Dear Father Angelo,

 I heard the Priest during Mass affirm that Jesus is alive and well among us, just like he was two thousand years ago, in flesh and blood. In my sixty-five years of life, this is the first time I’ve heard it said. I always thought that Jesus was in our midst Spiritually, also because in the Creed we say that he ascended to Heaven, he sits on the right hand of God the Almighty Father and from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. Would you like to clarify this concept a bit better? There is a lot of confusion in my head. Cordial greetings,

 Giacomo

 Dear Giacomo, 

1. There was probably a misunderstanding of what the priest was saying. If we mean in a material sense that Jesus is alive among us, that is, that he has his vegetative life, that he is present as we are present to each other in the sense that we can touch, see, feel him … well, this is not real. It is not true simply because it does not exist.

 2. Perhaps the priest wanted to emphasize that Christ is really present in our midst. But in what way is he is presenting himself ? St. Thomas writes, “’Although Christ’s bodily presence was withdrawn from the faithful by the Ascension, still the presence of His Godhead is ever with the faithful, as He Himself says, ‘And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age”’ (Mt.28:20). Also, as Pope St. Leo the Great explains, “In ascending to heavens does not forsake his adopted brethren” (Sermons 72,3) (Summa Theologica III, 57,1, objection 3).

3. Jesus with his divine Person is present everywhere, supporting everything. But since he is raised from the dead, he is present in a new way ensuring men of his help. St. Thomas writes commenting on Mt 28:20, “‘He promises his help to the Apostles and to others who carry out a similar task. In fact, when he prayed, he said, ‘I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.’’’ (Jn 17:20). Therefore, he promises to all people in general, “Whoever believes in me will  do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these” (Jn 14:12). So too he promises at all times, for which he says ‘always until the end of the age’.

 4. He is present with his person in a soul in grace, in which he dwells as in a new heaven. To them Jesus communicates, converses with them, receives and gives his presence, his person, his love, his word … He is a real, personal, but spiritual presence. 

5. Since he has risen from the dead, he is present in the assembly of the faithful when he gathers for the celebration of the sacraments. In fact, the Church is his mystical body. He lives in it and continuously works. He is present in a particular way in the person of the priest whom he celebrates, because he acts in persona Christi. And it is for this presence of him and for this almost identification with him that the sacraments produce grace. He is present and active in the proclamation of his word, so that his word is alive, effective.

 6. But in all these presences the Lord is not present as he is present in the Most Holy Eucharist because here he makes himself present with his glorious body. Only in the Eucharist does Jesus make himself present also with his body. 

7. Saint Teresa of Avila writes: “‘One day after Communion, I very clearly saw Our Lord come close to me; this adorable Master consoled me with great designs of tenderness and among other things said to me: ‘Here I am, my daughter, it is I, show me your hands’. Then deigning to take them and bring them to his side, he added: ‘Look at my wounds. You are not without me, the end of your life is approaching’. From certain things that he told me I understood that from the day he ascended to heaven he never descended on earth to communicate himself to men, except in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar”’ (Spiritual Relations, Heavenly Favors 15).

8. According to St. Thomas in which way Christ renders himself with his body in the Eucharist, “’By the power of the sacrament in the Eucharist, not only the flesh is present under the species of bread, but the whole body of Christ, that is, the bones , the nerves and the like. And this is apparent from the form of this sacrament,wherein it is not said, ‘This is my flesh’, but  ‘This is my body’. Therefore in the words of the Lord, ‘My flesh is meat indeed’,  there the word flesh is put  for the entire body, because according to the human custom it seems more adapted for eating,as men commonly are fed on the flesh of animals,but not bones or the like.‘” (Summa  Theologica, III, 76, 1, objection 2). And again: “Once the conversion of the bread into the body of Christ or of the wine into the blood has taken place, the accidents of both remain. It is therefore clear that the dimensions of bread and wine are not converted into the dimensions of the body of Christ, but the substance is converted into substance. So that the substance of Christ’s body or blood is present in this sacrament by virtue of the sacrament, not so the dimensions of his body and his blood.  It is therefore evident that the body of Christ is present in this sacrament according to the mode of substance and not according to the mode of quantity (per modum substantiae, et non per modum quantitatis). Now, the totality of the substance is indifferently contained in a small or large quantity: the nature of air, for example, it is whole in a large or small volume of air, and man’s nature is whole in a large and a small man. Therefore also in this sacrament after the consecration the whole substance of the body and blood of Christ is contained, just as the substance of bread and wine was contained before the consecration “(Ib., Ad 3).

 9. Here are the various ways in which Christ is present. If “alive and well” is understood as present with his body, yes, it is also present with his body only in the Eucharist. But, as has been said, he is present per modum substantiae, in the sense that all of his human nature is present there. But it is not present in its quantitative dimensions.

 I wish you well, I pray to the Lord of you and I bless you.

 Father Angelo                                                                                                                    

Translation by Marina Nelson

Edited by Martha Nelson

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