Do we receive the Church in the Eucharist?

[Lampo]

Please help make this clear in my mind: The Body of Christ is the Church. Every Christian makes up the Body of Christ with Jesus as the head. I understand the body and soul of the Church - Catholics and our separated brethren. When we receive the Eucharist, is it accurate to way we are receiving the Church also? If so, I can’t wrap my brain around this concept. I appreciate your help in understanding.

 

[water]

Would I receive you in the Eucharist since you are part of the Body of Christ? I believe that when we say we are part of the Body of Christ, we refer to a spiritual sense - a connection between Christ and all of us. The Eucharist is just pure Jesus Body, Blood and Soul.

 

[dylanschrader]

A few months ago, there was a thread on this subject: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=147282 which has a lot of references and explanations of the different senses in which “Body of Christ” is used.

Theologians distinguish the Corpus Verum from the Corpus Mysticum. The glorified Body that Christ has in Heaven, the Body that is present substantially in the Eucharist is the True Body, while the Church is the Mystical Body.

 

[JimG]

Would I receive you in the Eucharist since you are part of the Body of Christ? I believe that when we say we are part of the Body of Christ, we refer to a spiritual sense - a connection between Christ and all of us. The Eucharist is just pure Jesus Body, Blood and Soul.

This is quite true, and it is normally what we mean by the Church being the body of Christ on earth. We the members of his Church are members of his body.

In the Eucharist we receive the totality of the actual person of Christ. We are also united with one another because the communion I receive is the exact same person that you receive–not two Christs but one. Because of that, we are united with one another through incorporation into the one body of Christ.