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The Wedding Feast at Cana: Part 2 of 3
STOSS Books
Published by Stephen Michael Leininger in Stephen Michael Leininger · Friday 31 Dec 2021
Tags: EucharistSacredHeartTOBSTOSSsoulspiritimageandlikeness

The Wedding Feast at Cana

 

Jesus Foretells the Consequences of His Words on the Cross: “Now It Is Finished” (John 19:30)

 
Part 2 of 3
The Eucharist — the Mass — is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). It is the fulfillment of the Everlasting Covenant of Salt. The Description of All other Sacraments can rightly be followed by the words, … “so that we can receive the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist.”
The miracle at Cana reveals the very reason that Jesus took on flesh. It represents the means through which Jesus redeems all humanity. As shown by Jesus’ miracle at Cana, the Eucharist is the ultimate fulfillment of the Covenant of Salt between God and Man. The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324).
Here is a shortlist of important topics that will be discussed in greater detail in this blog:
1). Whatever moves the spiritual soul closer to or further away from purity will produce an equal movement of the body in the same direction.
20. Through each man’s cooperation, all grace, both Sanctifying and Actual, will impact the overflow of the spiritual heart. The body (i.e., the scriptural mouth) will send that overflow out accurately — in the language of the body, which is both sense-able and meta-sense-able.
3).The Eucharist will produce a profound impact on both the purity of the spiritual soul together with the biological function of the body.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist will overflow to the communicant. With equal efficacy, that overflow will heal and purify both the body and the spiritual soul who desire that one-flesh relationship with Jesus. You’ve probably seen, maybe even put together, one of those two-thousand-piece puzzles designed to test one’s mastery of the virtue of perseverance. Looking at a single piece of the puzzle, you may see what looks like a piece of the sky. Not particularly beautiful in and of itself, but it’s a start. Next, you pick up a piece of the puzzle that contains a lot of green and looks like it could be a portion of a green bush of some sort. Again, not particularly beautiful, but you push on, one piece at a time. It’s only as the puzzle gets nearer and nearer to completion that you begin to see ever more clearly, the big picture. Proceeding onward, your sense of awe grows at the beauty of that unfolding before your eyes.
This sense of awe is what was happening to me as I began to see the beauty, intricacy, and wisdom of God’s creation; His glorious plans for those He loves infinitely. The Bible is like an ocean; one can stand on the shore looking out, seeing what seems to be a limitless expanse of water. What we do not see, however, is the depths existing beneath the surface. The words of Scripture are not two-dimensional; in a sense, they are three-dimensional, containing great depths of Truth for us to explore. It is my fervent hope and prayer that the Theology of Salt (TOS), through the hermeneutics of STOSS, will help each person to see the big picture of God’s creation; to see, as St. Paul tells us, “[What] is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19).
The topic of this three-part blog series tries to explore one of those mysteries much more deeply. Understanding of the Miracle at Cana, which it foreshadows, can be likened to a few water molecules floating on the surface of an immense ocean. We settle for the knowledge gleaned from examining a few feet below the surface but never endeavor to descend to the greater depths of the sea below.
As a consequence of our fallen nature, we fail to more fully grasp the nature of rational man as both a spiritual and physical being. However, through a more thorough study of Pope St. John Paul II’s (JP II) Theology of the Body and the knowledge available through the Science & Theology of Salt in Scripture (a branch of the Theology of the Body), we can further grasp how the whole man — the physical body and spiritual soul — play a part in the economy of grace through the Sacraments — especially Baptism and the Eucharist — the wedding banquet of the Lamb (cf. Augustine, Homilies on 1 John 2:12–17; also Rev. 19:7-10).

Spiritual Soul Composed of Upper & Lower Powers

How important is our composite human nature? St. Hildegard (declared a Doctor of the Church) conveys a mystical revelation God gave her concerning the creation of Adam when there were no other rational men. She writes,
When God created Adam, divine radiance surrounded the clay substance [using the word clay substance (as well as mud or dust, for that matter) “of which he was made” would be hard-pressed to validly interpreted as a metaphor] of which he was formed. That way this lump of clay appeared on the outside as an outline of its parts, after its shape had been given to it, but inside it was hollow. Then, from the same mass of clay, God created inside of the figure the heart, the liver, the lung, [etc.].[1]
We must not believe that the different powers of the spiritual soul (both upper and lower powers) represent a duality. The upper powers of the spiritual soul, often identified as the spirit, are: intellect (not to be confused with the biological brain); free will (i.e., Love and Charity); memory (i.e., the whole spiritual soul can never forget any knowledge it acquires), and; understanding (i.e., the ability —through the gift of grace — to penetrate and comprehend the thoughts of God). The lower powers are referred to as the soul. The lower power of the soul controls and directs the actions of our physical body.[2][3] In the vision given to Hildegard[4], we may interpret its passages like this:
1.       The divine radiance surrounding the clay substance shows us that the Breath had been breathed into the nostril of man. The Holy Spirit was now fully dwelling into the upper powers of the spiritual soul and, as a result, Adam’s body was luminescent[5];
2.      This lump of clay appeared on the outside as an outline of its parts after its shape had been given to it, but inside it was hollow. The Holy Spirit dwells in the uppers power of the spirit — the heart. However, the spiritual soul is not a duality. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart, Living Waters flow out to the body through the soul’s actions. That through which living waters flow; and,
3.      Then, from the same mass of clay, God created inside of the figure the heart, the liver, the lung, [etc.]. These words tell us that the spiritual soul is the form of the entire human body.[6] It directs the growth of every cell, what type of cell it will be, when to stop growing, etc.
There exist no distinct and segregated locations between each of the upper and lower powers of the spiritual soul. The spirit is not in a compartment separated from the soul and vice versa. It is one spiritual soul. In #367 of the Catechism, it reads,
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people ‘wholly’, with ‘spirit and soul and body’ kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming [1 Thess. 5:23]. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality [SML] into the soul [cf. Council of Constantinople IV (870): DS 657]. ‘Spirit’ signifies that from creation, man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God” [cf. Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: DS 3005; Gaudium et Spes 22 § 5; Humani Generis: DS 3891].
This unity of the one spiritual soul is vital to this topic. Durrwell writes, “It is there, in our hearts [i.e., the human spirit — SML], in the intimate depths of the believer, that the Spirit chooses his dwelling. In God himself the Holy Spirit of God reaches the ‘depths’ (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10). He is, as it were, the heart of God.”[7][8][9] The various powers of the soul are not part of a duality. Thus, the Spirit’s dwelling in the inner heart (the spirit) would inescapably produce a profound impact on the entire spiritual/rational and physical composite human nature. The different powers exist within one single undivided spiritual soul.[10] Whatever affects the spirit (upper powers) equally affects the soul (lower powers). Free will does not reside solely in the spiritual soul’s mythical quadrant (A). Nor does the intellect exclusively dwell in a mythical quadrant (C) of the spiritual soul, and so on.
In the rational intellect of the spirit, the Holy Spirit teaches all Truth. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Truth is penetrated and understood. This penetration, in turn, leads to a free-will choice in the spirit to seek and become one with the beauty and goodness of that it has come to understand. The spirit seeks to Love. The spirit uses two primary components of the mouth/body — both under the control of the lower powers of the soul, to send out the overflow of the inner heart into physical creation. The human cranial brain is the portion of the body to which the intellect corresponds. The human heart of flesh is the component of the body used to express free will, i.e., charity and love. Both accurately convey the spirit but do so in the language of the body.
In the spirit, the free will chooses either to love God or – through disordered pride – to inordinately love ourselves. By willing the former, the Holy Spirit purifies our inner heart and fills it with holy desire for God. It does so through the Holy Spirit directing the soul (lower sensitive powers), which controls all the body’s functions. Thus, the body is purified so that when it sends out the overflow of the inner heart (the spirit) of man, the body will accurately express the overflow of the inner heart, doing so in the language of the body.
If the body and soul were not equally pure or conversely impure, God’s perfect justice would require that the body would merit a different place in Heaven or hell than the spiritual soul. That, of course, would be ridiculous. Why is that? Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen tells us, “There is an old Latin axiom, which sounds abstract, but which is very easily verifiable in the language of every-day: Actiones sunt suppositorum. Actions belong to the Person — not to the nature.”[11] It is the Person who is judged — not the nature. God does not send half a person to hell and the other half to Heaven.

Does the Body Contribute to Being in the Image & Likeness of God?

