Doubt and The Eucharist

“Note, that it was on the first day of the week, that is, the Lord’s day, when the disciples were gathered together, that He was seen by them, and that likewise also He appeared unto them on the eighth day following. And we must not, because he says eight days after, suppose that he means the ninth day, but that when he says this he includes the eighth day itself, on which He appeared, in the number given.

With good reason, then, are we accustomed to have sacred meetings in churches on the eighth day. And, to adopt the language of allegory, as the idea necessarily demands, we indeed close the doors [(preserved by the Eastern Orthodox where the proclamation, ‘The doors, the doors” is still made prior to each Liturgy)], but yet Christ visits us and appears unto us all, both invisibly and also visibly; invisibly as God, but also visibly in the Body. He allows us to touch His holy Flesh, and gives us of it. For through the grace of God we are admitted to partake of the blessed Eucharist, receiving Christ into our hands [(historically the Eucharist was taken into the hands of the believer)], to the intent that we may firmly believe that He did in truth raise up the Temple of His Body. For that the partaking of the blessed Eucharist is a confession of the Resurrection of Christ is clearly proved by His own Words, which He spoke when He Himself performed the type of the mystery; for He broke bread, as it is written, and gave it to them, saying: This is My Body, which is given for you unto remission of sins: this do in remembrance of Me. Participation, then, in the Divine mysteries, in addition to filling us with Divine blessedness, is a true confession and memorial of Christ’s dying and rising again for us and for our sake. Let us, therefore, after touching Christ’s Body, shrink back from unbelief in Him as utter ruin, and rather be found well grounded in the full assurance of faith.” St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John Book 12, Commentary on John 20.26-27

Let us say with St. Thomas, “My Lord and My God” when we come and approach the Eucharist when we partake of the Living flesh of God Who is Life Itself. Glory to God!