"When you see the Lord immolated and lying
upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all
the people empurpled by that precious blood,
can you think that you are still among men and on earth?
Or are you not lifted up to heaven?"
St. John Chrysostom, The Priesthood, 3,4,177, 386 A.D..
CCC-1354 (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
"In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.
In the morning a dew
lay all about the camp, and when the dew
evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine
flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing
it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?", for they
did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread
(manna)
which the Lord has given you to eat."
Exodus 16:15
A gift from heaven had come to earth
for the people of GOD.
The manna from heaven was the bread
of the Word of GOD...
"He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with
manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone
does man live, but by every WORD THAT COMES FORTH FROM THE MOUTH OF THE
LORD."
Deuteronomy 8:3
The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years (Joshua 5:6), and
then the manna ceased the day after a Passover
(Joshua 5:12).
Have you ever given any thought to the logistics of this miraculous abundance
from heaven? The Israelites set out from Egypt
with 600,000 men, not counting women and children (Exodus 12:37). The total
number of mouths to feed must have been well over 1,000,000 and was probably
closer to 1,800,000. It would have taken the equivalent of trainloads of
manna, every single day for forty years to
feed them all. If each person ate an average of only one pound per day,
that would be 1,800,000 pounds per day or 900 tons. That works out to 328,500
tons per year or about 13,140,000 tons over the 40 year period.
An abundance of heavenly gifts fell to earth
during that 40 year period.
Jesus then said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
Moses did not give you the bread from heaven,
but My Father gives you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread
of GOD is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world."
John 6:32-33
"They said therefore to Him, "Lord, give us ALWAYS this bread."
John 6:34
The fulfillment of John 6:34 was prophesied in the Old Testament...
"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, My Name is
great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there
is offered to My Name a clean oblation, for
My Name is great among the Gentiles, said the Lord of Hosts."
Malachi 1:11
"I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and
have died. This is the bread that comes down
from heaven, so that if anyone eat of it he
will not die. I am the living bread
that has come down from heaven. If
anyone eat of this bread he shall live
forever; and the bread that I will give is
My Flesh for the life
of the world."
John 6:48-52
So, the Priest, acting "In Personna Christi"
says, "This IS My Body" (Matthew 26:26), and in so doing,
calls down "The Word" with his word, and the Holy Spirit transubstantiates
the bread and the wine
into the Body
and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ
(CCC 1353, 1357).
Jesus Christ has now come down from heaven
to earth, and has humbled Himself,
so that He may be seen, and touched, and consumed, under the appearance
of simple bread and
wine. We consume
Him, and He assimilates us. We become uno, union, in communion.
Heaven and earth
have been joined.
GOD has sent an abundance of gifts of Himself from heaven
for us on earth
for almost 2000 years.
"To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here
on earth, but
also those already in the glory of heaven..."
CCC-1370
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