According to JPII, man is made in the image and likeness of God due not only to the fact of our humanity (body and spiritual soul) but also to our creation as a communion of persons, i.e., male and female. From the beginning, man consisted of this union of Persons. According to JP II, marriage is the Primordial Sacrament, the very beginning of the Covenant of Salt. It is a one-flesh bond. Not symbolic, but an actual physical and spiritual oneness in the Holy Spirit, who is unity. Only after the fall did that covenant entails purification and Redemption. As JP II so aptly points out, an image’s function is to reproduce what is imaged. The Trinity is a family Covenant (but not a covenant of salt — at least not until the Son of God took on our humanity).
On the other hand, man (created in the Trinity’s image and likeness) can only be in a family relationship through a Covenant of Salt — a one-flesh bond between man and woman and each other. We are an image of a Living Triune God. Not a God of Three isolated Persons, each keeping to themselves, but of Three Persons in an active living family relationship; eternally expressing, and eternally glorifying the other.-

How is Man in the image and likeness of God

I know it seems like we are talking about matters not related to the wedding at Cana. However, everything leads us to a deeper understanding of just how crucial that event is for our understanding of Jesus’ attendance at that wedding and the miracle he performed thereat. The marriage at Cana encapsulates the Old Covenant of Salt and foreshadows its fulfillment.
The belief that the whole man — body and spiritual soul — is necessary for man to be in the image and likeness of God extends back to the time of the early Church Fathers. Defending against the errors of the Gnostics, St. Irenaeus (circa 125-202) answered the question: Does the body contribute to man being in the image and likeness of God? The Gnostics believed God’s entire image and likeness resides in the nous (the intellect) of man. Thus, they thought the body was merely a transitory vessel of little or no importance.[13] On the contrary, Irenaeus’ interpretation of Genesis Chapter One is this: the entire body and spiritual soul are intended as a necessary and integral part of a person created in the image and likeness of God.[14] No Body — No Likeness to God.
Before answering this question, let us distinguish between image and likeness. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us:
Likeness may be considered in the light of a preamble to image, inasmuch as it is something more general than image ... and, again, it may be considered as subsequent to image, inasmuch as it signifies a certain perfection of image. ... likeness regards things which are more common than the intellectual properties, wherein the image is properly to be seen. In this sense it is stated (QQ. 83, q. 51) that “the spirit” (namely, the mind) without doubt was made to the image of God. “But the other parts of man,” belonging to the soul’s inferior faculties, or even to the body, “are in the opinion of some made to God’s likeness.” In the same sense “likeness” is said to belong to “the love of virtue:” for there is no virtue without love of virtue.[15]
According to what Aquinas is telling us, the intellect is the image of God, in as much as He is unchanging Truth. Like the angels who are pure intellect, the human soul is the image of God in that it contains man’s intellect, the ability to know the Truth of God. This Truth, however, cannot be stagnant. As we said earlier, God is eternally in act, eternally doing. God gave us a body for the express purpose of doing the will of God. Pope St. John Paul II said, “The body, in fact, and it alone [SML] is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God.”[16] God said, “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off …. the word is very near you; it is in your mouth [your body] and in your heart [your spirit] so that you can do it” (Deut. 30:11,14). God tells St. Hildegard,
Each person has in himself two callings, the desire of fruit and the lust for vice. How? By the desire of fruit he is called toward life, and by the lust for vice he is called toward death. In the desire of fruit a person wishes to do good, and says to himself, “Do good works!”… But in the lust for vice, a person wants to do evil, and says to himself, “Do the work of your own pleasure!”[17]
The likeness of God centers on the appropriations of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we are in the likeness of God when we express, do, send out, or breath out the Truth of the Father and the Son in the love and fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all Truth expressed in the Spirit is fruitful!
In addition to intellect, another power of the soul is free will. According to Fr. Edward Leen, “The intellect, as it were, flowers in the Word; the [free] will blossoms forth as a Love. In this lies the wondrous attractiveness of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is all love .... By a metaphorical use of language, the Holy Spirit may be described as being ‘all heart.’”[18] Remember, God is an eternal and unceasingly glorious expression in Love of the Truth that God knows. What God knows is Himself. He is eternally sending out His glory.
St. Irenaeus’ writings on this topic are still relevant today. However, based on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, most modern theologies still locate the image and likeness of God solely in the faculties of intellect and will (the upper powers of the spiritual soul). As we will see later, this understanding is not accurate.[19] St. Paschasius Radbertus believed the whole man is necessary for man to be in the image and likeness of God. Radbertus’ writings are primarily responsible for the body of thought that later led to the formulation of the Dogma of Transubstantiation.
Before moving on, I want to give you a little background on the International Theological Commission (ITC). This commission produced the work titled Communion And Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God. The ITC is a Vatican Commission that consists of thirty theologians who study doctrinal issues, write study-based reports, and advise the Magisterium of the Church, especially the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The ITC is a theological heavyweight at the Vatican. The ITC cannot claim infallibility, but when the ITC speaks — the Church listens and seriously considers.
After numerous sub-commissions and plenary sessions between 2000 and 2002, the ITC approved the text mentioned above in forma specifica. Accordingly, it was submitted to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later elected Pope Benedict XVI), who approved it for publication and distribution.[20]
The ITC acknowledged that man’s creation in the image and likeness of God is central to biblical revelation (cf. Gen. 1:26f; 5:1-3; 9:6). That man cannot be understood apart from an understanding of the mystery of God.[21] According to the ITC, it is the entirety of man (both body and spiritual soul) that constitutes a person existing in the image and likeness of God. Locating the Imago Dei in a particular aspect of man, e.g., his intellect or sexual nature, would be wrong.
They further warned that Dualism and Monism should be avoided when considering man’s human nature. Instead, the physical, social, and spiritual aspects of man are regarded as one single dimension of a man created in the image and likeness of God.[22] It is here that we begin to appreciate the more profound understanding of the miracle at Cana, the Eucharist (the fulfillment of the Covenant of Salt), and Paul’s exposition of Christ’s Marriage to the Church (cf. Eph. 5:23-32).
The ITC goes on to write, “Present day theology is striving to overcome the influence of dualistic anthropologies that locate the imago Dei exclusively with reference to the spiritual aspect of human nature, [while at the same time excluding the bodily component from our rational human composite].”[23] When we couple this with our understanding of God as Three Persons in an eternal living relationship of fruitful expression, we can better understand how the body is essential to that Imago Dei. Scripture makes it quite clear that, like the Trinity itself, man is a relational being. The ITC writes, “According to this conception, man is not an isolated individual but a person — an essentially relational being [cf. Gen. 2:18].”[24] All those baptized become one flesh with Jesus in the Eucharist. Thus, we are united to our brothers and sisters in Christ — belonging to a communion of all the faithful within a Covenant of Salt.
Jesus Christ incarnate is the perfect image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).[25] Adam was not the prototype of man. On the contrary, Jesus was the prototype of all men — the firstborn of all creation (cf. Heb. 1:6, Col. 1:15, Ps. 89:27). Adam was made in Jesus’ image and likeness. Fallen man’s transformation back to the Son’s image occurs through the two Sacraments foreshadowed at Cana, i.e., Baptism and the Eucharist. Both Sacraments strengthen and confirm us in this radical transformation.[26] According to the ITC, “Jesus redeems us through every act he performs in his body [his Salt and Dust — SML].”[27]
Matthew writes, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body [SML] will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness [think deeply about this phrase — emphasis SML], how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:22-23). If the Holy Spirit dwells in our inner heart/spirit, this light is living water. If the only thing dwelling in the inner heart is evil, the light will be darkness.
John Paul II tells us, it is only through the body, and in the language of the body, that the invisible, i.e., the spiritual and the divine, is made visible within creation.[28] He also tells us, “The body speaks not merely with the whole external expression of masculinity and femininity, but also with the internal structures of the organism, of the somatic [the entire body and its aggregate parts such as the heart of flesh] and psychosomatic [relating to the mind/mental] reaction.[29]

