My Flesh Is True Food And My Blood Is True Drink

[Livin_the_MASS]

Why are the Catholics the only ones who believe this. Is not everyone supposed to do as the Lord commands, Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood. Just curious why others don't follow one of the most important commands given by God?

Edited April 11, 2004 by Jason

[He carries me]

I've always wondered about this, too. The only answer I've ever gotten is that Jesus says "do this in remembrance of me." That somehow makes the bread and wine only a symbol. I don't understand it. Maybe it's just too hard to believe that they actually become flesh and blood. I dunno

[Crusader_4]

Catholics are not the only ones...Lutherans to some point do, where i live Anglicans do to some point as well, as well of course Orthodox Church's do. Just the very VAST majority don't (cant figure it out either how some take the OT miracles so literally and defend them to the death yet dont accept the Holy Eucharist)

[CatholicCrusader]

Luther taught consubstantiation, meaning that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Our Lord, but they also remain bread and wine (which is heretical); however Lutherans no longer believe this. Transubstantiation, the correct teaching, is that of the Church. This means that the bread and wine becomes completely Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and only the accidents of bread and wine remain (the bread is no longer at all bread and the wine is no longer at all wine). God bless.

[Theoketos]

It is hard to say that across the board lutherns do not believe this. It really depends on what synod.

Still though they believe the consecrate the hosts the propere form is still missing.

[littleflower+JMJ]

[i]I believe in God the Father [b]Almighty[/b].....[/i]

surely if we believe that God is all powerful and almighty, with our whole souls and minds, believing in the True Presence of the Holy Eucharist shouldnt be hard to do...

the truth and the Church go together, without either it can and is lost...

with charity and love...
God bless.
+JMJ

[Livin_the_MASS]

[b]The First Sorrowful Mystery[/b]

[b]The Agony in the Garden[/b]
[i]"My Heart is filled with sorrow to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake."[/i] (Mk 14:34)

[b]The Wound of Rejection[/b]
[i]"He was spurned and avoided by men."[/i] (Is 53:3)

"On this Holy Thursday night Jesus showed us the very "depth of His love" (Cannon of Mass), by giving us the complete gift of Himself and His total love in the Holy Eucharist. Then He appealed to His apostles for the first Holy Hour of prayer, when He took them into the garden in the middle of the night, and asked them to watch and pray with Him.

"As He started to pray, He began to sweat blood. The agony He suffered was the realization that the Holy Eucharist would be rejected by so many and appreciated by so few.

"To reject the Holy Eucharist is to reject Jesus Himself.

"He saw down through the ages how He would be left alone, SPURNED AND AVOIDED BY MEN in so many tabernacles of the world, while He comes to bring so much love and so many blessings.

"He is the rejected Lover:
the Prisoner of Love in the tabernacle. [i]"He came into His own, yet His own received Him not."[/i] (Jn 1:11) How few would believe in His Real Presence, and fewer still respond to His appeal to be loved in the Blessed Sacrament.

"And His Heart was [i]'filled with sorrow to the point of death.'[/i] (Mk 14:34) The blood He sweat was grief poured out from a broken Heart, caused by the sorrow of His Eucharistic Love being rejected.

"Then an angel brought Jesus indescribable strength and consolation by showing Him every Holy Hour that you would ever make. At that moment in the garden, Jesus saw you praying before Him now and He knew His love would be returned. This is why your visit today is so important to Him. Your Holy Hour consoles Him for those who do not love Him, and wins countless graces for many to be converted to Him.

"Jesus says: [i]'I call you friends'[/i] (Jn 15:15), as here in the Blessed Sacrament He calls us into friendship and deep union with Himself. His Eucharistic love is the greatest love our hearts will ever know.
[i]"O my Strength, it is You to whom I turn, for You, O God are my Stronghold, THE GOD WHO SHOWS ME LOVE."[/i] (Ps 59; 10-11)
This sacrament is God's Divine embrace reaching out to us.

