Consecrating

[MrsFrozen]

In a recent conversation I was having with a Fundamentalist friend, we were talking about the True Presence in the Eucharist. At first, he didn't believe in the True Presence. My husband showed him John 6, and he studied it, and now believes.

The problem is that he now believes, though his faith in God, he can consecrate bread and water himself! He doesn't think a priest has to do it. And since he believes he can do it himself, he doesn't plan on leaving his denomination, even though they believe it's only symbolic.

Please help! How do I explain that a priest has to be the one to do it? He'll ask why he can't do it with his faith in God. Can someone offer some insight? Thank you!

God bless. :)

[phatcatholic]

woh, this is a first. i can truly say i've heard it all now!

anyway, w/o doing any research on the matter, i would say that he cannot do it b/c Jesus is not talking to the lay believer when he says "do this in rememberance of me." Jesus performed the first consecration at the Last Supper, w/ only the apostles present.

also, since Holy Communion is a Sacrament of the Church, it too, like the remaining six sacraments, must be ordinarily performed by a priest. why must it be performed by a priest? b/c Jesus gave the Holy Spirit--which allows the Church to perform Sacraments--to his authoritative Church, to the apostles, and to the successors of the apostles. we have an apostolic priesthood, and it is this priesthood that has the right to perform the sacraments of the Church. only in extreme cases can a lay person perform a sacrament (for example, baptism) but even then there is no such provision for lay people to consecrate the Eucharist.

this is only conjecture, but i would guess that ur friend is still in the Protestant mindset that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to ALL believers. but, if this is true then we would all agree. instead, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to His Church--the Catholic Church--who in turn gives the spirit to believers through baptism and confirmation.

however, even then--although we recieve gifts of the Spirit and the seal of the Spirit upon our souls--we do not recieve the privaleage of performing the sacraments in an ordinary manner. not to mention that ur friend's understanding of consecration goes against 2,000 years of Church history and tradition.

if this is not sufficient, i can do more research on the matter and post more later. just let me know.

pax christi,

phatcatholic