The Holy Spirit: Inexpressible, but Prompting Expression

Since the body is an inseparable part of man’s being in the image and likeness of God, it can be surmised that its function as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19) is no small matter. Therefore, I offer this brief reflection on the Third Person of the Trinity. A deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit will equip us to tackle the following two sections: First, the body’s role in the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work, and Second, the meaning of mouth in Scripture as it relates to both God and man. The body in the previous sentence refers to Jesus’s body primarily and post-Redeemed man’s body secondarily. Since we are dealing mainly with the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist as foreshadowed by the miracle at Cana, let’s clarify the body’s instrumental role as channels of grace. According to Aquinas:
Reply to Objection 1. Christ’s humanity is an “organ of His Godhead,” as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 19). Now an instrument does not bring forth the action of the principal agent by its own power, but in virtue of the principal agent. Hence Christ’s humanity does not cause grace by its own power, but by virtue of the Divine Nature joined to it, whereby the actions of Christ’s humanity are saving actions.
Reply to Objection 2. As in the person of Christ the humanity causes our salvation by grace, the Divine power being the principal agent, so likewise in the sacraments of the New Law, which are derived from Christ, grace is instrumentally caused by the sacraments, and principally by the power of the Holy [Spirit] working in the sacraments, according to John 3:5: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy [Spirit] he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”[30]
Read the following endnote to find out how, through a Covenant of Salt, pre-Redeemed man could receive grace even though the Holy Spirit had not yet been given (Jn. 7:39).[31]
Pope Leo XIII tells us the Holy Spirit, Divine Goodness, is the ultimate cause of all things, including completing man’s salvation [Leo XIII, Divinum Illud Munus, n. 3.]. God created all things in the eternal now, but in time, it unfolds progressively and gradually until the fullness of time (Eph. 1:10) has arrived, at which point all creation will have been sanctified (which is the job of the Holy Spirit). We can see this work already occurring in the earliest passages of the creation narrative in Genesis. We read, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). Notice that it wasn’t the Father or the Son moving over the waters; it was the Spirit, the personification of Divine action. Durrwell writes,
The Spirit is God in his characteristic attribute, God himself in his infinite action. For Christian faith, the Holy Spirit is a Person; it can, therefore, be said that he is the personification of action, that he is the ‘working’ member or person in the Trinity [St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “The Spirit is the power and natural action of the divine substance. He performs all the works of God.” Thesaurus, assert. 34 (PG 75, 580; cf. 72, 608)]. Whenever, then, God is active, when he creates, intervenes in history, enters through the incarnation into creation, raises Christ from the dead, establishes a covenant between himself and a people … it is in the Spirit that all this is brought about, for the Spirit is the power and action of God.[32]
And also,
The Spirit, who is infinite reality, forms the link between God and finite beings. Through him, holiness penetrates right into our world and even becomes incarnate there (cf. Lk 1:35); through him, God lives in man as in a temple (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). The heavenly Spirit is the intimacy of God with the earth, the hand of God touching this world: If it is through the finger of God ...‘(Jesus says, according to Lk 11:20), ‘if it is through the Spirit of God’ (Jesus says, according to Mt 12:28) that I cast out devils ...’[33]
Recall Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2:1-4). He took the form of fiery tongues, inflaming the Apostles’ hearts. The fire represents the radiating Holy Desire of the Holy Spirit, bringing all truth and recalling to their minds all the Truth that Jesus had taught them (Jn. 14:25-26). The tongues represented the Holy Fire of Truth that must be radiated outward and expressed. Absent the breathing in and out of the Breathe of God, and we would quickly die. This breathing in and out is an oft-used description of the prompting action of the Holy Spirit.[34] Jesus tells us that he came to set the world on fire (Lk. 12:49-56). The Holy Spirit is the oxygen (the Breath) without which a fire cannot burn.
The person in whom the Breath dwells is on fire to breathe out the Breath (Truth known and Loved) and then breath in the Breath — the Holy Desire for union with that Truth that is known (cf. Lk. 24:32, 3:16). Expressing God’s words, Hildegard wrote, “The watery air indicates the holy works of exemplary and just individuals. Their works are as pure as water and cause every impure work to become pure, just as water washes away filth. Because of this condition such a work can achieve in its perfection whatever God’s grace enkindles in this way by the fire of the Holy Spirit [SML].”[35]
Too many people emphasize speaking in tongues and entirely miss the much greater meaning of the sacramental sign given at Pentecost. For the person filled with the Holy Spirit, it is deeper suffering not to express Truth which is known than is the worldly suffering incurred as a consequence of expressing that same Truth (cf. Jer. 20:7-9). At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues, they were practically falling all over themselves to go out and express/preach the Word of God — Truth.[36] The Spirit of God is not the Light, but he is the principle of action whereby the Light is produced through the Breath (the oxygen, without which fire is impossible) and the resulting fire (of Holy Desire) for Truth, which is the Father and the Son.[37]
The Church tells us:
'No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God' (1 Cor 2:11.). Now God’s Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who 'has spoken through the prophets' makes us hear the Father’s Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who 'unveils' Christ to us 'will not speak on his own' (Jn 16:13). Such properly divine self-effacement explains why “the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him,' while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them' (Jn 14:17).[38]
While the Holy Spirit does not himself express, nor can He be expressed, it is nevertheless true that the action of the Spirit is behind all expressions within Love. The Holy Spirit is never expressed, but He is sent. He is sent together with the Word, the Truth of which each Person of the Trinity knows and Loves.
For this reason, Pope Leo XIII tells us the Holy Spirit, who is Divine Goodness, is the ultimate cause of all things, including the completion of man’s salvation.[39] But, just as the Holy Spirit cannot express, so, too, it is with our spiritual souls. Hildegard writes, “Our body is the concealing garment [SML] of our soul … and our soul could do nothing without the body.”[40]

Soul versus Spirit; Inner Heart versus Biological Heart

The spiritual soul is designed by God to be used by the Holy Spirit to express, send out the spiritual and divine into physical creation — to be a channel of grace to ourselves and others. However, before discussing the instrumentality of the body in channeling grace to others, it is crucial to understand the distinction between spirit (the mind is one of the upper powers of the spirit) and soul, between the biological heart and the spiritual heart. This knowledge will help us understand how the different graces are received and how they interact with the body.
As Scripture tells us, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances” (Ez. 36:25-27). At first glance, this wording seems contradictory to our traditional understanding of the connotation of flesh in Scripture. In general, the flesh tends to be at war with our spirit (Gal. 5:17). However, in the passage above, our heart of flesh is linked to a new spirit (a newfound cleanness) that has been put within us.
The heart of flesh is a reference to our human heart of flesh. Since our spiritual soul is the substantial form of the body (CCC n. 365), it would be beneficial to understand better passages that indicate a distinction between soul and spirit. For example, St. Paul writes, “May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). He also writes, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).
Touched upon earlier, the spiritual soul contains both higher and lower powers. The higher powers are often identified as the spirit. The lower powers can be identified as simply — the soul. The higher powers, i.e., the spirit, are intellect, free will (the inner heart), and understanding, i.e., the penetration and comprehension of God’s thoughts. The lower powers of the soul direct all the actions of the physical body. The soul allows the body to function as the scriptural mouth of the Human Person (to be discussed in greater detail later). The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites Gaudium et Spes. The paragraph reads:
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they [i.e., the elements of the material world] are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator.[41][42] For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day [Gaudium et Spes 14 § 1; cf. Dan 3:57-80].[43]
The Catechism tells us why our biological mouth expresses and sends out the overflow of the inner heart of the spiritual soul. It is also why the heart of flesh, described in Ez. 36:25-27, is also good when it is subject to the new spirit within us after receiving the cleansing waters of Baptism.

The Human Heart of Flesh

What we have discussed above tells us that the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the spirit (inner heart) of man will — and must — produce a profound impact on both bodies (the scriptural mouth of man) and spiritual/rational soul. Specific passages within Scripture (i.e., Ez. 36:25-27, 2 Cor. 3:2-4 [1899 DRA], cf. Zach 7:11-13 [1899 DRA]) reveal that the human heart of flesh is the primary organ of the body that works in conjunction with the inner heart/spirit. The human heart of flesh sends out living water through which grace is transmitted to our entire body, as well as to other bodies (such as our spouse’s body). When God speaks or sends forth His Word, He does it with His mouth (Is. 55:11). Only the Father sends out from the Trinity. The Son of Man, who possesses a human mouth/body, which can, and does, channel all grace into physical creation.

