Form: The form of the sacrament of Eucharist is the priest's words, "This is my Body...This is the cup of my Blood."
Matter: The matter of Eucharist is the bread and wine turned body and blood. Minister: The minister of Eucharist is a priest or bishop. The deacons, priests, and bishops are also the ordinary ministers of distributing Holy Communion. Lay people may be trained to be Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Rite: The sacrament of the Eucharist occurs at Mass. After the Liturgy of the Word, the minister repeats the words of Jesus Christ and changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus through the words of consecration. These words of consecration are "This is my body" and 'This is my blood." Then, the minister, with the help of a deacon and extraordinary ministers, distributes the Eucharist. The minister says, "The body of Christ." The receiver says, "Amen" and eats the body. Then the minister says, "The blood of Christ." The receiver says, "Amen" and drinks the blood of Christ. Adoration is when people gather to pray to God through a host in a monstrance. This has been practiced for centuries. The early Christians would bring consecrated bread home from Mass to be given to those who were unable to attend Mass due to illness. The host would also be consumed during the week to keep connected to the Eucharist. In the fourth century, monasteries began to reserve the Eucharist. In the eleventh century, churches regularly reserved the Eucharist, still mainly for the sick and dying. After French monk Berengar of Tours taught that the bread and wine could not physically change into the body and blood of Christ, Pope Gregory VII denied this and refined the church's teachings. Eucharistic devotion grew in Europe. This included processions, visits to the sacrament, and other prayers. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries adoration and other devotions became popular. Adoration is offered at Kellenberg once a month on the first Friday of every month . Adoration is offered at St. Thomas the Apostle on Fridays after the 7:45 am Mass until 2 pm or 8:30 pm on the First Fridays. On August 18, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Father Alejandro Pezet, now known as Pope Francis, was saying Mass. After, a woman told Father Alejandro that she had found a Host on a candle-holder. Father Alejandro was unable to consume it, as he had just received, so he placed it in a container of water and stored it in the tabernacle of the chapel. On August 26, Father Alejandro opened the tabernacle and discovered that the Host had transformed into a bloody substance. He, having never seen this before, informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio who had the Host professionally photographed. The photos clearly showed that the piece of bloodied flesh had grown. For several years, the host stayed in the tabernacle and was kept a secret. The Host did not decompose at all so Cardinal Bergoglio had it scientifically analyzed by Dr. Fredric Zugiba in New York. He determined that the substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. The doctors came to the conclusion that it was a piece of heart muscle. The muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a high amount of white blood cells. This suggests that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. These white blood cells had also penetrated the tissue which suggests that the heart had been under severe stress, like the owner had been beaten severely in the chest. Even though this was just a piece of Host, science has shown that it turned into heart tissue from Jesus Christ. |