All theology must be centered on the Eucharist (1)

[vangrosh]

Since the Eucharist is Jesus Christ, the True God, all theology must start from there.

If one does not believe in the Catholic Eucharist, then their theology is not centered on Christ Himself but on things about and relating to Christ.

The non-Catholic Christian involves themselves with things about Jesus and tries the best to focus on Christ, but there is always a disconnect; a kind of an “outward gaze, looking out toward Jesus”. They try to get close by faith but never really get to touch Him. The Catholic however, starts by directly and personally touching and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and though His Divinity also communes with the Trinity. We partake of the Divine Nature of God, the Trinity. That is our starting point. Everything else flows from there.

Partaking of the Eucharist is very Trinitarian. It perfectly corresponds to the relationship of Jesus and His Father. Jesus is in the Father by virtue of being of the same substance as His Father- the Divine Nature. We mirror that relationship by partaking in the Eucharist. But with Jesus we have a different situation then Jesus has with God. Jesus shares in the Divine Nature of God. Jesus does not share in the human nature of God because God (the Father and the Spirit) do not have a human nature. So in order to truly share in Christ and in the Father and the Spirit we need to be able to share in not only the Divinity of Christ, but also his Body. We have to share in the complete person of Christ, both His human and Divine Nature. That is why Jesus said we MUST partake of His body and blood or we will have no life in us. That is why John 6 makes perfect sense to the Catholic, but has to be explained away by the Protestant.

The Eucharist is our life line, The True Vine of Christ, our connection to Christ and the Trinity. Since the teaching of the Eucharist is completely ‘tied up’ in the theology of the Trinity, the Nature of God, the Nature of Christ and the Hypostatic Union, if any part of this theology is missing then the whole structure will collapse.

It is so beautiful how God has integrated this theology for us. One thing flows from another. Again, our partaking of the Eucharist is an image of the Trinity. For the Protestant that does not partake of the True Eucharist then how can he or she be fully in Christ as Christ is in the Father? By Faith? No. Was Christ united to His Father by Faith? No. Christ was united through the Divine Nature. Christ has an actual, substantial contact and union with the Father through the Divine Nature, not through Faith. So likewise, we too must have an actual, substantial contact and union with Christ through the Eucharist, so we can not only be “in” Christ but also in the Father and the Holy Spirit in the most substantial way. Now we do this by Faith, but not apart from the Eucharist.

continued…

 

[vangrosh]

**The more supernatural faith we have in the Eucharist, the more we are united to Christ. **

That is why Jesus said in John 6:63-64,

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him."

Why did they not believe? Because they were in the flesh and not the Spirit. They were not seeing with the eyes of Faith. Jesus here is saying that we must have a supernatural faith to understand what he is saying. If the Lords Supper, the Eucharist, was only a symbol, then that does not require any faith to believe, but the Eucharist does require a great faith. It is a test of our faith to believe the words of Jesus, “This is my body”. To believe that this plain looking host is really Jesus, even though we can’t physically detect it, is a great test of faith. Now in John 6:70-71, John points out one of the disciples that “did not believe and who would betray him”- Judas. Judas was the first person to not believe the in the Eucharist. We see the same thing in John 13:25-27. Here John again points out how Judas begins his betrayal of Jesus by denying the Eucharist:

“25Leaning back against Jesus, he (John) asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.”
It’s so amazing in this verse that John points out the exact moment that Satan entered Judas, as soon as he took the bread of the Eucharist. Because at that moment he brought down judgment upon himself because according to 1 Corinthians 11:28-30,
“anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

John is carefully pointing out that Judas is the father of those that fail to recognize Jesus in the “breaking of the bread” – the Eucharist.

continued…

 

[vangrosh]

Luke points out the reality of the Eucharist in a different way:

Luke 24:13-16 says, “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him."

Then in verses 28-31 we read,

“As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight."

Here Luke uses the same word that John and Paul uses: “recognize”. We must “recognize” Jesus in the breaking of the bread – the Eucharist. When we take the Eucharist we must “recognize” that we are truly partaking of the body of the Lord, as Paul says.

Now why does Luke say that Jesus disappeared from their sight right at the moment they recognized Him in the Eucharist? Because Jesus is teaching them and us that he is truly present in the Eucharist! It was the reality of the Eucharist that opened their eyes so by Jesus disappearing He is showing us that we don’t need to “see” Him with our eyes to truly “know” that he is physically there! Just like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were physically with Jesus and speaking to Him but they did not recognize Him because the appearance of Jesus was hidden from them. In the same way the appearance of Jesus is hidden from us in the form of bread and wine. Jesus is truly with us, only hidden under the appearance of bread and wine.

In Christ truly present in the Eucharist,
-Ric

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

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