This is like an episode in "Upstairs Downstairs" long long ago when at a country house party some snooty English types approach a guest who is Jewish and discuss finances with him. Then as he walks away one remarks to the other, "Funny thing about these Jews: All they talk about is money!"
You guys tackle us on one aspect of the Eucharist and then when we discuss the topic on which we are attacked you say we miss the other aspects.
If you were to attack us on "gathering", we'd probably quote the Didache
As grain once scatteredAnd then get yelled at because the Didache isn't the Bible.
On the hill side
Is in this broken bread made one,
So from all lands
Thy Church be gathered
Into thy kingdom by thy Son.
As a general observation, what garners most of the criticism of Catholics is, I'm guessing, not our sort of bread and butter, daily, vanilla worship but the extraordinary stuff. But the extraordinary stuff is almost inevitably misunderstood if it is not viewed in the context of the ordinary.
By "Ordinary" I mean the Mass and the Liturgy of the hours, which is mostly Psalms, but has great hulking chunks of Scripture in it as well, both as "canticles" and as passages for devout reading.
While of course, expository books about doctrine are a good source for learning what we teach, it is impossible to get an accurate sense of the teachings and what they mean to us without at least a lengthy excursion into the liturgical texts. "Lex orandi lex credendi" may not in every way be strictly correct, but it comes pretty close.
So if you were to look at the prayers of the Mass, I think you would be less inclined to say we overlook the "gathering" or "communion" aspect of the Eucharist.
However I would disagree that the Last Supper was only about "the actual gathering", or that it can be fully understood in terms of "koinonia" alone.
And again, why do we get this opening up of a second front? Must every thread posted to counter Catholic dogma end up addressing more than one dogma? Isn't the problem of the intercession of the saints enough or must we branch out into Purgatory, the Mass, indulgences, wearing funny clothes, celibacy, the Apocrypha, etc., etc. as well? I get the impression that the point is not to examine a topic but to ripple fire polemical artillery across as broad a front as possible, with the motto "Who cares where they land as long as there are shells in the air?"
As I read my pings, I sometimes respond at once. Awkwardly, I responded 1st to a ping that was sent after yours but received first by me.
I still recall my 1st semester at college. I was intrigued by the fact that my English Literature seemed related to my Math and that my Biology Course was related somehow to my Effective Speaking. In fact all of my Courses seemed to be intertwined.
That has pretty much been the case concerning just about everything since that somehow fuzzy time long ago when I finally became a man and put away childish notions.
The fact of the matter is, everything is related.
If you do not care for the heat, then maybe you should be on the sidelines. I spend most of my time there.
I did appreciate your post though. Well said!