Seeking Divine Mercy
The validity of
The Eucharist
Jesus is the Lamb of God. The Eucharist is His Body and
Blood of which we are to partake of in the New Covenant. The Eucharist must
consist of unleavened bread as our Heavenly
Father declared to be used as the bread of the Passover meal in the Old
Covenant. This has been the law. It was unleavened bread that Jesus
consecrated as His Body. Without unleavened bread, the Eucharist is invalid.
Nothing may be used in its place. The consecration of the Eucharist into the
Body and Blood of Christ is invalid in itself if not performed by an ordained
Priest authorized by a Bishop through the laying of hands in the sacrament of
Holy Orders. By the Power of the Holy Spirit, this has been the means of
transfer of Christ’s authority as consummated since the establishment of the
Who will walk away…? Who will accept without questioning?
Click photo for “Christe
Redemptor” – Gregorian Anthology
If we consider God created all things,
how difficult would it be for Jesus to make the bread and wine an extension of
His very Body and Blood regardless of its appearance or structure? Jesus raised
Lazarus from the Dead by His word and made the blind see by His word. He made
the lame walk and the fig tree wither and die by His word. He expressed His Godly
power as well as His humanity. He is God
yet took on the form of man. He was born of Woman yet was conceived
supernaturally through God of a human, the blessed virgin. He extended His
“being” into Bread and Wine made from that which He created in the beginning of
earthly existence, again, from nothing, and of which man can only reproduce
from its original source, that source created by God. He placed
Himself in Mary and offered all man a means to accept Him in the most intimate
way that we and He could become one in each other. It is the most sincerest and
loving way to accept Him if worthily. In so making the bread and wine into His Body
and Blood He instills the graces of His very spirit while giving us the sense
perceptible means to physically join in His existence if we so accept Him and
love Him. By accepting the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ in the
Eucharist, are we not accepting and honoring that which Jesus proclaimed as His
Body and Blood and offered to us to share in and become one in Him and Him in
us? Can we accept His Word any less than the Apostles did, without question,
and still claim to be truly Christian?
Faith must be
the path that leads to Christ. Our Love of God and each other are the steps we
take to reach Him. The stronger the love, the closer we are to reaching Him. If
we refer to the Gospel, we will see the apostles practiced the sacrament of the
Eucharist and nowhere in the Gospel or anywhere throughout the history of
Christianity is it recorded that this Sacrament as offered by our Savior which
is the very Heart of Christianity should have changed or stopped or why it
would have stopped, which it never had. Only some “men” stopped believing in it
and accepting it through lack of faith and the distance of time. It is the very
center of True Christianity. It is the Bread of Life and who ever eats His
Flesh and drinks His Blood will be raised on the last Day.
After
proclaiming to His disciples they were to eat of His body and drink of His
Blood, many became disturbed and fervently complained that such a proclamation
was far too much. Many chose to walk away. Our Savior repeated this many times
throughout the gospel never changing His proclamation. He never once even
remotely suggested He meant anything other than specifically the words He
spoke. He did not offer any correction or suggestion that He was referring only
symbolically. He never attempted to stop those disciples from their abandoning
Him and He did not say anything like; “wait, I mean, this is like my
Body". In fact, His silence in allowing them to walk away without changing
a word of His proclamation in addition to the fact He only broke His silence
after they left to ask the remaining Apostles if they would also walk away,
should show clearly that He was consistent and intentional in His meaning. He
changed nothing of these proclamations at any time.
Many have taken
the spoken Words of our Savior and gone as far as to add a word here or there
to make it fit a meaning more comfortable to one’s own way of thinking, being
nothing less than distorting His word as He warned some men would falsely do.
Yes, we have been warned and it is Biblical. Although the Eucharistic
acceptance of Jesus may be beyond our comprehension which is a common human
response, no man possesses the right to change the Word of God so its meaning
can better meet man’s understanding. Look at it this way; if it were man’s
right to claim Jesus only intended to “mean” the bread and wine were “like” His
Body and Blood, why did He not say this when they questioned His meaning and
why did those followers not just take it the way they preferred it to mean at
that time as many Protestants have done in recent times? Because they knew
exactly what He was proclaiming. Everyone who claims to be a true Christian
must have Faith and Trust in the Word of God. This is His Word.
