Video Transcript

Edmund: You know what’s confusing? The word ‘present.’ You can be present in class. You can talk about the past, future, and present. Uh, you can present something to a friend or you can for your birthday, receive a present. Okay? So let’s talk a little bit more about that word. I mean, when it comes to Christianity and God, we can ask ourselves like, where is God present? And just like the English word, like it’s kind of confusing, God’s presence is kind of confusing. The English word present comes from a French word, that means like within reach, but God’s presence, how he is present is more interesting than that. So let’s go deeper into what it means that God is present and how he’s present to us and how he’s present most specifically in the Eucharist. So get this in the Catechism. In paragraph 1373, it says this, “Christ Jesusis present in many ways through his Church: in his word, in his church’s prayers, “where two or three are gathered in his name,” …but he is present most especially in the Eucharistic species.” And then later on in 1374, it says, “The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the other sacraments…” Goes on to say, “This presence is called ‘real’ by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they cannot be real too. But because it is presence in the fullest sense, that is to say it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God, and man makes himself wholly and entirely present.” So let’s continue to go a little deeper into what it means that God is present everywhere. Okay. So what do we really mean when someone’s present? You know, I could be in, this is one of my favorite places, Harvest Hall. I could be present here. It’s a really big building. You could be on the other side of the building, still be present here at Harvest Hall. You know, we wouldn’t be present to each other in the same way. Likewise, we could both be sitting here but not be mentally present to one another. Like you could be working on your work. I could be working on my work and we’re, we’re present, we’re close to each other. We’re not like mentally really present. And then there’s another presence, right? Like in the same way, like a king is present to his territory because he has authority.Like if I left my kids at home and I leave, like I’m still kind of present to them because I have, you know, certain rules, regulations,laws that are in place, that stops them from doing certain things, right? So there’s this physical presence, this mental consciously aware presence. Uh, there’s this presence of an authority. Like you can see that being present somewhere or something being present to you is really complicated. Like God’s nature isn’t physical or material,but he is present to the entire created universe because he created it and holds it in existence. God is omniscient meaning that he’s aware of everything at all times. So you never have to worry about God not being present to you because he’s distracted or not paying attention to you. You know, God is also present in some really unique ways because we’re Christians. You know, we are baptized and we receive this indwelling of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism. God’s present to us when two or more believers are gathered together, Jesus says, I am there with you, but God is present in a very unique way in the Eucharist. There’s a huge difference between how God is present in us and how God is present in the Eucharist. Jesus Christ is present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. And this presence continues after Mass. So Jesus is present in the Eucharist in a very unique and special way. Jesus is present to all of creation. He’s present to us in a lot of different ways, but he did something profoundly unique in the Eucharist. Jesus is present in a tangible way. We can come in contact with him, body, blood, soul, and divinity. This is why the Eucharist is the greatest gift that God gives us. And it’s what all the sacraments point to. And this is why God desires so greatly for you to come to him in the Eucharist and receive him. This is why even though we’re unworthy on our own, Jesus invites us to communion with him because Jesus is present in a unique way and he gives us himself in the sacrament of the Eucharist.