2. Parish Theme for 2011-12 We Gather – We’re Sent

3. Four Most Important Things to Remember about the Mass: #1: Christians have always celebrated Mass – from the very beginning.

4. Four Most Important Things to Remember about the Mass: #2: The Eucharist is Jesus’ Body and Blood. “Real Presence”

5. #2: The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and 1 Cor 11: “…this is my body…this is my blood…” Gospel of John, chapter 6: “… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”

6. #2: The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood St. Ignatius of Antioch (died in 107 AD) “They [the heretics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ…” (Letter to the Smyrneans, 7); “I desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ…and for drink I desire His Blood, which is love incorruptible.” (Letter to the Romans 7, 3);

7. #2: The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood St. Justin Martyr (c.150 AD) “We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true…For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these…the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer…is both the Flesh and the Blood of…Jesus.” (First Apology, 66, 20;)

8. #2: The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood St. Irenaeus (c. 195 AD) “He [Jesus] has declared the cup… to be His own Blood… and the bread, He has established as His own Body.” (Against Heresies 5, 2, 2);

9. #2: The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood Martin Luther (1483-1546) “What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself. ” (The Small Catechism, 1529)

10. #3: The Mass Is Holy Thursday + Good Friday + Easter Sunday The one sacrifice of Jesus continuing for all time: Holy Thursday Easter Sunday Good Friday

12. #3: The Mass Is Holy Thursday + Good Friday + Easter Sunday The one sacrifice of Jesus continuing for all time: Holy Thursday Easter Sunday Good Friday

13. #4: The Mass Joins Heaven’s Liturgy

14. "In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God…” [CCC#1090];

15. #4: The Mass Joins Heaven’s Liturgy From the Preface for many Masses: “And so we join the angels and the saints as they sing their unending hymn of praise…”

16. Four Most Important Things to Remember about the Mass: #1 Christians have always celebrated Mass – from the very beginning. #2 The Eucharist Is Jesus’ Body and Blood. #3 The Mass Is Holy Thursday + Good Friday + Easter Sunday. #4 The Mass Joins Heaven’s Liturgy.