Posted on 04/27/2008 3:36:18 AM PDT by markomalley
The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the communion wafer and the altar wine are transformed and really become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever met anyone who has found this Catholic doctrine to be a bit hard to take?
If so, you shouldn't be surprised. When Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in John 6, his words met with less than an enthusiastic reception. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (V 52). "This is a hard saying who can listen to it?" (V60). In fact so many of his disciples abandoned him over this that Jesus had to ask the twelve if they also planned to quit. It is interesting that Jesus did not run after his disciples saying, "Don't go — I was just speaking metaphorically!" How did the early Church interpret these challenging words of Jesus? Interesting fact. One charge the pagan Romans lodged against the Christians was cannibalism. Why? You guessed it. They heard that this sect regularly met to eat human flesh and drink human blood. Did the early Christians say: "wait a minute, it's only a symbol!"? Not at all. When trying to explain the Eucharist to the Roman Emperor around 155AD, St. Justin did not mince his words: "For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from him . . . is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."
Not many Christians questioned the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist till the Middle Ages. In trying to explain how bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ, several theologians went astray and needed to be corrected by Church authority. Then St. Thomas Aquinas came along and offered an explanation that became classic. In all change that we observe in this life, he teaches, appearances change, but deep down, the essence of a thing stays the same. Example: if, in a fit of mid-life crisis, I traded my mini-van for a Ferrari, abandoned my wife and 5 kids to be beach bum, got tanned, bleached my hair blonde, spiked it, buffed up at the gym, and took a trip to the plastic surgeon, I'd look a lot different on the surface. But for all my trouble, deep down I'd still substantially be the same ole guy as when I started.
St. Thomas said the Eucharist is the one instance of change we encounter in this world that is exactly the opposite. The appearances of bread and wine stay the same, but the very essence or substance of these realities, which can't be viewed by a microscope, is totally transformed. What was once bread and wine are now Christ's body and blood. A handy word was coined to describe this unique change. Transformation of the "sub-stance", what "stands-under" the surface, came to be called "transubstantiation."
What makes this happen? The power of God's Spirit and Word. After praying for the Spirit to come (epiklesis), the priest, who stands in the place of Christ, repeats the words of the God-man: "This is my Body, This is my Blood." Sounds to me like Genesis 1: the mighty wind (read "Spirit") whips over the surface of the water and God's Word resounds. "Let there be light" and there was light. It is no harder to believe in the Eucharist than to believe in Creation. But why did Jesus arrange for this transformation of bread and wine? Because he intended another kind of transformation. The bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ which are, in turn, meant to transform us. Ever hear the phrase: "you are what you eat?" The Lord desires us to be transformed from a motley crew of imperfect individuals into the Body of Christ, come to full stature.
Our evangelical brethren speak often of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. But I ask you, how much more personal and intimate can you get? We receive the Lord's body into our physical body that we may become Him whom we receive! Such an awesome gift deserves its own feast. And that's why, back in the days of Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi, the Pope decided to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Yeah like you will entertain or even consider anothers viewpoint.. Except as a gambit to present your own 1600 year old arguments.. from a so-called "orthodox" dogma..
The battle lines are drawn and all thats happening is snipeing back and forth.. Except that some lurkers might enjoy the marksmanship.. Its like a paint ball faux war of words.. hurling colorful phrases..
SLAP SLAP WAKE UP man.. Do know where you are?..
This is NOT a seminary..
Irrelevant, even if true. It is you who mention his flawed interpretation of Scripture. Hint: it is not necessary to name him while doing so.
AMEN!
Thanks for that joyous website.
True.. I get my Popes mixed up..
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matthew 6:9-15
I do, and I will humbly pray He bless and keep you.
LOL. Amen.
No King but Christ.
This is so very true, for several reasons.
1) Resentment hurts our own body and soul. It festers and brings nothing but ill will.
2) We're not to forgive because we're to forget wrongs done to us. We are to forgive because we don't adjuticate life; God does. And it is He alone who gives both mercy and judgment to whom He will.
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." -- Romans 12:19
And for the Christian, Paul further adds this addendum straight from Isaiah...
"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." -- Romans 12:20
And this truth is stressed because it shows exactly how much God loves those who are His, called according to His purpose. Our righteousness, which is all of Him, will ultimately prove disastrous for those who are rebellious and seek to destroy what God has created.
Therefore, we are told to...
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." -- Romans 12:21
All in all, it is the splendid plan of God to overcome "evil with good" for and through and by Jesus Christ risen from the cross.
Course I could be WRONG about all that.. I would like to think that there is something redeemable about him.. There could be you know.., I know maybe he likes Father Guiedo Sarduci's act(SNL).. that would show he not humor deprived..
Yeah, I think I will continue to like him.. Which means I will pray for him..
I will get our very own Dr. eckleburg to pass this message along. this is in fact Pope Lawrence of Suburbia, I think Glendale, but maybe Pasadena, that sounds more Italian.
adjuticate
Adjudicate.
lol, if we can’t laugh at ourselvs, then what’s a gizzard for?
Truly, one of the hardest things any of us can do is to let go and let God. And yet there is real peace when we do.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. - 1 John 4:4
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. – Psalms 23:4
And every time I think about Adelie penguins, I'm confident our Lord has a wonderful sense of humor.
Which Bible includes this in Matthew 6?
Praying for and liking are two different things. 8~)
Ratzinger was known as "the pope's rottweiler," "the Enforcer," before he ascended to the papacy. He was in charge of maintaining Roman Catholic doctrine according to the Council of Trent which he happily re-affirmed.
He was also in charge of "investigating" decades of sexual abuses rampant in the RCC. Entire generations were born and died before he got around to being forced into admitting that "Rome, we have a problem."
He was also the pope who most recently declared that all Protestant churches are "defective."
Sorry, I do not think we are instructed by God to respect men who call themselves "another Christ" and who tell the world they are the head of God's church on earth and that they are "infallible" in matters of religion.
There are other names for men who make those errors. I think 1000Silverlings mentioned a few of them.
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