The Eucharist & The Sacred Heart of Jesus

 

Science of the Heart

Because of the Hypostatic Union between the humanity and Divinity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit fully dwells in the glorified Son of God — in Jesus’ spiritual human soul (both upper and lower powers). The indwelling of the Spirit wholly affects the function of Jesus’s glorious biological and Sacred Human Heart of flesh. More on that later. Think of the Divine impact on those in a one-flesh Covenant of Salt relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. St. Hildegard writes this about the heart: “The [human] heart is the life and structure of our entire organism. It contains the whole body. Within it, our thoughts are arranged and our will is brought to maturity.”[44] In Part II of the blog series titled, Woman: The holy spirit of the Family, I discuss the role of Adam’s heart in the creation of Eve as a woman created in the image and likeness of the appropriations of the Holy Spirit. The science of the biological heart is discussed in some detail [here].
The heart communicates with and affects the entire body through four means. They are:
1.       Neurologically (using the nervous system);
2.      Biochemically (e.g., hormones);
3.      Energetically (e.g., electromagnetic energy, i.e., physical (not to be confused with spiritual) light), and;
4.      Biophysically (e.g., pulse waves from the beating heart).[45]
Wherever there is electrical current (including in all organic life), there is (as a direct result of that electrical current) also generated photons of light (EMR). The heart is the most powerful electromagnetic energy generator in the human body.[46][47] … This energy not only envelops every cell in the human body, but the [generated] magnetic field extends outward several feet or more in all directions from the body.[48][49] The electromagnetic field produced by the heart is five thousand times stronger than the field generated by the cranial brain. Scientists determined that the heart’s magnetic field extended approximately three feet out from the heart using a magnetometer. By comparison, the brain’s magnetic field can only be detected up to about three inches away.[50][51]
One component of the meta-sense-able language of the body is called cardioelectromagnetic communication. The heart is the most powerful electromagnetic energy generator in the human body.[52][53][54][55] This cardioelectromagnetic energy not only envelops every cell in the human body, but the magnetic field generated extends outward several feet or more in all directions from the body.[56][57] The magnetic field produced by the heart is five-thousand times stronger than the field generated by the brain.[58] As a result, the heart’s magnetic field can be detected at approximately three feet away from the chest area using a magnetometer. In contrast, the brain’s magnetic field can only be detected up to three inches away.[59] This larger field size is because the heart’s electrical field is sixty times greater in amplitude (think of the height of a wave on the ocean) than is the brain’s.[60]
The study of the electromagnetic field of the heart and brain is taking on increased significance for the bio-scientific community. So much importance is attached to this field of study. The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Institute Berlin constructed a building specifically designed to shield its interior from all background electromagnetic fields, such as those surrounding the earth. This building is the size of an entire city block. The shielding quality of this building enables researchers to obtain data uncorrupted by the influence of any other extrinsic electromagnetic fields. Owing to this unique capability, the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) joined forces with PTB to test a newly designed optical magnetic field sensor to measure the pico tesla range of the electromagnetic field more accurately specific to the heart.[61] Electromagnetic fields are an essential carrier of organic information.[62][63] Every cell in the body is constantly bathed in internal and external magnetic energy, which affects every biological circuit in our body.[64][65][66][67][68]
These energetic sources carry information critical to the self-organizing, or lack thereof, of living molecular systems trying to pull themselves up from disorder.[69] Biological information is encoded and transmitted through the language of patterns.[70] Information is encoded between intervals of electrical activity,[71] hormonal pulses,[72] and the heart’s pressure and electromagnetic waves.[73] These findings support Pribram and Melges’ proposal that low-frequency energy waves carry emotional information while high-frequency oscillations carry cognitive information intended for the brain.[74] Furthermore, research supports the belief that this emotional information can be carried outside the body. Other bodies will detect and act on it as though it were their own internal signaling.[75]
Testimony of the Saints
Here are some examples from the saints of the efficacy of the physical human heart affected by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit communicating the grace resulting from this His indwelling to others.
  • St Gertrude the Great had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As a result of her holy desire and purity of heart, she was granted a mystical encounter with St. John the Evangelist, the beloved Apostle who was given the singular honor of resting his head on the bosom/heart of Jesus during the Last Supper. In the Spirit, St. John took her to Jesus so that she, too, could lay her head on the bosom of Jesus. Then, as she felt the constant pulsations (the spiritual heart does not pulsate) of the Divine Heart, and rejoiced exceedingly thereat, she said to St. John: “Beloved of God, didst not thou feel those pulsations when thou wert lying on the Lord’s breast at the Last Supper?” “Yes,” he replied; “and this with such plenitude, that liquid does not enter more rapidly into bread than the sweetness of those pleasures penetrated my soul (clearly indicating Jesus’ physical – pre-crucified – heart and resurrected glorified heart), so that my spirit became more ardent than water under the action of a glowing fire.”[76] Note that the sweet pleasures of Jesus’ beating physical heart penetrated St. John’s soul. Also note, as was revealed above, science has shown that the heart’s pulse wave energy communicates with the body.
  • Phillip Neri, “kept the longest vigils and received the most abundant consolations. In this catacomb, a few days before Pentecost in 1544, the well-known miracle of his heart took place. Bacci describes it thus: ‘While he was with the greatest earnestness asking of the Holy [Spirit] His gifts, there appeared to him a globe of fire, which entered into his mouth [symbolizing his scriptural mouth, the body – SML] and lodged in his breast; and thereupon he was suddenly surprised with such a fire of love, that, unable to bear it, he threw himself on the ground, and, like one trying to cool himself, bared his breast to temper in some measure the flame which he felt .... all his body began to shake with a violent tremour; and putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart, a swelling about as big as a man’s fist ... The cause of this swelling was discovered by the doctors who examined his body after death. The saint’s heart had been dilated [expanded – SML] under the sudden impulse of love, and in order that it might have sufficient room to move, two ribs had been broken, and curved in the form of an arch. From the time of the miracle till his death, his heart would palpitate (beat-SML) violently whenever he performed any spiritual action [emphasis SML].”[77] This miracle shows that the Light of the Holy Spirit produces a physical impact on the heart of flesh. For those who try to dismiss this by saying it was all spiritual, not physical, let us look at another miracle.
  • The same phenomenon occurred with St. Gemma Galgani, but with minor differences from those surrounding St. Neri. “St. Galgani experienced an increasingly intense burning beginning in the center of her heart and then radiating outward. She describes the sensation as a hot poker penetrating her, so intense she needed ice to cool it. This pain and burning was not merely spiritual but also physical. The skin in the area of her heart was burned. When Venerable Father Germanus Ruoppolo C.P. placed a thermometer on the skin, the mercury immediately ascended to the upper limit of the gauge. This type of manifestation of the Spirit’s dwelling within the heart was experienced by St. Padre Pio (his skin temperature, especially during Mass, was over 120 degrees, the upper limit of the thermometer), and also St. Paul of the Cross. Galgani said that while this burning caused great pain to her body, she did not desire that excruciating pain to stop because of the sweetness it produced in the very depths of her soul. In other words, the Holy Spirit dwelling in the spirit caused the inner heart, i.e., the spirit, to overflow to the soul and be expressed via the body, especially the human heart of flesh). The palpitations of her physical [SML] heart during this phenomenon were so great, her chair and bed would shake, even though she remained quite calm. Like Phillip Neri, St. Gemma’s heart greatly expanded. So much so that three of her ribs were broken and bent to almost right angles. When her body was exhumed, physicians found that decomposition of the body had begun … except for the heart. It was found incorrupt, full of blood, fresh, healthy, and flexible.”[78]
Note: Divine light does not produce heat. Moses was exposed to it (Ex 34:29-35), and Jesus was transfigured by it (Mt. 17:1-2). Heat is generated when created/physical high-frequency electromagnetic radiation is absorbed into physical matter, such as the flesh, which lies close to the physical heart. Divine Light does not possess physical energy. Heat requires existence within physical creation. It requires an oscillating wave pattern of a photon in motion. Thus, it can only exist within created time. Divine Light is not confined to space or time. Therefore, no heat. Thus, the Holy Spirit affects our spirit, which, in turn, affects the soul, which affects the physical heart.
Evidence Gleaned from Eucharistic Miracles
Eucharistic miracles are one of the most convincing arguments for believing that Jesus’ physical and glorified Sacred Human Heart is an instrument for communicating Actual graces; graces necessary for purifying the body of all those who partake (worthily) of his flesh and blood during the Mass. There are hundreds of such recorded miracles. They give us visible evidence of the efficacy of Jesus’ living, beating human heart in purifying our body. Through these miracles, we can see that his heart does indeed cleanse our entire body. Not only that, but because it is only the flesh of his heart from which the veil of bread and wine are removed, we can conclude that Jesus wants us to know that it is his heart that plays a critical part in the purification of our body. Why else would it be the repeated focus of these miracles?
Let’s take a look at a small sampling of those miracles:
1.       The first occurred in 750 A.D. at a church in the Italian town of Lanciano. When the ‘veil’ of bread and wine were miraculously withdrawn from a consecrated host, human flesh and blood appeared! While this happened in the 8th century, several scientific tests have since been performed. The testing revealed that the flesh was from a human heart, and the blood was the same type as was Jesus’ blood. Furthermore, the flesh, sliced in section, was determined to have present: 1) the myocardium (muscle tissue of the heart, the cells of which constantly beat), which is the part of the heart that generates the most extensive electromagnetic field in the body; 2) the vagus nerve, which is responsible for sending electrical messages from the heart to the larynx (voice box; remember all those passages talking about the lambs knowing the voice of their shepherd — God Incarnate) and then on to the cranial brain, and finally; 3) the left ventricle, which is the part of the heart that pumps the blood through the body.[79]
2.      The second miracle occurred in 2008 when a consecrated host was inadvertently dropped onto the ground during a Mass celebrated in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Following Church practice, the priest placed the consecrated host in water to dissolve it, thus removing the Real Presence of Jesus. However, several days later, a nun found that the consecrated host had not dissolved completely. She discovered that a red mark had appeared on its surface. The red mark appeared to be blood but was, in fact, human tissue. Two medical doctors separately determined the tissue was heart muscle tissue (from the myocardium).[80]
3.      The third Eucharistic miracle took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1996. Once again, a consecrated host was dropped on the ground and subsequently placed in water to dissolve. After about nine days, it took on the appearance of blood and tissue. Samples were then sent to three different laboratories for analysis (circa 1996, 1999, and 2004). The Subsequent labs were not informed of the story behind, or origin of, the samples, except to say that they were from a man who died. The results showed that the samples contained both red and white blood cells. The tissue was determined to be heart muscle tissue (myocardia) from the left ventricle.[81] Are you ready to be amazed? The blood cells were found to be alive and functioning. The cells from the heart muscle tissue were found to be moving and still beating [still generating electromagnetic radiation — SML]. Dr. Frederick Zugibe determined the tissue was from a man whose heart had been severely traumatized. The blood type and DNA matched the blood/tissue sample from Lanciano and, therefore, were from the same person. The blood samples were determined to be 100% identical to blood samples taken from the Shroud of Turin and from the Sudarium of Oviedo (thought to be part of the burial cloth that had been wrapped around the head of Jesus).[82][83] The Church has not yet ruled on the authenticity of these miracles.
4.      The most recent miracle occurred in Legnica, Poland, on Christmas day of 2013. Once again, the consecrated host fell to the ground, after which it was placed in the water-filled vasculum. The sacramental veil (accidents of bread and wine) was lifted from the host revealing human flesh. Subsequently, it was determined by independent testing/research facilities to be muscle tissue from the human heart. Like the other miracles, the heart tissue showed forensic signs of great agony. In 2016, the Vatican approved this miracle and ordered the local bishop to set up a place for adoration of the heart of Jesus made visible to the faithful.[84][85]
My listing of the particulars of each of these miracles is minimal. I would highly recommend visiting Venerable Carlo Acutis’ website (see the Endnotes above for a more in-depth appreciation of those miracles). Significantly, every Eucharistic miracle where the flesh was visibly exposed, came from the Sacred Human Heart of Jesus when the sacramental veil was lifted. Why is this significant?
Pope Pius XII wrote:
Thus, from something corporeal such as the Heart of Jesus Christ with its natural meaning, it is both lawful and fitting for us, supported by Christian faith, to mount not only to its love as perceived by the senses but also higher, to a consideration and adoration of the infused heavenly love; and finally, by a movement of the soul [specifically the spirit — SML] at once sweet and sublime, to reflection on, and adoration of, the divine love of the Word Incarnate. We do so since, in accordance with the faith by which we believe that both natures - the human and the divine - are united in the Person of Christ, we can grasp in our minds those most intimate ties which unite the love of feeling of the physical Heart of Jesus with that twofold spiritual love, namely, the human and the divine love.[86]
Does the physical heart play a role in sending out the fire of charity? You bet it does. Pope St. John Paul II said, “Christ offers his human and divine Heart.”[87] To St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Jesus said, “It is to teach thee that thou must in no way appropriate [the graces from Jesus’ heart] to thyself, nor be reserved in distributing them to others, since I desire to make use of thy heart as of a channel through which to pour these graces into souls.”[88][89] This reaffirms what Jesus told Gertrude about the heart being the channel of grace to others.[90] As was said earlier, St. Gertrude said to St. John: “Beloved of God, didst not thou feel those pulsations when thou wert lying on the Lord’s breast at the Last Supper?” “Yes,” he replied, “and this with such plenitude, that liquid does not enter more rapidly into bread than the sweetness of those pleasures penetrated my soul. [91] Alacoque also wrote, “Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent with glory, His Five Wounds shining like so many suns. Flames issued from every part of His Sacred Humanity, especially from His Adorable Bosom, which resembled an open furnace and disclosed to me His most loving and most amiable Heart, which was the living source of these flames.”[92]
Recall from above that the heart communicates with the body in four ways. From the miracles discussed above, we saw how the energy of pulse waves from a beating heart affects the body and the spiritual soul. I also want to elaborate a little further on electromagnetic radiation. Do the various forms of communication of the human heart affect others? For example, does the glorified physical Sacred Heart of Jesus affect every cell in the body of a communicant receiving Jesus in the Eucharist? Yes, yes, yes. But only to the degree that holy desire exists in the spiritual soul of the communicant.
Jesus tells St. Faustina, “I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but [radiates them to other souls — emphasis SML].”[93] Let us recall our previous discussion on the spirit versus the soul. The upper powers of the soul (i.e., spirit/inner heart) cannot be kept separate from the lower powers (those powers of the soul responsible for the accidents and the functioning of the physical body). Grace cooperated with will always affect both the upper and lower powers of the spiritual soul and, therefore, the body. This grace-induced effect is true, whether it be Sanctifying and/or Actual grace.