Catholicism does
not add anything to Jesus’ proclamation that the Bread and Wine are His Body
and Blood, but take the spoken word exactly as He declared it and exactly as
the Apostles accepted it, direct and to the point. He declared, "This is
my Body", and there is no need to add the word “actual” or otherwise as it
presents it’s meaning through its declaration. To say "like" changes
the meaning of the spoken sentence from saying it is, to implying it is
something else but with some similarity or representation and that is not the
proclamation Jesus spoke. This is very, very clear in the Gospel itself when
Jesus could have clarified to those walking away “I mean this is like my Body”,
but He, through silence and then His question to the apostles “will you also
walk away”, made that declaration firm
in meaning.
If we claim to
believe in Jesus and His salvation as the gospels attest we must accept at
times our tests of Faith as we cannot know the mind of God. These are the only
two choices Jesus gave us and there is no need for any other. If one has true
faith in the salvation Christ provided for us through His Passion, Death and
Resurrection, it is merely selective ignorance not to also accept the
Eucharist, because man can no more understand resurrection from the dead than
the Eucharist. Faith does not come with physical promises or Guarantees we can
experience with our senses but specifically without them. Where such promises
or Guarantees exist, faith is negated.
The later verses
will show that this has been a sacrament of Christian faith and worship since
first introduced by our Lord to the apostles and continued throughout Catholic
Christian history. It is our individual decision to believe in Him and His
teachings or walk away.
Jesus’ Body and Blood had been
metabolically formed entirely of the body and blood of the Virgin Mary. In fact
it was her human blood that carried the nutrients into Jesus. But by the Father
He was entirely of Spirit; the Son, Godly in His Spirit entirely of the Father.
As the Father sent His Spiritual Son to take on Mary’s human form and nature to
fulfill the sacrifice of the Lamb for our salvation once, the Son (that
Spiritual essence of the Father) also offered Himself to us (man kind) not
metabolically in human form, but in a more natural form He Himself once created
for our physical nourishment, (as we say, we see Him in all creation) only
hence forth providing us Himself most personally, for lack of a better word, as
nourishment for our soul which no earthly substance could previously provide.
This is the consuming of the new Passover meal for our soulful salvation while
still human in stead of our physical salvation; The Blood of the lamb no longer
over the door, but flowing united within our blood. The Jews had to eat of the
Passover lamb to attain their salvation and so must me. Jesus now being that
Lamb.
Just as He in Godly Spirit took up the
nature of a human being of which He previously possessed no part, He in His
Godly essence chose to take up the form of the bread and wine, consecrated
through the blood line of His body, His Church, restoring substantial life
within it to become His Body and Blood for the ages to come. In so doing He
provides us a true share of “heredity” through Himself in the one most intimate
way we as human beings may choose to accept this heritage. And in so doing He
offers renewed strength through this “spiritual nutrition” for those who would
accept Him faithfully and so intimately, without doubt or question as the
Apostles did. By consuming that which He declared to be His Body and Blood, the
faithful within the body, His Church, accept Him by His testament in His Word
without question, each become an intimate living organism of that one Body
sharing as organs in the flowing life of that body of which He is the Head.
Each one who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ within the Body, that
blood line, shares in true heritage of the Son of God as a living part of that
one Body of Christ. This I offer to you in a feeble
attempt to explain the humanly unexplainable and no words can express what is
experientially beyond human understanding or comprehension.
