The second stained glass window installed on May 3, 2008 depicts the sacrament of Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. “The Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.”  As Catholics we believe the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  In our window we see grains of wheat and grapes on the vine, which are crushed to form one bread and one wine that is consecrated into the Body and Blood of Christ.  It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament.  The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this change.  Thus St. John Chrysostom declares: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself.  The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s.  This is my body, he says.  This word transforms the things offered.  And St Ambrose says about this change: Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed…Could not Christ’s word, which can make from nothing what did exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.

IHS

 “A monogram for the name of Jesus, using the first three letters of the Word written in Greek.  As a sign for the Holy Name, it was popular with Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits.”                

Chalice

“(From Latin calyx: cup) The sacred vessel made of solid and worthy material, nonporous cup portion, used for the celebration of Mass”.  “The chalice recalls various scriptural passages in which Jesus associates.  The use of a cup with himself in a new way:  The disciples will “drink the cup” that Jesus drinks from (Mark 10:38) at the last supper, the cup  contains the wine that is my blood.  When he is to be crucified, he prays that “this cup” be taken from him.  These various meanings are gathered together at Eucharist, and both religious and liturgical significance is attached to a cup or goblet when it is referred to as a chalice.”

Wheat

The wheat is crushed to make flour to make the communion wafer.  Canon law specifically states, “the bread must be made of wheat alone.”

Grapes

The grape is used to make the wine used at Mass.  Canon law specifically states, “The wine must be natural wine of the grape and not corrupt.”

Corporal

“(Latin, corpus, “body”) an approximately twenty-inch-square of white  linen cloth placed on the altar under the chalice, paten and host.  The corporal is folded in on itself to make nine squares, which hold any particles of the Body of Christ from falling to the floor or altar cloth. “Its name indicates its role of holding the Eucharistic body of Christ.”

Host

The host is the Eucharistic bread made from wheat. “The term comes from the Latin word hostia, which means “victim”, thus recalling Christ as the Pascal Lamb sacrificed for all.”

Here we have illustrated a gathering of grapes and several ears of wheat surrounding the chalice and the host, symbolizing the last supper or the Holy Eucharist. The grape is crushed to become the wine that becomes the Blood of Christ following his words at the

Last supper, “This is my Blood”, which he said when he gave them the cup. The flour of the wheat is the ingredient of the bread or host.  Jesus said of the bread “This is my body.”

The rays in the window are balanced on the other side of the altar by three more rays in the Baptism window. This implies that the Spirit of God is coming from above and encompassing the altar and the cross.

The window was designed and built by Susan Alexander who is a local artist here in Gobles.  

Design for the window started on September 8, 2007.  Msgr. Thomas Martin reviewed and approved the design submitted.  A corporal was added to the design to help break up the red altar cloth and to be liturgically correct. Construction started on this window on January 5, 2008 and was completed on May 1, 2008. Timing may be a little deceiving because Susan was working on this window while also working on the Confirmation window.

An etching process was done by Peeper Stained Glass in Kalamazoo to give us the IHS on the large host and the crosses on the small hosts.  To do this process the glass was covered with a rubber substance except where the letters or crosses were. Then the glass was sand blasted to remove the outer coating on the glass.  The hours for cutting, and copper foiling each piece took 150 hours. Soldering both sides of the window took 13 hours. The Eucharist window has 364 pieces with the smallest pieces being some of the pieces between the stacks of wheat. The stem on one of the grapes is made of solder and just lies on the glass. The blessing of the Eucharist window was done by Fr. Robert F. Creagan, on Sunday May 27, 2008 during the 9:30am Mass. LaVerne Childers donated the second window.

The oak woodworking around the window was built and designed by Mr. Tim Schoonard of Marywood Studio’s, Inc. Tim placed the stained glass window in the oak frame he built and placed it in its present location. 

Each window frame has the chi rho symbol on it. The symbol is a reminder that Christ is the source of all grace given in the sacraments. The Chi and Rho are the first two letters (XP) of ‘Christ” in Greek XPIΣ TOΣ  (Christos).  

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Ibid par 3

Encyclopedia of Catholicism, by Richard P. McBrien, HarperSanFrancisco ©1995, page 369

Ibid page 640

St. Ambrose, De myst. 9,50;52 PL 16,405-407.

Catholic Dictionary, Our Sunday Visitor 2002 Page 399.

Ibid page 180.

Encyclopedia of Catholicism, by Richard P. McBrien, HarperSanFrancisco ©1995 page 296.

Code of Canon Law Canon Law Society of America ©1983 Can 924 par 2

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Ed., Paragraph 1322

St. John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6:PG 49, 380. Also CCC 1375.