**But Islam has nothing in the form of Marian devotions**
Well, at least they have one thing right.
As far as the Mass ritual; I’ve yet to have any RC explain why the wafer needs to be consumed over and over, when it taken (by their own admission) for eternal life.
This I do know: that man has muddied the scriptural teachings in such a way that rituals and repetitive chants replace the simple Holy Ghost conviction to seek God directly in earnest heartfelt desire (think Hannah, for example, or later her son Samuel. They prayed direct. With words directly from their hearts).
Have you ever received one of those Christmas letters from a relative that was well written and seemed to be just for you.....until you realize by the wording that the writer is addressing multiple individuals, and that the message is a copy?
My dear Friend:
You need to attend to the very words of Christ Himself, as believed by His apostles, disciples, saints, and martyrs, and Church teaching for over 2000 years.
Christ Himself Made it Clear. in JOHN 6:53-66
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is
the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever. This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying who can listen to it?”
Jesus Doubles Down
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of
no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said tthe twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
EXPLANATION
There are two primary reasons why we must understand Jesus’ words, “eat my flesh,drink my blood,” literally. First, both the Jews and his disciples understood him literally and he does not correct them. In verse 52, the Jews respond, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” In verse 60, his disciples respond, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
You would think that if his audience was mistaken, and given gravity of this
teaching, Jesus would have clarified their literal understanding.
To the contrary, he affirms them.
In response to the Jews, Jesus reiterates the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood no less than six times in six verses (vs.53-58). He affirms his disciples’ literal understanding by letting them walk away (vs. 66).
The second reason to understand Jesus literally is because the Jews already had a metaphorical understanding for the language “eat flesh”
and “drink blood”—namely destruction.
For example, Revelation 17:16 uses the language of eating flesh to connote the destruction of the harlot, which symbolizes the burning of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. If Jesus meant these words to be taken metaphorically, then the meaning would be, “if you destroy me, you will live forever.”
Obviously this is not what Jesus meant.
For these two reasons we must conclude Jesus meant his words literally and not metaphorically.