The Guardian Angel: Early Church and the Eucharist
Jesus said, in John 14:6, I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me. Are we listening, is there a battle for souls or not, are we supposed to be in that battle?
Right now there is almost 8 Billion people on the earth, and after 2000 years Christians, comprise almost 1/3 of that total and of that number there are are almost half or ! Billion 345 million that call themselves Catholic.
So does that mean we have enough, or that all are headed to heaven, and what about the population of the world that does not believe in Christ? % of Christians in Europe and the west has declined. in 1999 70% of people in U.S. said they were Christian, by 2020 the number of those belonging to a Christian Church declined to 47%.
There are now in the western world over 30% that say they are religiously unaffiliated. So what do you think?
What do we do? Can we set back and say I have done all I can do, can we really say that. Or can we say, it is too big for the world and for me to turn it around. Or do we finally get past the rhetoric and Pray for sure, but are we asked to do more?
To shout from the rooftops in every venue and every place that God puts us before man, before it is too late. I can tell you over and over to share, but am I doing enough myself, can we set back with the gifts we have been given, knowing we could be dead by morning, and have any day from now until the day we die, where we do not do all we can do out of love for Jesus to Glorify Him, how of honor for Mary as the Mother of the Church and God's greatest warrior to bring souls to Him, to defend the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church with every ounce of my being, and hear Scripture say that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Do I believe that it is possible that we can have, and that my God is a mountain moving God..
Will I be like our loving Peter that was in his flesh using tough rhetoric and say I will die for you, I will go to jail for you, yet when it was time to take action, did I say, I don't know him.
When it was time to take action, was I like the priest or Levi and walk on the opposite side of the road instead of engaging life like the Good Samaritan and help those in need.
How many souls have we personally brought to God. I know that each of you are here because you want to do more than just talk, that we may have questions about what we can do, or even use one of Satan's wiles and compare ourselves to others and think we are not so back.
Each of you have been a gift to me and it is no accident. Please pray that every day the Holy Spirit will guide all our steps in service to the King and His Mother Mary. Love and prayers in Christ to your families. Jesus I Trust in You
ST. CLEMENT OF ROME St. Clement was the third successor of Peter as Bishop of Rome; otherwise known as the third Pope. "Since then these things are manifest to us, and we have looked into the depths of the divine knowledge, we ought to do in order all things which the Master commanded us to perform at appointed times. He commanded us to celebrate sacrifices and services, and that it should not be thoughtlessly or disorderly, but at fixed times and hours. He has Himself fixed by His supreme will the places and persons whom He desires for these celebrations, in order that all things may be done piously according to His good pleasure, and be acceptable to His will. So then those who offer their oblations at the appointed seasons are acceptable and blessed, but they follow the laws of the Master and do not sin. For to the high priest his proper ministrations are allotted, and to the priests the proper place has been appointed, and on Levites their proper services have been imposed. The layman is bound by the ordinances for the laity." Source: St. Clement, bishop of Rome, 80 A.D., to the Corinthians "Our sin will not be small if we eject from the episcopate those who blamelessly and holily have offered its Sacrifices." Source: Letter to the Corinthians, [44,4]
St. Ignatius became the third bishop of Antioch, succeeding St. Evodius, who was the immediate successor of St. Peter. He heard St. John preach when he was a boy and knew St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Seven of his letters written to various Christian communities have been preserved. Eventually, he received the martyr's crown as he was thrown to wild beasts in the arena. "Consider how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead." "Letter to the Smyrnaeans", paragraph 6. circa 80-110 A.D. "Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ." -"Letter to the Ephesians", paragraph 20, c. 80-110 A.D. "I have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed." -"Letter to the Romans", paragraph 7, circa 80-110 A.D. "Take care, then who belong to God and to Jesus Christ - they are with the bishop. And those who repent and come to the unity of the Church - they too shall be of God, and will be living according to Jesus Christ. Do not err, my brethren: if anyone follow a schismatic, he will not inherit the Kingdom of God. If any man walk about with strange doctrine, he cannot lie down with the passion. Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons." -Epistle to the Philadelphians, 3:2-4:1, 110 A.D.
St. Justin Martyr was born a pagan but converted to Christianity after studying philosophy. He was a prolific writer and many Church scholars consider him the greatest apologist or defender of the faith from the 2nd century. He was beheaded with six of his companions some time between 163 and 167 A.D. "This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus." "First Apology", Ch. 66, inter A.D. 148-155. "God has therefore announced in advance that all the sacrifices offered in His name, which Jesus Christ offered, that is, in the Eucharist of the Bread and of the Chalice, which are offered by us Christians in every part of the world, are pleasing to Him." "Dialogue with Trypho", Ch. 117, circa 130-160 A.D. Moreover, as I said before, concerning the sacrifices which you at that time offered, God speaks through Malachias, one of the twelve, as follows: 'I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord; and I will not accept your sacrifices from your hands; for from the rising of the sun until its setting, my name has been glorified among the gentiles; and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a clean offering: for great is my name among the gentiles, says the Lord; but you profane it.' It is of the sacrifices offered to Him in every place by us, the gentiles, that is, of the Bread of the Eucharist and likewise of the cup of the Eucharist, that He speaks at that time; and He says that we glorify His name, while you profane it." -"Dialogue with Trypho", [41: 8-10]
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