Prayers & Reflections for February 18

The Armor of God
Reflections and Prayers for Wartime

CHAPTER VII
The Eucharist

As the moment of consecration arrives, the priest in obedience to the words of Our Lord, "Do this for a commemoration of me," takes bread in his hands and says,"This is my body." Then, taking the wine in his hands, he says, "This is the chalice of my blood of the new and eternal testament." He does not consecrate the bread and wine together, but separately.

The separate consecration of the bread and wine is a symbolic representation of the separation of body and blood, and since the Crucifixion entailed that very mystery, Calvary is thus renewed on our altar. But Christ, as has been said, is not alone on our altar; we are with Him...

[Continued tomorrow]
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From:
The Armor of God
Reflections and Prayers for Wartime
by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen
(C) 1943, P.J. Kenedy & Sons