to break out...but so far no love.
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.
Ironic ain’t it?
Free Republic is pro-God but there are many beliefs under that classification and none of them will be selected as "the" official one.
The rod of Aaron, the tablets of Moses, and the golden tumors that the Philistines put in it?
"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."- Romans 13:8
Did too... I used to have a wife that operated on that logical level..
(hands on hips) (glasees pulled down on my nose)
SO THERE...
Also Father reminded us that Jesus chooses to become bread and wine in order to stay with us daily. I am not doing the homily justice but it was great how we were talking about it this morning here came the answer.
It also struck me that the first reading is where we might have gotten the sacrament of Confirmation from. I will have to look further, but that is what stuck out further to me.
More beautiful Scripture, though something of a non-sequitur.
Only IF you believe the RCC is the respository of all things Holy(on this planet)..
To become one with him.
I am sorry you cannot see the difference.
What do you mean? Even the most devoted Roman Catholics don’t believe this.
From reading the thread (I just saw it a couple of minutes ago), I think for this to work, we need to better define what "respectful dialogue" does and does not include. It seems like the rhetoric has been toned down by many posters, and some of the "disrespectful" comments are as much hard-to-break habits as anything else.
My 2 cents. Thank you for considering this as a possibility.
I like this approach. Thank you for mentioning it. He must increase, I must decrease.
to break out...but so far no love.
What question then CAN we ask then?..
You know that are not personal..
I asked you to define yourself.. I did not define you..
I don’t believe that this thread was “a ploy to put out a trap in order to flame-bait other groups in order to censure and or ban others and seize the religion forum for other church”.
Not for one moment do I believe that.
However, I do believe this thread has been side-tracked from its original intent.
It has been another eye-opener to me as to the very nature of these threads.
Do you have that in MP3?
On the previous thread, there was a suggestion that offensive posts simply be ignored. That might work. We'll see if it catches on.
You also stated that I parse like an ACLU lawyer. I apologize if you did not intend that as an insult.
It IS an insult.
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