The Language of the Body

Through The Science & Theology of Salt in Scripture, we seek to deepen our understanding of the body’s role in man’s journey to perfection in the Covenant of Salt as revealed at the miracle at Cana; how the gifts of grace are productive for both the body and the spirit. You cannot perfect one composite part of our human nature without perfecting the other. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the [spiritual] soul to be the ‘form’ of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul [possessing both higher and lower powers— SML] that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature [SML].”[94]
To help understand the profound significance of this fact, consider this example. Imagine I want a custom sheet made as a gift for my wife. I choose to weave yellow-and purple-colored threads together (Yes! My wife has to tell me what to wear, so I don’t embarrass myself). Imagine the weave is very dense (let’s say 5,000 thread-count — if that’s even possible). The weave is so tight that you can’t distinguish between the individual-colored threads when looking at the sheet. In a sense, the sheet symbolizes one philosophically substantial sheet — composed of a composite of two different colored threads. One substance, i.e., sheet. Is it possible to damage, burn, or stain a piece of that cloth without equally affecting both thread colors?
So, also, it is with the two composites of our single human nature. Every sacrament we receive, every exercise of virtue we undertake, every sin we commit, and every choice we make will equally move our body and our soul an equal distance toward greater perfection or imperfection. On this journey, there is never a time when the soul has to turn to the body and say — hurry up. You’re lagging behind. Each step forward or backward that the soul takes (one soul possessing both higher and lower powers), the body moves an equal measure in the same direction, and vice versa.
God is an infinitely just Judge. We are judged by the fruits we bear. I’m pretty confident there will never be a situation in which God judges the soul to merit a higher place in Heaven than the body, or the body has a lower place in hell than the soul, or any combination thereof. Therefore, at our death, in the Light of God’s Justice, our body and soul will be destined to have the same eternal resting place. Since we are a single nature with two composite parts, the grace that God gifts to us will affect both the soul and the body equally, but with different kinds of impacts to each composite part of our nature. Thus, we see that the body, as the mouth of man, will accurately express the overflow of the spiritual heart. It cannot be otherwise.
The body speaks. The body, and it alone, can express the overflow of the spirit/heart — of expressing love.[95] According to JP II, “the most profound words [language] of the spirit … demand an adequate language of the body.”[96] The language of the spirit consists of words of love, giving, and fidelity[97] expressed through the mouth of man — his body.

The Eucharist Simultaneously Purifies Our Inner Heart and Heals Our Body

In Part Two of this blog series, I have attempted to show that the Eucharist will simultaneously: 1) purify the heart by filling it with holy desire and 2) heal the body. The gift of the Eucharist is not a one-stop — not a one-time event. The efficacy of the Eucharist on each one of us depends on the Holy Desire dwelling in our spirit. The more we desire union with Jesus, the more purified and healed we become. The more times we worthily attend Mass, the greater our purification and bodily healing will be. In Psalm 51, we read, “O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin....Indeed you love truth in the heart; then, in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom. O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:1-7). As we have shown throughout this blog, the Eucharist equally purifies and heals both body and spiritual soul.
St. Padre Pio once said that it is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than for it to exist without the Eucharist in the Mass.[98] So crucial to the purification of both heart and body (as in Redemption of the body) is the mystery of the Eucharist, that it would be appropriate to say that all descriptions of the other sacraments could be followed by the words, “… so that we can become one flesh with Jesus in the Eucharist.”[99] If the Eucharist is what we say, why are there so many evil Catholics?

