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.
I should like you to post the Lord's Prayer, as you know it, and it's source...
Believe me, on your posts, this designation is understood.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Please, enlighten me...
Are you talkin to me....
Are you talkin to me....
(Al Pacino imitation)...
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? – Exodus 17:6-7
And again, the metaphor of water and rock:
And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts [also].
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This [is] the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. – Numbers 20:7-13
lol
I think you mean the other guy, Deniro
You obviously have no interest in the subject of this thread. I will drop you from further replies and stick to the adults.
Disrespect is allowed here, by me..
But it will be graded..
"D".... Be more creative..
Thank you Anonymous internet poster chick
Thank you Anonymous internet poster chick
Thank you Anonymous internet poster chick
The practice among the Catholic-haters of late has been to take the metaphor alter Christus--a teaching device--and pretend instead it is meant literally (falsely implying we believe priests are gods), then use the misrepresentation as a bludgeon. It is a deeply deceitful practice (Exodus 20:16 ignored again).
In other words, another iteration of The Game.
not my fault, software hangup
The logical fallacy with this line of thinking is that while the Devil knows who Christ is, the Devil does not worship and believe that Christ is his Savior.
The ability to believe that Christ is our Savior is a gift of grace from God to His own.
God alone gives men a heart of flesh in place of their heart of stone.
God alone gives men new eyes and new ears with which to know and believe in Christ Jesus, the only mediator between God and men.
God alone gives men the gift of the Holy Spirit to renew their minds in order for them to understand the Scriptures which tell them their salvation has been won for them by Christ on the cross.
God alone regenerates the fallen sinner and permits a new birth to bring him to Christ.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" -- Titus 3:5
Grace saves, and grace alone.
Belief requires action.
Belief brings action, by the merciful will and purpose of God alone. The only "requirement" for our salvation is Jesus Christ risen from the cross.
"So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." -- Romans 9:16
And the glory of Christianity is that no one who comes to Christ will be turned away. All who seek Him find Him, by the merciful decree of God from before the foundation of the world, for His glory and the welfare of His family.
But in all seriousness - again I say, believe God. Love Him. Trust Him.
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