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guanophore
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The two are not mutually exclusive. Jesus referred to Himself as the manna that came from heaven. The manna was a foretaste/type of Him becoming the living bread for the people. When he was born, he was in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, and laid in a manger, out of which grain was fed to the animals. He Himself is that food that he told the disciples must be “chewed”.the theme of the entire discourse is not about future “communion” , but that one must be chosen of the Father and Jesus to be a disciple, and that of a Messiah that had to be believed, every word , for the journey is not what one would expect (future death/resurrection/ascension).
Only those who are chosen by the father to become a disciple can enter into and be nourished by this food. Only those can “taste the heavenly gift”.
This is what is taught to the Children of the Reformation, to support the rejection of the Real Presence, but the Apostles did not teach this to their disciples. It is clearly evident in the early writings that discernment of the “body and blood” is a reference to Real Presence. That being said, I don’t disagree with the other interpretation, either. Those same writers identified a valid eucharist as one that is celebrated in unity with the Bishop. This is always how the “genuine” church was identified.Do not see elements and what they really became or not as the key, but what was in the heart, or lacking, of the partaker of the table remembering, honoring Christ. The word “body” refers to the Body of Christ or even the Lord’s Body, the Church…not the Lord’s body and blood…the Corinthians had big problems being one as “one loaf” should, but did not suggest to them .