The Body of Christ?

Catholic Exchange ^ | May 30, 2005 | Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

[NYer]

I found the best understanding of the Eucharist is by reading His Word and gleaning how He presented it.

What's to glean? His instructions were direct and clear. "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life within you".

Straightforward and to the point.

[lightman]

As I've said in the past, when Christ said "This is my Body", we Catholics don't have to debate what the meaning of "is" is. Words have meaning :-) Especially these ..

The translation of the Verba has become my litmus test for the orthodoxy of any children's Bible. "Is" and only "is" will do. Too many render the word "represents" or "is a symbol of"; and those are just plain heretica; and the sort of attempt at leading little ones astray that the Lord deems worthy of being necklaced with a millstone.

[coton_lover]

Thank you so much for posting this article. I wish this is what we could have heard for the Homily on Corpus Christi instead of the feel-good homily we usually get.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

bttt

[Salvation]

Excellent line!

[Talking_Mouse]

Thank you for posting this today. On the way home from work last night I was asking the Lord why the word trasabstanation was used instead of transformation. So your article was an answer to my prayers. :-)

[Knitting A Conundrum]

---

	Sienna, Italy -- August 17, 1730 Consecrated Hosts remain perfectly preserved for over 250 years. Rigorous scientific experiments have not been able to explain this phenomena.
	Amsterdam, Holland 1345 Eucharist thrown into fire overnight miraculously is unscathed.
	Blanot, France -- March 31, 1331 The Eucharist falls out of a woman's mouth onto an altar rail cloth. The priest tries to recover the Host but all that remains is a large spot of blood the same size and dimensions as the wafer.
	Bolsena-Orvieta, Italy Again, a priest has difficulties believing in the Real Presence, and blood begins seeping out of the Host upon consecration. Because of this miracle, Pope Urban IV commissioned the feast of Corpus Christi, which is still celebrated today.
	Lanciano, Italy -- 8th century A.D. A priest has doubts about the Real Presence; however, when he consecrates the Host it transforms into flesh and blood. This miracle has undergone extensive scientific examination and can only be explained as a miracle. The flesh is actually cardiac tissue which contains arterioles, veins, and nerve fibers. The blood type as in all other approved Eucharistic miracles is type AB! Histological micrographs are shown.
	Physician Tells of Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano - (Zenit) "Dr. Edoardo Linoli says he held real cardiac tissue in his hands, when some years ago he analyzed the relics of the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, Italy."

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html

[jo kus]

"The Teachings of the Church Fathers, by John R. Willis, S.J., Ignatius Press, 2002."

I was tempted to purchase this book. However, I already own the 3 book series "Faith of the Early Fathers" by Jurgens. How would you compare the two, if you are familiar with Jurgens's work?

Thanks

Brother in Christ

[Salvation]

Our pastor's sermon was on this and the fact that we don't have to be a Lanciano -- because this happens every time we attend Mass.

[Salvation]

The Body of Christ?

Holy Sacrifice, Living Sacrament

Knights of the Eucharist

The Banquet of Corpus Christi - "Why did Jesus give us His Body and Blood?"

The Eucharist: Eternity and Time Together

Restored Order of the Sacraments of Initiation? Confirmation and First Eucharist together? (Vanity)

Reflections of Cardinal Ratzinger on the Eucharist

THE HOLY EUCHARIST: NOURISHMENT TO FINISH OUR COURSE

The Eucharist in Scripture - Part 1 - Old Testament

POPE GRANTS PLENARY INDULGENCE FOR YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST

New Plenary Indulgence to Mark Year of the Eucharist

Kneeling and Faith in the Eucharist

The Immaculate Conception and the Eucharist, a course in Christian culture in Tashkent

The Year of the Eucharist by Bishop Donald Wuerl

"While We're At It": What can we do to show that the Eucharist is a communal activity?

