" Just as Christ's Passion has not its effect in them who are not disposed towards it as they should be, so also they do not come to glory through this sacrament who receive it unworthily. Hence Augustine, expounding the same passage, observes: 'The sacrament is one thing, the power of the sacrament another. Many [...]
"THE RESPECT DUE TO CHURCHES What is this holy place! It is truly the house of God and the gate of heaven! exclaimed the patriarch Jacob after the visions of the miraculous ladder. We can say as much of each of our churches. They are the dwelling places of angels and archangels, the palace of [...]
"The Eucharist is the source of the Christian life because whoever shares in it receives the motivation and strength to live as a true Christian. Christ's sacrifice on the cross imparts to the believer the dynamism of his generous love. The Eucharistic banquet nourishes the faithful with the Body and Blood of the divine Lamb [...]
"When you approach the tabernacle remember that He has been waiting for you for twenty centuries." Source: St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way: The Essential Classic of Opus Dei's Founder, Image, 2006
"A convincing indication of the effectiveness of eucharistic catechesis is surely an increased sense of the mystery of God present among us. This can be expressed in concrete outward signs of reverence for the Eucharist which the process of mystagogy should inculcate in the faithful." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), [...]
"In the Old Testament also there was show-bread; but this, as it belonged to the Old Testament, has come to an end; but in the New Testament there is Bread of heaven, and a Cup of salvation, sanctifying soul and body." Source: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
"The Sacrifice of Calvary was offered up in a bloody manner by the separation of His blood from His body. In the Mass, this death is mystically and sacramentally presented in an unbloody manner, by the separate consecration of bread and wine. The two are not consecrated together by such words as 'This is My [...]
"The celebration of the Eucharist, in its infinite richness, makes constant reference to salvation history." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. 'The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament [...]
"The refreshment of spiritual food and the unity denoted by the species of the bread and wine are to be had in the present life, although imperfectly, but perfectly in the state of glory. Hence Augustine says on the words, 'My flesh is meat indeed' (Jn. 6:56)." Source: St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica [...]