Weekly Bresee Article

Here are three quotes that I found at catholica.pontifications.net. I think they go with the article.

St. Leo: “Sharing in the body and blood of Christ produces in us an effect which is none other than that of making us be changed into that which we take.”

St. Augustine: “I [Christ] am the nourishment of the strong; have faith and eat me. But you will not change me into yourself; it is you who will be transformed into me.”

St. Thomas: “The principle for arriving at a right understanding of the distinctive effect of a sacrament is to consider it by analogy with the matter of the sacrament…. The matter of the Eucharist is a food. It must, then, be that its distinctive effect is analogous to that of nourishment. One who assimilates bodily nourishment transforms it into himself; that conversion makes good the losses of the organism and gives it its proper growth. But the Eucharistic nourishment, instead of being transformed into the one who takes it, transforms that person into Itself. It follows that the distinctive effect of this sacrament is such a transformation of the person into Christ that the person can truly say: “I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me.”

Enjoy the article, for "even now our lives can be consumed by the ways and means of heaven so that even in this world, the reality of the future is everywhere present."

From My Heart
By Rick Savage

The first Century missionary said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7), and he told the truth. We do, don’t we. We walk by faith. We don’t walk by sight or by feelings our by bottom lines. We don’t walk by our ingenuity, creativity or accomplishments. Instead, we take hold of the hand of Jesus and where He leads we follow. And, we follow knowing that whatever God does in and through our lives is “not by might nor by power, but by [His] Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).

When we walk by faith we are placing into the hands of God all it means for us to be who we are and all it means for us to live in this world. Truthfully, to live in this world, some days at least, is a chore. You just have to get up, put one foot in front of the other, and do what you have to do. When you are created to live in heaven but for now must live in a fallen world, it can be tough, emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually.

However (and don’t you just love the word however when it comes to God), the truth is that even now our lives can be consumed by the ways and means of heaven so that even in this world, the reality of the future is everywhere present. We can live for God today. In fact, we are called and empowered and enabled to live for God today.

Maybe one of the great aspects of what it means to be a follower of Christ and a witness to His wonderful life is to take what comes our way, commit it to God, and live as faithful men and women in a world that doesn’t honor or respect Christian faithfulness much.

Life can be hard but Jesus is always Lord. So, we place our hands into His hand and walk by faith, not by sight. It’s a great way to live. It is an awesome way to live.

God bless you as you seek to live it.