[johnb838]

See? That's what happens when it's done by a true believer in communion with the holy spirit. The reason I said what I said was in partial quotation of a story I listened to yesterday either by Father Corapi, or by Father Benedict Roschel, about some atheists stealing a host and analyzing it and finding only wheat gluten. It is to THEM I say Ichabod(!), The Spirit of the Lord has left this place!

[monkfan]

Let us contemplate with faith the mystery of the divine incarnation and in all simplicity let us simply praise Him who in His great generosity became man for us.

The Uncircumscribable circumscribed. It's flat out impossible, by definition, and yet we believe it to be true.

[monkfan]

The Lord desires us to be transformed from a motley crew of imperfect individuals into the Body of Christ, come to full stature.

This reminds me of something my priest said to me when I was being catechized. He said that those who say God doesn't change the bread and wine are really saying that God doesn't change *us*. The bread and wine remain the same; we remain the same. That is a rather frightening thought.

[franky]

In reading the scripture, I have seen many words stated for a definition from non Catholics to the following chapter and verse. Some of the words used to describe are:
• device
• figure
• ornament
• emblematical
• indicative
• representational
• representative
• token
Many of those words have been posted over the years from evangelicals and many of the Protestant denominations. Non of them said that the Eucharist was True Substance. MOF, the majority of those posters never gave and answer.

I get the feeling that those same people would have responded as the Pharisees did. Walk away!

John 6:- 53-57

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 19 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

[gbcdoj]

Since you bring that sentence up, please note that it's completely wrong. St. Thomas hadn't even been born when transubstantiation was defined as a dogma by the Lateran Council of 1215.

[xzins]

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, F27 and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ..... He who eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" ..... It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

circa 350 A.D.: St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Catecheses, Lecture 22, ss. 1,3-6,9
(cf. Lecture 19, s. 7; Lecture 23, ss. 20-23)

On the night he was betrayed out Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: ``Take, eat: this is my body.'' He took the cup, gave thanks and said: ``Take, drink: this is my blood.'' Since Christ himself has declared the bread to be his body, who can have any further doubt? Since he himself has said quite categorically, This is my blood, who would dare to question and say that it is not his blood?

Therefore, is is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. His body is given to us under the symbol of bread, and his blood is given to us udner the symbol of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one body and one blood with him. Having his body and blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and sharers, as Saint Peter says, in the divine nature.

Once, when speaking to the Jews, Christ said: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall have no life in you. This horrified them and they left him. Not understandoing his words ina spiritual way, they thought the Savior wished them to practice cannibalism.

Under the old dispensation there was showbread, but it came to an end with the old dispensation to which it belonged. Under the new covenant there is bread from heaven and the cup of salvation. These sanctify both soul and body, the bread being adapted to the sanctification of the body, the Word, to the sanctification of the soul.

Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are in fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself has declared. Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith.

You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ. You know also how David referred to this long ago when he sang: Bread gives strength to man's heart and makes his face shine with the oil of gladness. Strengthen your heart, then, by receiving this bread as spriritual bread, and bring joy to the face of your soul.

May purity of conscience remove the veil from the face of your soul so that by contemplating the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, you may be transformed from glory to glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

[monkfan]

St. Cyril!

Thank you. That's a gem.

Ya know, given the kinds (& number!) of things that have been argued about within the Church, one might expect Real Presence to top the list. But it doesn't even *make* the list. How a christian could challenge it today and keep a straight face I just don't know.

[SaltyJoe]

The miracle of the Mass is that, per Christ's command, a Priest and the Holy Spirit bring about transubstantiation. Apostolic succession assures us that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. Consumption of His Flesh brings enlightenment and Salvation.

Please pardon me if I mock God's opposition with Elijah-like humor (but I don't hold myself equal to such a prophet! 1 Kings 18:27 http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/1kings/1kings18.htm).

I suppose goddess theology (heresy) uses chocolate and breast milk for its communion. The most a Wiccan can do with her wand is turn the chocolate and milk into a cheesy syrup. Consumption of such brings on a nauseating sugar rush and bad gas.