"Since Christ Himself said in reference to the bread:
"This is My Body," who will dare remain hesitant?
And since with equal clarity He asserted:
"This is My Blood," who will dare entertain any doubt
and say that this is not His Blood?" - St Cyril of Jerusalem
"Do not, then, regard the Eucharistic
elements as ordinary bread and wine:
they are in fact that Body and Blood of the Lord,
as He Himself has declared.
Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith.
You have been taught and you are firmly convinced
that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not
bread and wine but the Body and Blood of Christ.
You know also how David referred to this long ago,
when he sang: Bread gives strength to man's heart
and makes his face shine with the oil of gladness.
Strengthen your heart, then, by receiving
this bread as spiritual bread, and bring joy
to the face of your soul. May purity of conscience
remove the veil from the face of your soul so that by contemplating the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror,
you may transformed from glory to glory in Christ Jesus
our Lord. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
An except from
The Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation,
St Cyril of Jerusalem, Early Church Father
St Cyril of Jerusalem
313-386
313-386
Bishop of Jerusalem
Scripture scholar, Catechist par excellence
Doctor of the Church, Early Church Father
Doctor of the Church, Early Church Father
Feast Day - March 18
St Cyril admonished catechumens surrounded by heresy:
"Make your fold with the sheep;
flee from the wolves:
depart not from the Church."
St Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us!
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