"God's love was revealed in our midst in this way:
[i]"He sent His only Son into the world that we may have life in Him."[/i] (1 Jn 4:9)
Jesus dwells with us day and night in fulfillment of His promise:
[i]"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you."[/i] (Is 49:15)
In an ever changing world the Holy Eucharist is the constant reminder of the Great Reality of God's love, and that His love alone is changless.

"Love for you keeps Jesus here day and night!
His Divine Presence continually affirms us in His love and tender care. This is the sacrament of His Divine tenderness where He thinks of us every moment of the day: He is the Divine Magnet Who draws close to us that we may draw close to Him. What more could Jesus do for us than He has already done?

"Yet how often is He forsaken and forgotten by His own. Again, as when He wept over Jerusalem, He says: [i]"How often have I yearned to gather you as a mother hen gathers her young under her wing, but you refused Me."[/i] (Mt 23:37)
The Eucharist is Jesus, Jesus is Love, and 'Love is not loved.' (St. John of the Cross) So many are unwilling to make even the slightest sacrifice to visit Him, while He was willing to sacrifice everything to be with us in the most Blessed Sacrament. He laid down His mortal life for us so that He may raise us up to Divine life in this Holy Sacrament.
[i]"Greater love than this no one has, than to lay down his life for his friends." [/i](Jn 15:13)
[i]"Could you not watch one hour with Me?"[/i] (Mk 14:37)

"Jesus could fill every Catholic Church, day and night, by letting a single ray of His glory shine out from the Sacred Host.
People would come from all over the world to see the miracle, but He prefers to remain hidden that we may come to Him in faith; because only in faith are we drawn by love and not curiosty.
[i]"O send forth Your light and Your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to Your holy mountain,
to the place where You dwell."[/i] (Ps 43:3)

"A prayer God never refuses is the prayer to help us love Him more. [i]"What father would hand his son a stone when he asks for bread? How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."[/i] (Mt 7: 9-11)

"He is so much in love with you, and so deeply yearns for love, that He is willing to endure rejection of the whole world to love you, and to be loved by you in the Blessed Sacrament. He sees you before Him now and forgets the rejection of the world. Here we offer to Jesus and rejection we may receive from others, that He may be love by all in this most Blessed Sacrament. By His wound of rejection may Jesus heal us of all pride so that we, like Him, may become perfectly docile to the Father's Will.

"Jesus' struggle in the garden between His humanity and divinity teaches us the importance of doing God's Will and not taking the easy way out, because by His Holy Cross He has redeemed the world.


Blessed Sacrament Prayer

"Conscious of Your loving Presence, Jesus, we unite ourselves deeply to Your attitude in the garden when You prayed:
"FATHER, NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE." (Lk 22:42)
During this decade we offer You the perfect love of Mary to make up for what is lacking in our own hearts, and to repair for all of the rejection that You receive from the world in this Sacrament of You love. With each 'Hail Mary' of this mystery we pray in our hearts:
"may the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored and loved with grateful affection at every moment in all the tabernacles of the world even to the end of time."

Book: "Rosary Meditations from Mother Teresa of Calcutta Loving Jesus with the Heart of Mary"

Nihil Obstat
Rev. Dan Malain, Th.m., M.R.E.
Censor deputatus

Imprimi potest
Most Reverend John L. Morkovsky, S.T.D.
Apostolic Administrator, Galveston-Huston
Dec. 3, 1984

[Dave]

[quote name='He carries me' date='Apr 11 2004, 05:09 PM'] I've always wondered about this, too. The only answer I've ever gotten is that Jesus says "do this in remembrance of me." That somehow makes the bread and wine only a symbol. I don't understand it. Maybe it's just too hard to believe that they actually become flesh and blood. I dunno [/quote]
It's not a valid reason for rejecting the real presence, as nowhere in the Bible does the word "memory" mean "symbolic." Look how the Webster's Dictionary defines remember and symbol:

Remember - To think of again

Symbol - An object used to represent something abstract

No similarity in meaning there.