When does the Eucharist not Purify, and Why?

The primary focus of this blog series has been to lay a strong foundation for belief in the necessity for a one-flesh union (a Covenant of Salt) with Jesus through Baptism and the Eucharist. Both sacramental components are needed to understand the deeper meaning of the miracle at Cana. As a consequence of these two gifts, purification of the heart and the body’s healing are gradually and increasingly achieved. However, this healing and purifying present us with a difficult question. It is not a difficult question, but it is a painful question to answer. The question is this: if we become purified through Baptism and healed through a one-flesh union with Jesus in the Eucharist, then why is it that so many Catholics do bad things and hurt other people? Their actions fail to prove that Baptism and the Eucharist are efficacious in purifying hearts and bodies? The most dramatic and painful example of this would be the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Church and led many to a crisis in faith. After all, priests receive the Eucharist every day when they celebrate Mass, and yet, some have visited great evil upon innocent victims. If the Eucharist is truly the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Christ, why aren’t all who receive him purified?
Let’s explore the answers. First, God revealed to St. Catherine of Siena that the Eucharistic gift of grace and life (both attributed to the Holy Spirit) is efficacious only in proportion to the recipient’s desire and readiness to receive him. Tragically, one who is not “ready” (does not discern the body and blood of Jesus) to receive it will be given death instead of life (1 Cor. 11:29-30).[100]
According to St. Catherine’s thoughts, the reason why so many Catholics are not purified by their reception of the Eucharist is twofold. They are:
1. The heart lacks “readiness.” In my view, readiness can be further broken down into two categories: the first is the degree of faith present in an individual Catholic, and the second is the degree to which the soul is in a state of cleanliness. Let’s talk a little further about each of these.
a. Faith: I believe that the preeminent objection to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is sense-based. People think to themselves: when I look at or receive the consecrated host, I see and taste only bread; when I look into or drink from the chalice containing the consecrated wine, I see and taste only wine. I believe the five human senses provide the fuel that stokes the intellectual fire behind the arguments against a literal interpretation of the bread of life discourse (Jn. 6:31-69). An example of that reasoning can be found with the Apostle Thomas. Despite at least eleven people telling Thomas that they had seen the risen Jesus, he boldly said he would not believe unless his own five senses confirmed it (Jn. 20:25). Thomas lacked faith.
Scripture informs us many times of the necessity of having faith to receive any of the following: 1) God’s healing of the body (cf. Mt. 8:5-13; 9:22, 29; 15:28); 2) healing of the heart, i.e., the forgiveness of sins (cf. Mt. 9:1-2; Mark 2:5); 3) healing by Jesus (the prime efficient cause) of a person because of the faith of a third person (an efficient secondary cause) acting as an intercessor (cf. Mt. 15:28; Mark 7:23-27); and, 4) the power to affect non-human creation (cf. Mt. 8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:19-21; Mark 4:39-41; Lk. 17:6). We also read about the lack of power resulting from the absence of faith (cf. Mt. 13:58, 14:31; Mark 6:5).
So, let’s look at some scientific data related to the lack of faith and readiness. According to a 2008 survey conducted for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), an affiliate of Georgetown University, belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is held by only 57% (a truly sad statistic) of those who identify themselves as Catholic. [101] In 2019, Pew Research discovered that the degree of lack of faith has gotten much worse. For those Catholics who do not attend weekly Mass, the percentage of those who believe in the Real Presence dropped down to between 25% - 30%.[102] That doesn’t even factor in the numbers of lapsed Catholics who have left the Church altogether. Stretching of the imagination is not needed to believe that every one of those leaving the Church lacked faith in Jesus’ literal and complete presence in the Eucharist. It’s also hard to believe that all 57% of those Catholics that believe also have a deeply held belief in the Real Presence. CARA estimates that only 31% of Catholics attend Mass on any given weekend. How many people do you think would skip Mass if they genuinely believed that the very same Jesus (the Jesus resurrected in glory…not the mortal Jesus) who walked the earth a couple of millennia ago was going to meet them face-to-face and give them a great big hug on Sunday; and during this hug, he would fill them with the Holy Spirit?
b. Cleanliness: In John 13:3-15, we read about Jesus washing the feet of his Apostle. He tells them it is necessary to wash their feet as a prerequisite to be in him. Pope Benedict XVI believes this washing of the feet is not referring to Baptism. To back up this belief, he references v.10, in which Jesus tells Peter that they don’t need to be washed all over their body because they are already clean; only their feet need to be cleaned. Benedict believes the washing of feet refers to the sacrament of Reconciliation.[103] After Baptism, we can get our feet dirty again by walking in the “mud” of the world and the flesh because we have fallen human natures. If we are “not ready,” if our feet have not been washed, then this is where the words of St. Paul are appropriate to describe the consequences of our actions. He wrote, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29-30). Let’s not forget the parable of the wedding banquet, wherein the guest with improper attire was thrown out into the night to weep and gnash teeth (Mt. 22:11-13). How often do Catholics have their feet washed clean to be in Jesus? According to the CARA study, 87% of Catholics go to Reconciliation/Confession once a year or less.[104] I find it phenomenal that 87 out of every 100 Catholics are saying, in effect, that they have not committed a mortal sin in a year. Speaking anecdotally, I see roughly 98% of the people in the pews getting up to receive communion. The numbers don’t quite add up. Our society has made the builders of the tower of Babel look like amateurs and imposters. I could go on a rant here about runaway hyper-pride and its consequences in our culture, but I think I best move on.
2. The heart lacks “desire”. Therefore, the second primary reason for the lack of efficacy of the Eucharist in a particular person is a lack of desire or, as I like to phrase it, a lack of holy desire (cf. Rom. 8:5; Gal. 5:17). Is there a lack of holy desire on the part of the members of the Church to receive Jesus in the Eucharist? As we stated previously, only 31% of all Catholics go to Mass on any given weekend. That means that 69% did not go to Church. What was their reason for missing Mass? Of those who missed Mass, 74% gave as the significant reason something other than business/work conflicts or health-related problems.[105] That indicates to me a general and severe lack of desire.
What can remedy this coldness of the heart? The embers of holy desire are first stoked by heartfelt prayer (cf. Mt. 7:7, Lk. 11:9-10). First, however, we must heed the words of the blind man whom Jesus had cured when, in response to the questioning of the Pharisees, he said, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him” (Jn. 9:31). There is a direct correlation between the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart and the holy desire with which one desires union with Jesus. The Holy Spirit inflames (i.e., brings about holy desire).
What does the miracle at the wedding at Cana tell us? It tells us that the Eucharist fulfills the Covenant of Salt — a one-flesh union with Christ. A union so intimate that our bodies can be healed and our inner hearts purified through Him. And yet, very few avail themselves of this Sacred gift. Why do I say can be healed instead of are healed? The great majority of Catholics in today’s world are lukewarm, at best.
If I have a severe sinful addiction and genuinely desire to conquer it, my actions would accurately reflect the strength of my desire. So, if I only go to Mass once a month to receive the purifying and healing medicine of Jesus’ Sacred Heart, how much holy desire do I have? The more often one attends Mass, i.e., the wedding banquet of the Lamb, and worthily receives Jesus in the Eucharist, the sooner will your sickness be healed.
In Part III of this blog series, we will show that the Church affirms that the glorified body of Jesus in the Eucharist is physical. Not mortal. Glorified and Physical!   
Want to read Part I of this series? See link below.
List of all blogs and articles: https://www.stossbooks.com/index.php

 ENDNOTES:


