Choose a topic from Part 3a:
1. The matter of the Holy Eucharist is bread andwine.
2. No determinate amount of bread and wine is requisitefor this sacrament. No tangible quantity of bread and wine iseither too small or too large for valid use in confecting the HolyEucharist. Reverence, and church law, determines the seemly amountof the matter to be employed.
3. The bread which is requisite as matter for the HolyEucharist is bread made of wheaten flour.
4. True wheaten bread, leavened or unleavened, is validmatter for the Holy Eucharist. The Church decides which type ofwheaten bread is to be used. In the Latin Church, unleavened breadis prescribed; in the Greek rite, leavened bread is used.
5. True wine of the grape is necessary as matter for theHoly Eucharist. At the institution of the sacrament, our Lord said(Matt. 26:29): "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit ofthe vine . . ."
6. At Holy Mass, a little water is mingled with the winethat is to be consecrated. This recalls the fact that water wasmingled with the last drops of redeeming blood that flowed from theside of Christ as he hung upon the cross. It also suggests, as PopeJulius says, the unity of Christ and the faithful: the winesignifies Christ, and the water the people.
7. This mingling of a few drops of water with the wine tobe consecrated at Mass is a requirement of strict church law, butit is not essential to the validity of the consecration.
8. Only a very small quantity of water is mingled with thewine which is used as matter for confecting the Holy Eucharist atMass. If much water were used, the mixture could no longer becalled true wine, and therefore would not be valid matter for thissacrament.
"God speaks to us without ceasing by his good inspirations."
The Cure D'Ars
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"Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but when he has once chosen, he ought not to change, except for most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in his director."
St Philip Neri
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"Happy is the youth, because he has time before him to do good. "
St Philip Neri
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