In addition, Jesus says, "Do THIS in memory of me." There are two parts to this statement -- THIS and MEMORY. We have to focus on the memory, but what about the THIS? What is the THIS? It means to do what Jesus just did, to distribute His Body and Blood. The remembrance comes in when the communicants remember that Christ died for them as they eat His Body and drink his Blood. The Catholic position fulfills both of Jesus' commands. By partaking in the actual Body and Blood we're doing what the THIS means. Additionally, they REMEMBER Christ’s sacrifice while receiving Communion. In the Protestant practice, only the REMEMBER part is obeyed, not the THIS part.

[Katholikos]

Why do Protestants (and others who claim they're not Protestant, but generic Christians) [b]not[/b] believe in the Eucharist?

Protestantism did away with priests in the 16th century. There can be no Eucharist without priests validly ordained in succession to the Apostles. Even those Protestant "churches" which retain some variation of belief in the Real Presence lack the power and authority to confect the Eucharist. So in saying that the bread and wine are merely symbolic when speaking of their own "communion," they're speaking the absolute truth. However, when they speak of Holy Communion in a Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Church with validly ordained priests as symbolic, they're ignorant of the Truth. [b]Their[/b] communion is merely symbolic; [b]our[/b] Communion is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I've yet to figure out how one "communes" (becomes one) with a symbol.

Ex-Southern Baptist, ex-agnostic, ex-atheist, ecstatic to be Catholic!

Ave Cor Mariae, Likos

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='CatholicCrusader' date='Apr 11 2004, 05:24 PM'] Luther taught consubstantiation, meaning that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Our Lord, but they also remain bread and wine (which is heretical); however Lutherans no longer believe this. Transubstantiation, the correct teaching, is that of the Church. This means that the bread and wine becomes completely Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and only the accidents of bread and wine remain (the bread is no longer at all bread and the wine is no longer at all wine). God bless. [/quote]
This is inaccurate. Lutherans (ELCA and LCMS) still hold to more than the "symbolic" view of communion. They believe Christ is present and consider communion as the "Eucharist"

[theculturewarrior]

I agree with the above question..."Why do protestants NOT believe?"

Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Assyrian Church of the East (in other words, any Church older than 500 yrs.) believe that bread and wine become the Body and Blood of the Lord upon consecration. So the question is...why do Protestants NOT believe?

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Jason' date='Apr 11 2004, 10:02 PM'] Why are the Catholics the only ones who believe this. Is not everyone supposed to do as the Lord commands, Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood. Just curious why others don't follow one of the most important commands given by God? [/quote]

With respect, that's not quite true, Anglicans and Missouri-synod Lutherans still hold to it.

Note it's referred to in many ways: "Transubstantiation" "Transmutation" "Real precence" are usually identical or have extremely small differences in explanation

For example, the Orthodox call it "transmutation" but it's the same thing, they don't give such a scientific explanation as some Catholic Church's do, they simply state "That's Christ, right there" kinda.

Edited April 24, 2004 by RandomProddy

[willguy]

Katholicos has a good point. Part of the emphasis in Protestantism is no hierarchy. Well, there is some, but the people in authority are not viewed as any different from the people. Transubstantiation is linked with the priesthood. Protestants would either have had to say that everyone could consecrate the elements or no one could. They went with the latter.

[Livin_the_MASS]

[b]What is astonishing is that there were two thoughts that plaged Martain Luther until the day he died[/b]: [u]Our Lady and the Eucharist![/u] [i]He said of Our Lady[/i]: "She is my love, the noble maid. Forget her? I can never! Whatever honors men have paid, she has my heart forever."

[i]And of the Eucharist[/i]:
"I wish that someone could convince me that in the Eucharist there is nothing more than bread and wine. [b]I have thought of this question till the sweat has poured from my brow, and I confess I am still held in it's bonds, and I see no way to free myself. [u]The Gospel testimony is too clear."[/b][/u]

Louis Kaczmarek "The Eucharist and the Rosary The Power To Change The World"


Seems to me Luther can't deny confessing the Truth about Our Lady and the Eucharist no matter how hard he tried!

Because Truth is Truth "My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink."
"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you do not have life within you."

THE TRUTH HAS SPOKEN!

In the love of Christ
Jason

[God Conquers]

nice quotes!

We're the only ones because we're not afraid to believe what Christ and his followers believed.