[1] Helmut Posch, The True Conception of the World According to Hildegard von Bingen, trans by Dean H. Kenyon, (Mount Jackson: The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, 2015), p. 31-32/55.
[2] Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, 151.
[3] Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 76, a. 1.
[4] Helmut Posch, The True Conception of the World According to Hildegard von Bingen, p. 31-32/55.
[5]
According to Venerable Maria of Agreda, “Adam in regard to the body was so like unto Christ that scarcely any difference existed. According to the soul, Adam was similar to Christ [Venerable Maria of Agreda, City of God, Volume I, “The Conception,” (Washington, NJ: Blue Army), p. 127.].” If Adam’s body was so like Jesus’ body, and both were born with perfect bodies in which the Holy Spirit fully dwelled, then it makes sense that both would be born with luminescent bodies. St. Bridget (among others) confirms this fact. She was given a vision of the Nativity. She describes it thusly:
And while [Mary] stood thus in prayer I saw the Child in her womb move; suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her own Son from whom radiated such ineffable light and splendour that the sun was not comparable to it while the divine light totally annihilated the material light of St. Joseph's candle. So sudden and instantaneous was this birth that I could neither discover nor discern by what means it had occurred. All of a sudden I saw the glorious Infant lying on the ground naked and shining, His body pure from any soil or impurity [St. Bridget of Sweden, Revelations of St. Bridget, On the Life and Passion of Our Lord and the Life of His Blessed Mother, translated from the 1611 Antwerp edition, published by (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild); republished by (Fresno, CA: Apostolate of Christian Action, 1965); and re-typeset and published by (Charlotte, NC: Tan Books, 2015), p 26.].
[6] Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 76.
[7] Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint published by Servant Books, Cinncinati, OH, 2006), 36-37.
[8] cf. St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist”Press, 1990), 35.
[9] cf. Rev. Edward Leen, The Holy Spirit, (New York, NY: Sheed & Ward, 1939; Sceptor Publishers, 1998, 2008), 32-33.
[10] Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 32, 103-104, 277.
[11] Fulton J. Sheen, The Mystical Body of Christ, Ave Maria Press. Kindle Edition, pp. 24-25.
[12] John Paul II, The Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan, (Pauline Books and Media: Boston, MA, 1997), Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 46.
[13] Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, blog entry, “What Does It Mean to Be in the Image of God? Irenaeus of Lyon Against the Gnostics,” Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, https://anglicaapparitor.wordpress.com/category/patristics/: Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, accessed 11/12/2013.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologiæ of St. Thomas Aquinas, Second and Revised Edition, 1920, Part I, q. 93, a. 9, (Answer). Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Online Edition Copyright 2017 by Kevin Knight.
[16] John Paul II, in his general audience of February 20, 1980, “ Man Enters the World as a Subject of Truth and Love,” Theology of the Body, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008), n. 4.
[17] St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), 375.
[18] Rev. Fr. Edward Leen, The Holy Spirit, (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1939; Sceptor Publishers, 1998, 2008), p.29-34.
[19] Ibid.
[20] International Theological Commission, “COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP: Human Persons Created in the Image of God”, ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana, www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html, (accessed 2/19/2014).
[21] Ibid., n. 7.
[22] Ibid., n. 9.
[23] Ibid., n. 27.
[24] Ibid., n. 10.
[25] International Theological Commission, “COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP: Human Persons Created in the Image of God”, n. 12.
[26] Ibid., n. 13.
[27] Ibid., n. 29.
[28] John Paul II, “The Language of the Body in the Structure of Marriage,” Theology of the Body, n. 7.
[29] John Paul II, in his general audience of Sept. 5, 1984, “Responsible Parenthood Linked to Moral Maturity,” Theology of the Body, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008), n. 1.
[30] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 112, a. 1.
[31]
According to Archbishop Fulton Sheen, "His life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension are the instruments of Divinity for our sanctification, our life, our resurrection, our ascension. But it may be asked: Why should His human nature acquire such power even though it be a perfect human nature? The reason is because of its union with the Person of God....Actions belong to the person—not to the nature.... each of the actions of His human nature is to be attributed to His Person. But His Person is the Person of God—therefore, each and every action of His human nature had an infinite value because it was done by the Person of God." [Fulton J. Sheen, The Mystical Body of Christ (p. 24-25). Ave Maria Press. Kindle Edition] So what is being said here is this: the two natures of Jesus exist in the One Person of the Son of God, but they are not separated into two "boxes" so to speak. Because of this, Jesus new all that the Divine nature knew, and vice-versa. This is how Jesus was able to die for every person's sins ... past, present, and future, despite the fact that Jesus, the human, existed in time.
Creation is an eternal expression of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. We know this because the Son is eternally begotten of the Father ... so that which is made through the Son must also be unceasingly expressed from the moment the Father said, “Let it be.” What does the Father express? He expresses what He knows ... himself. What he knows and Loves is perfect Goodness. When Adam sinned, all of creation was corrupted ... God could no longer say that it was very good (Gen. 1:31). The Father could no longer express creation through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. When Jesus, out of infinite Love for us, died for our sins, his resurrected and glorified body was, so to speak, our ticket to ride. When Jesus ascended to the Father body and soul united to his Divinity his glorified physical (but not mortal) body now became part of the eternal Trinitarian dialogue. Thus, the Father could not beget the Son without also begetting the Son’s human nature, which is hypostatically united to his Divinity. This is why all of creation became a new creation (Rev. 21:5; 2 Cor. 5:17).
Without the Ascension, that which had not yet been given (Jn. 7:39) — the Holy Spirit — would continue to not be given/sent. Through Baptism, we become members of the Mystical Body of Christ, of which Christ is the head and the Holy Spirit is the soul. The one-flesh Marriage occurs on the Cross, at which we are made present at Mass, when we receive the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist. The wood of the cross is a symbol of fallen incarnate man. The nailing of Jesus to that cross is a symbol of what happens in Mass, at which we become one flesh with Jesus nailed to the salt of DNA of that very same cross.
[32] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 14-15.
[33] Ibid., 30.
[34] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 31.
[35] Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of publisher. Kindle Locations 787-790.
[36] Hildegard, Scivias, 190.
[37] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 81.
[38]. CCC, n. 687.
[39] Leo XIII, Divinum Illud Munus, (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008), n. 3.
[40] Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Song. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of publisher. Kindle Locations 2548-2552.
[41]
This text is extremely theologically rich. God revealed to St. Hildegard that man was designed and created by God to be a microcosm of all creation. When man glorifies God, all creation glorifies God. When man fell, all of creation fell. The works of man are manifested through the body, and in the language of the body, which is both sense-able and meta-sense-able.
Hildegard writes,
The elements are indeed subjected to man, and they each perform their duties as they themselves are affected by the works of man. For if people meddle with one another in battles, horrors, in hatred, envy and sinful offenses, the elements change into another and opposite kind of heat or cold or violent effusions and deluges. This stems from the first determination of God, because God arranged the elements in such a way that each one should behave corresponding to the works of men, since they are affected by these works when man creates with and in them (Causes and Cures, p. 95).
[Helmut Posch, The True Conception of the World According to Hildegard von Bingen, Trans by Dean H. Kenyon, (Mount Jackson: The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, 2015), p. 131.].
[42] Hildegard writes, "Of all the strengths of God's creation, Man's is most profound, made in a wondrous way with great glory from the dust of the earth and so entangled with the strengths of the rest of creation that he can never be separated from them." [Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (New York: Paulist Press, 1990), 98.
[43] CCC, “Body and Soul But Truly One,” n. 364.
[44] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen's Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs. Translated by Robert Cunningham, Jerry Dybdal, and Ron Miller. Edited by Matthew Fox. (Santa Fe, NM: Inner Traditions International/Bear & Company, 1987) All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of publisher. Kindle Locations 2380-2381.
[45] Rollin McCraty, Ph.D., Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, HeartMath Institute, (Boulder Creek, CA: Institute of HeartMath, 2015), p. 3.
[46]. Ibid., 36.
[47] Katharine O. Burleson, Gary E. Schwartz. “Cardiac torsion and electromagnetic fields: The cardiac bioinformation hypothesis,” Medical Hypothesis, 2005, Vol. 64, 1109-1116; DOI:10.1016/j. mehy.2004.12.023.
[48] McCraty et al., Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36.
