Food for body and soul

In a previous blog, A second-century ceebration of the Mass, I considered the writings and witness of a very early Christian martyr, St Justin Martyr (c. AD 100–165) whose feast day we celebrate today.  St Justin gives one of the earliest and clearest accounts of the Eucharist in which we receive not common bread and drink but the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. This transformation occurs in the Eucharist in the prayer of thanksgiving.  It is a gift to all baptised Christians who stand in unity with the core beliefs and teachings of the Christian community.  His descriptions place the Eucharist at the centre of the week on the Day of Resurrection. 

A Sunday without the Eucharist, in my view, makes no sense;  none.

A second century celebration of the Mass

 

Throughout the Easter season we repeatedly hear Gospel accounts of the Risen Jesus sharing meals with his disciples. On the road to Emmaus, for example, we read that Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” (Luke 24:13–35). The evangelists clearly intend us to recognise in these moments the early Eucharistic life of the Christian community.

A century later, Saint Justin Martyr—born in Flavia Neapolis (modern‑day Nablus, north of Jerusalem) around the turn of the first century and martyred in Rome about AD 165—gives us one of the earliest detailed descriptions of how the Eucharist was celebrated following baptism (First Apology, 65–67). He explains that: