for the Resurrection of the Saints

Moreover, the Resurrection of Christ serves as the model for the future resurrection of the righteous, that is, those who have died in a state of sanctifying grace. For the bodies of the Saints will receive supernatural attributes similar to those of Christ's glorified body, as Scripture foretells: "We await our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body" (Phil 3:20).

The Lord's Resurrection as the Cause of Our Resurrection

Christ's rising from the dead is also the cause of the universal resurrection of all people, both the Saints and the damned. By rising, Christ truly conquered death, which for humanity is the consequence of original sin. The universal resurrection will take place at the end of time, when God delivers judgment over all humanity to Christ. The righteous will rise to eternal life and receive their reward also in the body, while the wicked will rise for eternal damnation, to receive their punishment also in the body.

The Resurrection of Christ is the glorious victory of the incarnate Son of God over death and sin. May it remind us that our existence does not end with earthly life and spur us to care for eternal life.

Bibliography: 1. Fr. M. Sieniatycki, Outline of Catholic Dogmatics

The Lord's Resurrection - A Christological Perspective

Christ gloriously rose from the dead on the third day after His painful death on the cross, endured for the Redemption of the entire human race. For this reason, the Easter Holy Days are the greatest, most important, and most joyful Christian solemnity. We can contemplate the Resurrection of our Lord from various perspectives: apologetic, dogmatic, christological, and soteriological. At the outset, I would like to discuss the christological perspective of the fact of the Resurrection.

The Reward of the Resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ is the reward for the sufferings and humiliations He endured. It is a matter of God's justice that God exalts those who humble themselves for Him, in accordance with the words of Mary in the Gospel of St. Luke: "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate" (Lk 1:52). St. Thomas Aquinas (III, q. 53 a. 1), writing about the first rising of the Lord's Resurrection, states: "Since Christ humbled Himself even to the death of the cross out of love and obedience to God, it was fitting that He be exalted by God to a glorious resurrection."

The Cause of the Resurrection

The primary efficient cause of Christ's Resurrection is Almighty God Himself. Therefore, in this sense, it is Christ as God, by His divine power, who rose from the dead. Although the external works of God are the act of the entire Holy Trinity, they are attributed to specific Divine Persons—for example, creation is attributed to the Father, sanctification to the Holy Spirit, and so on. Works of omnipotence are attributed particularly to the Father, which is why it is often said that the Father raised Christ (as Sacred Scripture itself mentions). However, this should not be understood to mean that Christ as God did not participate in it, or as if He needed to be raised by another Divine Person.

The Manner of the Resurrection

The instrumental cause of the Resurrection was Christ's human soul, which, not by its natural power but as an instrument in the hands of the divinity, was once again united with the body into one nature, directly resulting in Christ's rising from the dead.

The Final Resurrection for Eternity

Christ rose first of all from the dead to immortal life, and His Resurrection is the herald of our resurrection at the end of time. It was fitting that Christ, the head of the redeemed human race, should be the first man to begin immortal life in a renewed and glorified body: "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor 15:20). The Resurrection of Christ is the glorious victory of the incarnate Son of God over death and sin. May it stir in us reverence, faith, hope, and love for Him.

Bibliography: 1. Fr. M. Sieniatycki, Outline of Catholic Dogmatics