[49] Burleson et al., “Cardiac torsion and electromagnetic fields: The cardiac bioinformation hypothesis.”
[50] McCraty et al., Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36.
[51] Stephen Michael Leininger, The Science & Theology of Salt* in Scripture: *Light, Water, Dust, and Stone too, Volume II, STOSS Books (Raceland, Louisiana: 2017). Won’t be published until Nov. or Dec 2017.
[52] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36.
[53] Katharine O. Burleson, Gary E. Schwartz. “Cardiac torsion and electromagnetic fields: The cardiac bioinformation hypothesis,” Medical Hypothesis, 2005, Vol. 64, 1109-1116; DOI:10.1016/j. mehy.2004.12.023.
[54] Clarke J. SQUIDS. (August 1994) Sci Am: 46–53.
[55] Tavarozzi I, Comani S, Del Gratta C et al. “Magnetocardiography: current status and perspectives. Part I: Physical priniciples and instrumentation.” Ital Heart J 2002;3:75–85.
[56] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36.
[57]. Burleson et al., “Cardiac torsion and electromagnetic fields: The cardiac bioinformation hypothesis.”
[58] Clarke J. SQUIDS. Sci Am: 46–53.
[59] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36.
[60] Ibid.
[61]. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, "Magnetic field measurements of the human heart at room temperature.," ScienceDaily.com, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091211131520.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher: ScienceDaily, L.L.C., December 26, 2009 (accessed 12-26-2009).
[62] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty: Pribram, K.H. and F.T. Melges, “Psychophysiological basis of emotion,” in Handbook of Clinical Neurology, J. Vinken and G.W. Bruyn, Editors. 1969, North-Holland Publishing Company: Amsterdam. p. 316-341.
[63] Werner R. Loewenstein, The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life, (Kindle Location 548). Kindle Edition.
[64] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty: Halberg, F., et al., “Cross-spectrally coherent ~10.5- and 21-year biological and physical cycles, magnetic storms and myocardial infarctions.” Neuroendocrinology, 2000. 21: p. 233-258; and also: McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Bradley, R. T, “The coherent heart: Heart-brain interactions, psychophysiological coherence, and the emergence of system-wide order.” Integral Review, 2009. 5(2): p. 10-115.
[65] Science Daily, “Body's Ability To Emit Light Arouses New Hopes & Fears On Radiation From Mobile Phones.” Science Daily, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/07/980729064343.htm, 7/29/1998.
[66] Michigan State University. "Electromagnetic Fields Affect Human Cells." ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001016073704.htm (accessed October 5, 2017).
[67] Academy of Finland. "Mobile phone electromagnetic field affects local glucose metabolism in the human brain, Finnish study finds." ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110915103602.htm (accessed October 5, 2017).
Journal Source: Myoung Soo Kwon, Victor Vorobyev, Sami Kännälä, Matti Laine, Juha O Rinne, Tommi Toivonen, Jarkko Johansson, Mika Teräs, Harri Lindholm, Tommi Alanko, Heikki Hämäläinen. GSM mobile phone radiation suppresses brain glucose metabolism. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/jcbfm.2011.128.
[68] Penn State. "Electrical grounding technique may improve health outcomes of NICU babies." ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170803120627.htm (accessed October 4, 2017).
Journal Source: Rohit Passi, Kim K. Doheny, Yuri Gordin, Hans Hinssen, Charles Palmer. “Electrical Grounding Improves Vagal Tone in Preterm Infants.” Neonatology, 2017; 112 (2): 187 DOI: 10.1159/000475744.
[69] Werner R. Loewenstein, The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 10.
[70] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty: Pribram, K.H., Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing, 1991, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
[71] Ibid.
Cited by McCraty: Schofl, C., et al., Frequency and amplitude enhancement of calcium transients by cyclic AMP in hepatocytes. Biochem J, 1991. 273(Pt 3): p. 799-802.
[72] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty:
(1) Prank, K., et al., “Coding of time-varying hormonal signals in intracellular calcium spike trains.” Pac Symp Biocomput, 1998: p. 633-44;
(2) Schofl, C., K. Prank, and G. Brabant, Pulsatile hormone secretion for control of target organs. Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, 1995. 145(17-18): p. 431-435; and,
(3) Schofl, C., et al., “Frequency and amplitude enhancement of calcium transients by cyclic AMP in hepatocytes.” Biochem J, 1991. 273(Pt 3): p. 799-802.
[73] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty:   1) Schandry, R. and P. Montoya, Event-related brain potentials and the processing of cardiac activity. Biological Psychology, 1996. 42: p. 75-85.
2) Song, L.Z., G.E. Schwartz, and L.G. Russek, Heart-focused attention and heart-brain synchronization: Energetic and physiological mechanisms. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 1998. 4(5): p. 44-62.
[74] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 36-37.
Cited by McCraty: Pribram, K.H. and F.T. Melges, “Psychophysiological basis of emotion,” in Handbook of Clinical Neurology, J. Vinken and G.W. Bruyn, Editors. 1969, North-Holland Publishing Company: Amsterdam. p. 316-341.
[75] McCraty, Science of the Heart, Vol. 2, 37-39;
Cited by McCraty:
1) Tiller, W.A., R. McCraty, and M. Atkinson, Cardiac coherence: A new, noninvasive measure of autonomic nervous system order. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 1996. 2 (1): p. 52-65.
2) McCraty, R., M. Atkinson, and W.A. Tiller, New electrophysiological correlates associated with intentional heart focus. Subtle Energies, 1993. 4(3): p. 251-268.
3) Hatfield, E., Emotional Contagion 1994, New York: Cambridge University Press.
[76] St. Gertrude the Great, Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great, TAN Books, Kindle Edition, pp. 303-304.
[77] Ritchie, Charles Sebastian. “St. Philip Romolo Neri.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12018b.htm. Nov. 5, 2017 (accessed Dec. 6, 2017).
[78] Glenn Dallaire, “St Gemma Galgani.” Glen Dallaire. http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/heart-on-fire-with-love-of-god-st-gemma.html, January 21, 2013 (accessed 11/05/2017).
[79] Carlo Acutis, “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Poland, Sokolka, 2008,” Associazione Amici di Carlo Acutis, http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/scheda_b.html?nat=italia&wh=lanciano&ct=Lanciano,%20750%20D.C., accessed 11/18/2016.
[80] Carlo Acutis, “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Poland, Sokolka, 2008,” Associazione Amici di Carlo Acutis, http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/scheda_c.html?nat=polonia&wh=sokolka&ct=Sok%C3%B3%C5%82ka%202008, accessed 11/18/2016.
[81] Carlo Acutis, “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Argentina, Buenos Aries, 1992-1994-1996,” Associazione Amici di Carlo Acutis, http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/scheda_c.html?nat=argentina&wh=buenosaires&ct=Buenos%20Aires,%201992-1994-1996, accessed 11/18/2016.
[82] Deacon Donald Cox, "This Is My Body—This Is My Blood," Catholic Journal US, http://www.catholicjournal.us/2012/03/30/this-is-my-body-this-is-my-blood/, March 30, 2012 (accessed 9/07/12).
[83] cf. Carlo Acutis, “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Argentina, Buenos Aries, 1992-1994-1996.”
[84] Catholic News Agency, “Check out this Eucharistic miracle in Poland,” CNA, http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/check-out-this-eucharistic-miracle-in-poland-96162/; April 18, 2016 (accessed 4/19/2016).
[85] Carlo Acutis, “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Poland, Legnica, 2013,” Associazione Amici di Carlo Acutis, http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/scheda_b.html?nat=polonia&wh=legnica&ct=Legnica,%202013, accessed 11/18/2016.
[86] Pope Pius XII, Haurietis Aquas (On Devotion to the Sacred Heart), http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas.html, May 15, 1956, n. 104.
[87] John Paul II, Angelus, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, June 28, 1998. https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/angelus/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_28061998.html.
[88] Alacoque, Margaret Mary. The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary. TAN Books. Kindle Edition. p. 9.
[89] cf. Pope Pius XII, Haurietis Aquas (On Devotion to the Sacred Heart), http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas.html, May 15, 1956, nos. 1, 3-4.
[90] St. Gertrude the Great. Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great. Kindle Locations (586-587, 808, 2991, and 3001).
[91] St. Gertrude the Great, Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great, TAN Books, Kindle Edition, pp. 303-304.
[92] Ibid., 56.
[93] Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, n. 1074. Used with permission of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.
[94] CCC. n. 365.
[95] West, Theology of the Body Explained, 85.
[96] John Paul II, “The Language of the Body in the Structure of Marriage,” n. 7.
[97] Ibid.
[98] "Why Should I Go to Mass Every Day?” The Pieta Prayer Book, (Hickory Corners, MI: Miraculous Lady of Roses, LLC, 2006), p.27.
[99] Sacred Congregation of Rites, Eucharisticum Mysterium, ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana (St. Louis, MO: Adoremus, 1999), https://adoremus.org/1967/05/eucharisticum-mysterium/, n. 6.
[100] Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 50-51.
[101] Mark M. Gray and Paul M. Perl, Research conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University, 2008), 20, 54.
[102] Gregory A. Smith, "Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ," (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2019), https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/05/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics/, August 5, 2019 (accessed 12/10/21).
[103] Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth Part Two, 72-74.
[104] Mark M. Gray and Paul M. Perl, Research conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University, 2008), 57.
[105] Ibid., 48.


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