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I won’t be able to come back to this thread (I’m running a meeting in a minute).

The Church insists that the bread and wine of the mass are literally the Body and Blood of Christ.

Christ’s words at the Last Supper “This is My Body ...” and earlier in His ministry “He who eats My Flesh and Drinks My Blood ...” make it abundantly clear what is meant.

You may remember that passage about “This is a hard saying, and who can bear it?”. Many of Christ’s disciples balked at Christ speaking of his disciples eating and drinking His Body and Blood. But Christ did not change nor modify His speech.

The Eucharist is not symbolic. It absolutely IS the real Body and Blood of Christ, under the forms of Bread and Wine.

When I finally understood this tremendous fact as an adult: I returned to the Church.

Hope this is helpful.

From the Catholic Catechism":

"Let it suffice to note that all these explanations necessarily lead to impenetrable night, as long as men refuse to believe in the true Divinity of Christ, who commanded that His bloody sacrifice on the Cross should be daily renewed by an unbloody sacrifice of His Body and Blood in the Mass under the simple elements of bread and wine. This alone is the origin and nature of the Mass."

In this passage - a brief excerpt from a very long and complex discussion of "the sacrifice of the Mass" - it is stated that "His bloody sacrifice on the Cross should be daily renewed by an unbloody sacrifice of His Body and Blood in the Mass under the simple elements of bread and wine." Here the Mass is stated to be a "renewal," not simply a memorial, of the sacrifice on the cross.

However, I will concede that the Church also teaches that the original sacrifice on the cross was "once and for all" and cannot be repeated. All I am saying is that the teaching of the "sacrifice of the Mass" really muddies the waters, and you do not have to be a bigot to wonder if it's word-play.

I would also recommend that everyone Google this topic and read the authoritative explanation for yourself. You will see that it is highly complex, and probably far above the ability of the average 1st century Galilean peasant to comprehend. This suggests that it is one of those theological accretions common in religion and PERHAPS straying somewhat from the simplicity and concreteness of the original belief.

Christ’s words at the Last Supper “This is My Body ...” and earlier in His ministry “He who eats My Flesh and Drinks My Blood ...” make it abundantly clear what is meant.

Not so........... it is not abundantly clear..

It was the Passover dinner it was not even clear to some of the Jews present and most were Jews(probably)..
The lamb and wine at THIS dinner meant one thing to a observant Jew something else to a gentile.. (or a religiously ignorant Jew).. and many were at that time..

To my knowledge the RCC catholics that I know know nothing of Jewish religious custom’s of that time or even presently.. Thats why they BUY the bizarre line thats espoused.. They don’t paint their doorposts with “the blood” or fear the death angel.. in communal separation..

A whole nother take is put on the whole affair..

Christ’s words at the Last Supper “This is My Body ...” and earlier in His ministry “He who eats My Flesh and Drinks My Blood ...” make it abundantly clear what is meant.

These are figures of speech, and the burnt bread and unleavened wine are representative tokens of His Body and Blood, not transformed into it.

When it is said "She sings like a bird" does not mean the lass, while singing, is transformed into a literal canary or mockingbird; it means that her singing reminds one of a bird. This is a figurative-literal use of the language, as giving the bread is representative of partaking of Him spiritually -- a figure of speech. When Jesus gave the disciples bread that he broke, it was not transformed into human flesh when all of Him was right there, standing before them, not divided! It was a token reminding them of His body to be rent/broken (not bones) for them. Come on!

Christ’s words at the Last Supper “This is My Body ...” and earlier in His ministry “He who eats My Flesh and Drinks My Blood ...” make it abundantly clear what is meant.

Abundantly clear ONLY to the natural man who doesn't understand God's Word.

"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."