Born Again Christian Catholic

[packermann]

To the Protestant evengelical, being born-again and receving Christ as our Saviour and Lord are the same event - what happens when you become a Christian.

But the Catholic Church teaches that they are two different events. We are born-again at our baptism. And we receive Christ in the Eucharist. So, for us, receiving is not a one-time experience, but an ongoing experience everytime we receive Christ in the Eucharist.

This is not to say that praying to receive Christ outside the Eucharist is not valid. It defintely is. Catholic tradition has the practise of “spiritual communion”. Spiritual communion is the practise of receiving Christ spiritually, but not sacramentally. Here is a traditional spiritual communiojn prayer:

Lord Jesus, I believe You are present in the Holy Sacrament,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You,
Never permit me to be separated from You.

I myself pray this prayer throughout the day.

This prayer is very close to the sinner’s prayer done by Protestants. In both prayers, there is an asking of Jesus to come into our hearts spiritually. The only difference is that, for the Protestants see it as a prayer we only say once, but we see it as a valid prayer to be said often whenever we are not able to recive the Eucharist.

God is not bound ny His sacraments. Anyone who sincerely comes to Him will in no wise be cast out. When either a Protestant or a Catholic prays to receive Christ, Christ will come to him. But even though this prayer is a wonderful blessing, it cannot be compared to the Eucharist, in which we we receive Christ not only spiritually, but we receive His actual body and blood.

 

[rolandjames]

Many of Jesus disciples were repulsed by his words when Jesus spoke of the Eucharist and they walked away from him. In John 6:54-56 Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” Jesus asked his 12 apostles if they, too , wanted to leave because everyone was shocked at his words and probably thought Jesus had gone stark mad. To smooth things out Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”, John 6:63-64. So even the Eucharist requires the Holy Spirit or it is just bread and wine. Without the consecration and without the receiver acknowledging what the Eucharist really is, it becomes just a piece of bread and wine. “It is the Spirit that gives Life”, without it it is worthless. I can venture to say that there are Catholics who think the Eucharist is a symbol of Jesus but not the real flesh and the real blood of Christ. If you tell them what it is they may be just as shocked as the original disciples and they may even walk away in disbelief. To be born again is to have faith and to believe the words Jesus has spoken. Take a poll and I bet you many Catholics don’t know the Eucharist is the real flesh and real blood of Christ.