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With all due respect, our Protestant brothers are all dressed up with nothing to eat.

All due respect? Discounting my beliefs are hardly a sign of respect.

For there to be true community, true brotherhood, there must be common blood.

So why have Catholics downplayed the blood of Christ? It's been awhile since I've been to a Catholic Mass & I've heard they've changed the practice where only the Priest partakes of the wine/blood, but I think the official teaching is that the Eucharist is "bloodless" perpetual sacrifice.

Roman Catholics likewise consume unleavened, consecrated Bread.

The bread used by the Eastern & Oriental Orthodox Churches has leavening. I've read that the Norman's made a real issue about it, so have to think the use of unleavened bread isn't an ancient requirement.

4 posted on 08/03/2007 4:53:55 PM PDT by GoLightly

Discounting my beliefs are hardly a sign of respect.

It would be disingenuous on our part to accept that which lacks the fullness of truth.

So why have Catholics downplayed the blood of Christ?

We don't and never have. The Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ are fully present in both species.

1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.183 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."184

1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. the sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."185 In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."186

1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:

[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.187

1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner."188

It's been awhile since I've been to a Catholic Mass

While there it sounds as if you weren't paying attention during the Eucharistic Prayer.

... so have to think the use of unleavened bread isn't an ancient requirement.

You think incorrectly. Unleavened bread was used at the Last Supper.

9 posted on 08/03/2007 8:59:17 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham

10 posted on 08/03/2007 9:15:00 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)

Did you see this that got posted on the Daily Mass Readings every day in July??

Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

July Devotion: The Precious Blood

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. Like the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, His Precious Blood deserves special honor because of its close relation to the Sacred Passion. That honor was given to it from the beginning by the Apostles who praised its redeeming power. (Rom. 5:9 "we are justified by His blood"; Heb. 13:12 "and so Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people by His blood, suffered outside the gate"; 1 John 1:7 "and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.")

In recent times the devotion has been encouraged by Blessed Gaspar Buffalo, founder of the Congregation of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. When Pope Pius IX was in exile from Rome in 1849, he had as his companion Don Giovanni Merlini, the third general of that Congregation. This saintly priest suggested to the pope that he make a vow to give the feast of the Precious Blood to the entire church, if he should regain the papal territory. Without binding himself by the vow, the pope immediately extended the feast to the whole Church. On the old calendar it was celebrated on July 1, but Catholics may still continue this tradition by increasing their devotion to the most precious Blood throughout the entire month of July.

See this article from the Catholic Culture library, Apostle of Devotion to His Most Precious Blood: St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Listen to the Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus in RealAudio

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven,
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father,
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God,
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony,
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs,
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors,
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins,
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life,
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,

You have redeemed us, O Lord, in your Blood.

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy

Jesus, graciously hear us.

Have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.
Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.
Save us.

Save us.
Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Save us.

Spare us, O Lord

Graciously hear us, O Lord.

have mercy on us.

And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Let us pray, --- Almighty and eternal God, you have appointed your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be appeased by his Blood. Grant we beg of you, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation, and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life, so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Traditional Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Catholic Caucus)

Devotion to the Precious Blood

DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And More on the Precious Blood

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

St.Gaspar:Founder of the Society of the Precious Blood[AKA The Hammer of Freemasons]

11 posted on 08/03/2007 9:16:28 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)

IN favor of your argument is the use of αρτοσ rather than αζυμοσ in relevant texts. Against it is that the Last Supper is understood to have been a Passover meal.

Is the use of leavened bread in the East because they think the bread used at the Institution was leavened or for some other reason?

Aquinas (PLEASE don't make me look it up!) says that a valid Eucharist can be celebrated with leavened bread, but it would by naughty for a Catholic to do so, while not naughty for a Greek, because of the disciplines of their respective communions.

15 posted on 08/04/2007 3:55:16 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)

So why have Catholics downplayed the blood of Christ? It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a Catholic Mass & I’ve heard they’ve changed the practice where only the Priest partakes of the wine/blood, but I think the official teaching is that the Eucharist is “bloodless” perpetual sacrifice...

...it annoys me no end when I attend a Mass where that happens...the Blood of Christ should always be made available to the faithful...as for the Protestant communion, my only experience was as a kid in the Presbyterian church and we’d pass around trays every six weeks or so with bread cubes and shot glasses filled with grape juice, not even so much as getting out of our seats, which practice of course highlights the symbolic rather than the actual presence of Our Lord...not the most reverential of moments, but that is merely my opinion and is not intended to pass judgment on those whose belief it is....

31 posted on 08/07/2007 6:24:48 AM PDT by IrishBrigade

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