Extra Communion Wafers?

[jimmy]

ChristianWAB:

Yesterday, I attended a Catholic mass that was pretty packed with people and it seemed that the priest had enough communion wafers to go around to basically everybody who attended. However, two weeks prior, the attendance was scant.

Now, even though I’ve never really been able to wrap my head around the mechanics of Transubstantiation (…it just never stopped seeming like a form of idolatry to me), I’ve come to a point where I can just accept that the Roman Catholic church believes they have this “magic” power to pull our Savior from His place in heaven and put Him where they want.

It is not some “magic” power that Catholic priests have. Christ is the effector of The Sacrament. Christ chose to use the priest and bishops as His instrument. It is not a priest pulling Christ down from heaven, it is Christ making the sacrament into His body, blood, soul and divinity. Christ is still just as much in heaven after the Eucharist as before. He is not diminished by The Sacrament.

It is Christ Himself so it is not idolatry unless you consider worshiping Christ idolatry.

ChristianWAB:
So, as I was watching the ceremony, a question popped into my head. If the church really believes that all of these communion wafers contain the body and blood of Christ, what happens to the wafers that aren’t consumed? More specifically, what does the church believe happens to the "divinity" contained within these wafers?

Does it wear off and disappear or is it permanently encased in the wafers? Furthermore, where do the unconsumed wafers go? Is there a special box in which they’re kept until the next mass? And assuming that Jesus never leaves these wafers, are they exempt from the next Transubstantiation ritual?

Thank you in advance for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

It is placed in the tabernacle until the next mass, or communion service in which it will be used.

It will always remain the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. The council of Trent made this clear when it said that it will always be Christ as long as it remains. In other words it does not cease.

It is not “encased” in the wafer. The wafer becomes the body of Christ. There is nothing but Christ; nothing to “encase” the divinity of Christ except Himself. They don’t merely “contain” the body of Christ, they are the body of Christ.

Nothing happens to the divinity, it remains.

The priest will consecrate less at the next liturgy and use what has been consecrated.

 

[jimmy]

“Replay” is wrong. Try “re-presentation.”

Your correction is no more correct; it still presents the idea that it is being done a second time. But this is incorrect; Christ made the sacrifice once and we participate in that one sacrifice each time we participate in the mass. Granted, ‘replay’ and re-present’ are as close as you can get by using a single word.

 

[Tired]

jimmy:

Your correction is no more correct; it still presents the idea that it is being done a second time. But this is incorrect; Christ made the sacrifice once and we participate in that one sacrifice each time we participate in the mass. Granted, ‘replay’ and re-present’ are as close as you can get by using a single word.

That’s simply not true. “Representation” does NOT suggest that Jesus Christ is being re-crucified as “replayed” does. The Mass is transindental in time, we are not.

Each time the Mass is celebrated the ultimate sacrifice is represented to those in attendance, it is not being “replayed.”

I suggest reading MYSTERIUM FIDEI if you still think that “representation” is in any way synonomous with “replayed.”

 

[Scholastic17]

Tired:

You should be ashamed of yourself. Your agenda is now quite clear.

Lol. Do you deny that when you recieve the Eucharist, that you are indeed eating Jesus, and then washing down his flesh with his blood?

And it’s “Que Sera, Sera.”

Huh? Expand on that?

 

[YinYangMom]

Scholastic17:

Lol. Do you deny that when you recieve the Eucharist, that you are indeed eating Jesus, and then washing down his flesh with his blood?

Why would any Catholic deny this, and why would that be funny?

Huh? Expand on that?

The phrase is “Que sera, sera”, not “Che sera sera.” as you typed it in an earlier post. Translation: What will be, will be. What=que not che

 

[Nana_Rose]

Could we please get back on track? I am concerned with ChristianWAB’s second post. It sounds like you have been receiving communion is that so or did I misunderstand? I want to clear that up. Because if you are not Catholic in the first place, you should not be receiving Holy Communion. If you are a practicing Catholic and do not believe in the true presence then you should refrain from receiving also. It is one thing to not completely understand something so deep as the Eucharist, I struggled with it when I reverted back to the Church, so I prayed to Jesus to help me understand more fully how He is the Eucharist. I was lead to some wonderful books on the Eucharist and now have a deep love and devotion to our Lord in the Eucharist. But it is not something to be taken lightly.

If you are attending Mass to learn more about our faith, then consider going to RCIA classes. Ask the priest about RCIA classes, they are a wonderful way to learn more.

 

[Scholastic17]

YinYangMom:

Why would any Catholic deny this, and why would that be funny?

I don’t think any Catholic would deny that you are eating the flesh of God and then drinking His blood.

It just sounds funny. Sure, it is a very solemn sacrament, a very blessed sacrament, etc. But still, you gotta laugh at your faith (Whatever faith any individual accepts) occasionally.

Think about it. During the Eucharist, you are eating someone. That is funny.

Consider it this way:

If a Jahovah’s Witness comes to your house right after you get back from the mass:

Jehovah’s Witness: Hey, can i come in and tell you about the awesome ways of Jehovah?

Catholic: Sure, lemme pick my teeth first. I just got finished eating someone.

That is grade A comic material!

 

[YinYangMom]

Scholastic17:

I don’t think any Catholic would deny that you are eating the flesh of God and then drinking His blood.

It just sounds funny. Sure, it is a very solemn sacrament, a very blessed sacrament, etc. But still, you gotta laugh at your faith (Whatever faith any individual accepts) occasionally.

Think about it. During the Eucharist, you are eating someone. That is funny.

Consider it this way:

If a Jahovah’s Witness comes to your house right after you get back from the mass:

Jehovah’s Witness: Hey, can i come in and tell you about the awesome ways of Jehovah?

Catholic: Sure, lemme pick my teeth first. I just got finished eating someone.

That is grade A comic material!

Well, I actually have a broad sense of humor (love Family Guy and Mystery Men as well as Monty Python) but no, when it comes to eating My Savior there is nothing funny about it at all. I mean, think about it only for a moment…without His willing to become flesh and blood for us to consume you and I would be damned to hell for eternity. How can that be funny in any way?

Besides, by the time we leave the church after mass our stomach acids and saliva have already consumed the effects of Christ’s body and blood so there would be no remnants on our teeth to pick.

Careful, Scholastic17…making light of something so sacred borders on, if it isn’t directly, taking the Lord’s name in vain.