Padre Pio spent scores of hours each week in the confessional.
His mass often lasted over 2 or 3 hours.
On the night before He was crucified, Jesus instituted the Eucharist for us as a pledge of His abiding presence. He tells us: "Unless you eat My body and drink My blood, you will not have life in you." And He commanded those faithful disciples of His, whom He made the first priests of His Church, to enact these mysteries of eternal life continuously. And so, all priests in the Church throughout the world must cel- ebrate these mysteries until Christ comes again from His throne in heaven.
This is the most gracious legacy of His new covenant, and it is our sustenance on life's journey. By it, we are nourished and supported along the road of life until we depart from this world and make our way to Him.
So let us be faithful to this everlast ing memorial of our redemption. It is before our eyes daily as a representation of the Passion of Christ. We hold it in our hands, we receive it in our mouths, and we accept it in our hearts.
Just as there are many grains of wheat in our flour from which bread is made before baking it with fire, so also there are many members that make up the body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Similarly, the wine of Christ's blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that He had planted, is extracted in the winepress of the Cross. When we receive it with believing hearts, it ferments within us by its own power.
The Eucharist is the very center of all Catholic worship. Transsubstantiation takes place during the Sacrifice of the Mass by the Holy Spirit working through the ministry of priests, and it continues until the end of time the Sacrifice of the Cross in an unbloody manner. We believe that Jesus is actually present in the Eucharist, and we call this the Real Presence of Christ. All of the Fathers of the Church, from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas, concur that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We show our devotion to the Real Presence of Christ by frequent visits to the Tabernacle, and in Benediction where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to the people for reverence and adoration, and the priest blesses the people with the Lord's Body.
So, let us receive this sacrifice of the saving Passover with eagerness and dedicated hearts. Then, in our inmost being, we will be sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly present in the Eucharist, and whose boundless love abides forever.