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John CH6: “27 Do not work for
food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God,
has set his seal." 28 So they said to him, "What can we do to
accomplish the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the
one he sent." 30 So they said to him, "What sign can we do, that we
may see and believe in you? What can we do? 31 Our ancestors
ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to
eat.'" 32 So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was
not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread
from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and
gives life to the world." 34 So they said to him, "Sir, give us this
bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the
bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in
me will never thirst. 36 But I told you that although you have seen (me), you
do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to you, and I
will not reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven not
to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will
of the one who sent me, that I should not lose
anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees
the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on)
the last day." 41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am
the bread that came down from heaven," 42 and they said, "Is this not
Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he
say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Stop murmuring among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw
him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets:
'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns
from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who
is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 your ancestors ate the
manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from
heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came
down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that
I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled
among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to
eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life
within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For
my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as
the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the
one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that
came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever
eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things he said while teaching
in the synagogue in
Matthew CH26: “26
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and
giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." 27 Then
he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
"Drink from it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which
will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark CH14: 22
While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it
to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took a cup,
gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to
them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed
for many. 25 Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new in the
Luke CH22: 14 When
the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles. 15 He said to
them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with
you before I suffer, 16 for, I tell you, I shall not
eat it (again) until there is fulfillment in the
Luke CH24: “30 And
it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the
blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that
their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their
sight. 32 Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning
(within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to
us?" 33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found
gathered together the eleven and those with them 34 who were saying, "The
Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"
1 Corinthians CH10: 16 The cup of
blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of
Christ? 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 18
Look at
1 Corinthians CH11: 22 Do we not
have houses in which we can eat and drink? Or do we show contempt for the
Not only is the proclamation of our Lord in 1 Corinthians (as others)
made clear, the Apostles emphasize they continued the Eucharistic celebration
throughout their ministry and handed it on through their successors. "...For as often as you eat this bread
and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. "
Also made clear is the fact that a person must not receive the
Body and Blood of Christ without proper repentance or while in a state of serious
sin; “…the unworthy shall answer for His Body and Blood”. This is without doubt
one of the crucial stipulations of our part of the Covenant Jesus made with us
and the very act of receiving His Body and Blood is a sign of our acceptance
and faith in Him. Without question, these verses serve as verification of the
necessity for the sacrament of Reconciliation. Through it, Jesus
provides us the means to obtain forgiveness and cleanse ourselves of our sins.
He offers forgiveness of our sins through the authority He assigned to the
Apostles and their successors (His Church). The authority to
“forgive or retain sin”. We must reconcile with our Lord before we
intend at any time to receive His Body and Blood. No man has the authority to
declare any sacrament invalid or alter the Word of God. But some have…
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The Eucharist After the Apostles
First Century
"I have no taste for corruptible
food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the
bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David;
and for drink I desire is blood, which is love incorruptible." St.
Ignatius of
"Heretics abstain from the Eucharist
and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of
our Savior Jesus Christ." St. Ignatius of Antioch ("Epistle to the
Smyrneans," c. 105 A.D.)
"Not as common bread nor common
drink do we receive these; but as we have been taught, the food which has been
made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the
change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the Flesh and Blood
of that incarnated Jesus."
Continued at http://www.catscans.com/catholicsite/euchrst2.htm
St.
Ignatius, bishop of
Second Century.
St.
Justin, the philosopher, in an apology for the Christians, which he addressed
to the emperor and senate of Rome, about the year 150, says of the blessed
Eucharist: "No one is allowed to partake of this food, but he that
believes our doctrines are true, and who has been baptized in the laver of
regeneration for remission of sins, and lives up to what Christ has taught. For
we take not these as common bread, and common drink, but in the same manner as
Jesus Christ, our Saviour, being incarnate by the
word of God, hath both flesh and blood for our salvation; so we are taught that
this food, by which our flesh and blood are nourished, over which thanks have
been given by the prayers in his own words, is the flesh and blood of the
incarnate Jesus." Apology ii. in
fin. he calls it, Panem eucharistisatum ton arton eucharistethenta, the bread blessed by giving
thanks, as he blessed and miraculously multiplied the loaves, eulogesen autous.
Third
Century.
St.
Cyprian, bishop of
Fourth
Century.
St.
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, who was born in the commencement of the 4th
century, and died in 386, explaining; When he (Jesus) has pronounced and said
of the bread, this is my body, who will after this dare to doubt? And
when he has assured, and said, this is my blood, who can ever hesitate,
saying it is not his blood? He changed water into wine at
St. Ambrose, one of the greatest doctors of the Latin Church, and
bishop of Milan, who died in 396, proving that the change of the bread and wine
into the body and blood of Christ, is really possible to God, and really takes
place in the blessed Eucharist, uses these words: "Will not the words of
Christ have power enough to change the species of the elements? Shall not the
words of Christ, which could make out of nothing things which did not exist, be
able to change that, which already exists, into what it was not? It is not a
less exertion of power to give a new nature to things, than to change their
natures. Let us propose examples from himself and
assert the truth of this mystery from the incarnation. Was it according to the
course of nature, that our Lord Jesus Christ should be
born of the Virgin Mary? It is evident that it was contrary to the course of
nature for a virgin to bring forth. Now this body, which we produce, was born
of the virgin. Who dost thou seek for the order of nature in the body of
Christ, when our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin.
(St. Ambrose, lib. de initiandis, chap. ix.)
Continued At; http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id44.html
