Fulton Sheen's Importance Of The Eucharist

At the funeral of Fulton Sheen the homilist spoke of Sheen’s devotion to a daily Holy Hour. Even on the last day of his life Sheen understood the importance of the Eucharist as “the most central sacrament of the Christian life” (Zia 53). The Eucharist is the only sacrament that is truly God Himself, not a symbol as most protestant Churches would believe, but, as Jesus repeated in the Bible, it is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The Eucharist is at the core of the Mass, as “a true sacrifice that finds its proper celebration at the alter” (Zia 53). While the Eucharist is a sacrifice, “Jesus is not re-sacrificed at every Mass, but rather, the fruits of His one and perfect sacrifice are brought into the present” (Zia 54). At Mass

In order to truly receive the Eucharist with awareness and reverence for the fact the it is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ; Catholics must spend time adoring it. Pope Benedict XVI reflected on adoring the Blessed Sacrament, saying that “the act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself” (Zia 58). With admiration for the Eucharist before receiving it Catholics can understand the fullness of it’s beauty during mass. Adoration requires reverence and one way to show this is by kneeling in prayer in front of the Eucharist, a practice seen over ten times in sacred scripture to show respect to

Louis Cathedral Basilica with my high school art history class my best friend and I took a detour to quietly pray in the adoration chapel. After I explained that the pale circle inside the gold thing we were facing was the same Jesus I receive in Mass and I was there to worship Him in his full presence. Adoration aids in our appreciation for the Mass; we first adore the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ to be aware of it’s importance as it is placed in our hand in communion. In St. Augustine's words, “no one eats that flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it” (Zia 58). As Catholics we should sin were we not to adore the Eucharist, the acceptance of it without reverence and admiration for it is not the fullest acceptance of it we could have. I’ve seen many Catholics walk up to the priest and receive the host with such a dispassionate attitude, as if they had no admiration for Christ and did not understand that they just consumed the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. I have also seen friends of mine who make a holy hour more than once a week receive the the Eucharist and they look as though they are falling in love, fully aware and adoring of what they have just received. We need to adore Christ in the Eucharist to even begin to appreciate all that he gives us in the Eucharist in