Differences Between Catholic and Protestant Communion

[jmcrae]

To JMKrae yesterday. Thank you for that response.
There are some scriptures listed at the beginning of this thread to prove that when we take communion we are eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus. Am I reading them wrong? They don’t seem to say that to me. John 6: 53-57. I am quoting only part of the verses, you can read them in whole.If you read from verse 47, it states that Jesus is the bread of life come down from heaven. The bread is his flesh which he gives for the life of the world. then on to verse 58 states If we eat this bread we will live forever. I don’t think he is referring to communion, do you?

What else could He be talking about? The only bread He ever gave was at the Last Supper, and at that time, He told the disciples, “This is My Body,” so that they would understand that the bread of Holy Communion is the bread that He was talking about - the bread that is His flesh.

Then if we take communion we get everlasting life, I don’t think so. The other scriptures noted are both the same and one could argue either way as to whether the emphasis should be put on the remembrance of Him or that it is His actual body and blood in the eucharist.

It’s not “either/or”. Remembrance in this context is not merely an intellectual exercise, but it is to enter into the action of the event itself - so, by means of partaking in Holy Communion, we are actually brought to the Cross, and Jesus’ Body and Blood is offered on the Cross for us, personally and by name - even though we weren’t even born yet and had certainly not yet committed any sins at the time that He died for sins on the Cross.

The ordinary means of grace is the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Of course God can save certain special people in extraordinary ways, too - but just how special are you, really? Out of seven billion or more people alive on earth today, are you really the smartest? Are you really the greatest? Not everyone is that special, and you have to consider that God might see you as an ordinary person - that your accomplishments are not so vastly far above everyone else’s accomplishments.

For those who really are that special, God will save them anyway, no matter what they do. But not all of us are that special. Most of us require the ordinary means of grace that Jesus set up for us, in the Catholic Church, which He established so that we could be saved.

 

[guanophore]

I am a Protestant and yes we changed from the Catholic church. Can you say that the Catholic church has not changed just as much over the centuries?

Jesus was celebrating Passover. So if we take Communion from this meal, would we only do it once a year?

Sameole1 you are new, so you may not realize you have broken one of the forum rules by resurrecting an old thread. It is likely that the OP (original poster) is long gone, and will not read or reply to your post.

Your point, however, is valid. Protestants did depart from the Apostolic faith.

Yes, the CC has changed over the centuries, but the doctrine of the faith has not changed. Customs and disciplines change, ways of doing things change, but the Teaching of Jesus that was once for all committed to the saints cannot be changed. One of those doctrines of the faith is that Jesus is fully present in the Eucharist. This is what He taught to His Apostles, and they to their successors, the bishops. Those who reject this doctrine of the faith separate themselves from what Jesus taught.

You are right that the Eucharistic celebration is based upon the Passover, of which it is a fulfillment. We celebrate Eucharist as often as we gather because that is what we were taught by the Apostles.

1 Cor 11:25-26
25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This ritual has been performed by the disciples of Christ since Pentecost. We are not at liberty to change or reject what has been handed down to us.

 

[guanophore]

To JMKrae yesterday. Thank you for that response.
There are some scriptures listed at the beginning of this thread to prove that when we take communion we are eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus. Am I reading them wrong?

No, that is what they say. We know that because we have the One Faith infallibly preserved in the Church, and by it we know what the people believed that wrote those verses.

They don’t seem to say that to me. John 6: 53-57. I am quoting only part of the verses, you can read them in whole.If you read from verse 47, it states that Jesus is the bread of life come down from heaven. The bread is his flesh which he gives for the life of the world. then on to verse 58 states If we eat this bread we will live forever. I don’t think he is referring to communion, do you?

Yes, He is referring to communion. The Apostles taught that he held His own Body and Blood in His hands at the last supper. He puts His whole presence, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into the elements of Bread and Wine.

Then if we take communion we get everlasting life, I don’t think so.

To an extent, you are right. A person who does not believe what Jesus said receives in an unworthy manner, and will only eat and drink condemnation on himself.

The other scriptures noted are both the same and one could argue either way as to whether the emphasis should be put on the remembrance of Him or that it is His actual body and blood in the eucharist.

Yes, and there has been an argument of this kind since the time those verses were written. Those who rejected the Apostolic faith were referred to as heretics and apostates.

 

[zz912]

I am a Protestant and yes we changed from the Catholic church. Can you say that the Catholic church has not changed just as much over the centuries?

Jesus was celebrating Passover. So if we take Communion from this meal, would we only do it once a year?

If you want a real eye-opener, take a listen to this audio, explaining what is happening in the Last Supper, and the Crucifixion. You will understand what Jesus meant when He asked for the “cup” to be taken away. Find out what the 4th Cup is…

youtube.com/watch?v=GzaiwqsDAm8

 

[Church_Militant]

Big differences. There is nothing in the New Testament that even infers a symbolic presence in communion. It’s simply not there and those who adhere to that position have read things into and out of the texts, not to mention having badly ignored the historically verifiable teachings of the earliest church fathers, who make an extremely big deal out of this issue. See my blog article The Eucharist IS Scriptural.

His Holiness John Paul the Great gave us a tremendous teaching gift in his encyclical
Ecclesia de Eucharistia (Note especially sections 43-46)

1. In considering the Eucharist as the sacrament of ecclesial communion, there is one subject which, due to its importance, must not be overlooked: I am referring to the relationship of the Eucharist to ecumenical activity. We should all give thanks to the Blessed Trinity for the many members of the faithful throughout the world who in recent decades have felt an ardent desire for unity among all Christians. The Second Vatican Council, at the beginning of its Decree on Ecumenism, sees this as a special gift of God.89 It was an efficacious grace which inspired us, the sons and daughters of the Catholic Church and our brothers and sisters from other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, to set forth on the path of ecumenism.

Our longing for the goal of unity prompts us to turn to the Eucharist, which is the supreme sacrament of the unity of the People of God, in as much as it is the apt expression and the unsurpassable source of that unity.90 In the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice the Church prays that God, the Father of mercies, will grant his children the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that they may become one body and one spirit in Christ.91 In raising this prayer to the Father of lights, from whom comes every good endowment and every perfect gift (cf. *Jas *1:17), the Church believes that she will be heard, for she prays in union with Christ her Head and Spouse, who takes up this plea of his Bride and joins it to that of his own redemptive sacrifice.

1. Precisely because the Church’s unity, which the Eucharist brings about through the Lord’s sacrifice and by communion in his body and blood, absolutely requires full communion in the bonds of the profession of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance, it is not possible to celebrate together the same Eucharistic liturgy until those bonds are fully re-established. Any such concelebration would not be a valid means, and might well prove instead to be an obstacle, to the attainment of full communion, by weakening the sense of how far we remain from this goal and by introducing or exacerbating ambiguities with regard to one or another truth of the faith. The path towards full unity can only be undertaken in truth. In this area, the prohibitions of Church law leave no room for uncertainty,92 in fidelity to the moral norm laid down by the Second Vatican Council.93

See the link above for more and context.