Posted on 12/14/2004 1:55:17 PM PST by Salvation
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The eating of human flesh and drinking human blood was anathema to the Jews, and Christ's teaching repulsed some of them, who had no glimmer of understanding of Christ.
If I'm not mistaken, the translation of one of verbs in the John gospel actually means "munch" more than it means "eat."
**“I am the bread of life,” he said (Jn 6: 35). “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6: 51).**
"Catholics actually believe that when a priest, during the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass, repeats the words of Jesus at the Last Supper over the bread and wine, they really do become the Body and Blood of the Lord Himself. "
Not ALL Catholics. I know, I know - this makes them CINOS, but they still think of themselves as 'Catholic'. I've had many an argument that this is actually the 'official' Church doctrine - TransSubstantiation - and still got arguments that 'No, it's just symbolic'. To which I'd reply - "Then you're not Catholic".
Meditation on Jesus in the Eucharist
Oh my Lord,
I see you there, o Jesus,
in the form of bread,
so fragile,
so vunerable,
You, at whose name every knee will bow,
You, who sit at the right hand of the Father,
and yet are willing to come here,
feed us,
share with us,
wait with us.
You let yourself be broken
every day
for love of us.
Lord God,
Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world,
yet to save our souls,
you feed us
with yourself.
O my hidden Jesus,
such a limitless love!
I weep with joy and sorrow,
I cringe with shame
but arise with wonder
that someone
would care so much,
would do so much
for someone
nowhere near worthy!
One of the "hard teachings." ;-D
I had a discussion once with some friends who understood everything about me except my Catholic beliefs.
"The Bible says, 'call no man father' so how can you address a priest that way?" they asked. They thought they had me on the spot.
"I'll answer that after you tell me what Christ meant when He said, 'my body is real food and my blood is real drink.'" I answered. "And explain to me what the keys to the kingdom, given to Peter, were."
They didn't follow up.
I think we need to keep praying for a little bit more (or a lot LOL!) of enlightenment for these CUNOs.
Lord have mercy on us!
Good questions!
"As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me" (John 6:57). The Greek word used for "eats" (trogon) is very blunt and has the sense of "chewing" or "gnawing."
What a fabulous image that accompanies this article!
Anyone know how to make it bigger?
Regards,
Thank you for that information.
Sadly, many catholics are poorly catechized or not at all. I've met adults who recall making First Communion but received no further instruction after that.
The next time some of your catholic friends make this comment, share these comments of the first christians with them.
What Did the First Christians Say?
Ignatius of Antioch, who had been a disciple of the apostle John and who wrote a letter to the Smyrnaeans about A.D. 110, said, referring to "those who hold heterodox opinions," that "they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again" (6:2, 7:1).
Forty years later, Justin Martyr, wrote, "Not as common bread or common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, . . . is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus" (First Apology 66:1–20).
Origen, in a homily written about A.D. 244, attested to belief in the Real Presence. "I wish to admonish you with examples from your religion. You are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries, so you know how, when you have received the Body of the Lord, you reverently exercise every care lest a particle of it fall and lest anything of the consecrated gift perish. You account yourselves guilty, and rightly do you so believe, if any of it be lost through negligence" (Homilies on Exodus 13:3).
Cyril of Jerusalem, in a catechetical lecture presented in the mid-300s, said, "Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy
of the body and blood of Christ" (Catechetical Discourses: Mystagogic 4:22:9).
In a fifth-century homily, Theodore of Mopsuestia seemed to be speaking to today’s Evangelicals and Fundamentalists: "When [Christ] gave the bread he did not say, ‘This is the symbol of my body,’ but, ‘This is my body.’ In the same way, when he gave the cup of his blood he did not say, ‘This is the symbol of my blood,’ but, ‘This is my blood,’ for he wanted us to look upon the [Eucharistic elements], after their reception of grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit, not according to their nature, but to receive them as they are, the body and blood of our Lord" (Catechetical Homilies 5:1).
>>"Then you're not Catholic".<<
God Bless You!
We are one body with Jesus. Perhaps in the same sense that a baby and its mother are one. That is how the baby survives. Jesus helps us to survive in this life until we are reborn in the eternal life.
As a result, those listening questioned his meaning. Jesus then reiterated, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day." (Jn 6:54 NAB)
"As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him." (Jn 6:66 NAB)
Notice when you read this chapter, Jesus did not call those disciples back and say, "No, no, what I really meant was..."
When Jesus spoke, he meant what he said. So, how do we receive the flesh and blood of Jesus that he commanded we eat?
">>"Then you're not Catholic".<<
God Bless You!"
LOL! It's this comment that causes the huge argument that follows!!
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