Help Answering a Question About the Eucharist?

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Shannon_Moore

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Recently, I have been talking to one of my friends about religion. He is Presbyterian, and I am Catholic. He made a statement about the Eucharist that I know is not really true, but I don’t know how to explain why it is wrong. He said that the Eucharist is the equivalent of killing Jesus again. I know that the Eucharist was given to us by Jesus himself, but I feel that I need a more solid explanation. Help please?
 
I’m not sure I can be of help but a number of years ago I made a one-day retreat on the Eucharist given by Fr. Ron Rolheiser and I was so inspired that I try to go to Mass every day to receive the Eucharist so that Jesus can be with me every moment of the day. I’ll try to quote some of the things Fr. Rolheiser said: “the Eucharist is the body of Christ, a continuation of the Incarnation, and, like Jesus’ birth, is meant to bring the divine into concrete, everyday life…the Eucharist is meant simply to be a family meal, a community celebration, a place, where we come together to be with each other, to share ordinary life, to c elebrate special events with each other…When Jesus gave us the Eucharist, he intended it to be a ritual that invites us to come together as a family in every circumstance of our lives…”
I might suggest you try to get a book by Fr. Rolheiser – he is totally inspiring and will give you many ideas so you can deal with your friend.
 
God is outside of time. The Eucharistic celebration is the same exact moment when Jesus offered His life for others. We are present at His one crucifixion in the Mass. Hopefully someone else will be able to explain this mystery better.
 
Stylites is right. Also, you could always ask your Presbyterian friend to re-read John 6 and explain what that was supposed to mean. If nothing else it should be amusing to see how he (like many other Protestants) fumble with that chapter of John trying to turn a circle into a square. Also, what of the last supper accounts in the Gospels? Or the warning of Saint Paul gave to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32. If the Eucharist were merely symbolic then Saint Paul would not have been so adamant about proper reception of it, nor would he have made reference to Christ’s words at the last supper concerning this being His Body and Blood. Lastly, though I know that most Protestants won’t accept anything outside of the Bible itself as authoritative, perhaps try to have your friend consider the Didache which was written in the first century and explains the celebration of the early Mass.
 
jtodisco said:
Stylites is right. Also, you could always ask your Presbyterian friend to re-read John 6 and explain what that was supposed to mean. If nothing else it should be amusing to see how he (like many other Protestants) fumble with that chapter of John trying to turn a circle into a square. Also, what of the last supper accounts in the Gospels? Or the warning of Saint Paul gave to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32. If the Eucharist were merely symbolic then Saint Paul would not have been so adamant about proper reception of it, nor would he have made reference to Christ’s words at the last supper concerning this being His Body and Blood. Lastly, though I know that most Protestants won’t accept anything outside of the Bible itself as authoritative, perhaps try to have your friend consider the Didache which was written in the first century and explains the celebration of the early Mass.
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Hee hee I love your sig pic. Looks quite nice. 👍
 
Shannon Moore,

I am going to post 2 different posts as I am citing from two lengthy sources. I hope this helps. The first source is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Paragraph 1362 - The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharastic Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.

1363 - In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamtion of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.

1364 - In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrated the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. [Hebrews 7:25-27] “As often as is the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celeberated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out.”

1365 - Because it is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: “This is my body which is given for you.” and “This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood.” In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he “poured out for many for the forgivenss of sins.”

1366 - THE EUCHARIST IS THUS A SACRIFICE BECUASE IT RE-PRESENTS [MAKES PRESENT] THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS , because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit [It gives a quote that I omit here.]

1367 - The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are ONE SINGLE SACRIFICE: :“The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offerred himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner… this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.
Paragraphs 1366-1367 are really good ones. I may not post the second source after all, but I will go ahead and read through to see if it would be helpful here.

Hope this helps.

God bless.
 
Shannon_Moore said:
Recently, I have been talking to one of my friends about religion. He is Presbyterian, and I am Catholic. He made a statement about the Eucharist that I know is not really true, but I don’t know how to explain why it is wrong. He said that the Eucharist is the equivalent of killing Jesus again. I know that the Eucharist was given to us by Jesus himself, but I feel that I need a more solid explanation. Help please?
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The Mass is the unbloody offering of Jesus to the Father, along with ourselves and our intentions. Jesus, Himself, said, “Do this in memory of Me.” It is also a banquet in which we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, and become one with Him.
 
Shannon_Moore said:
Recently, I have been talking to one of my friends about religion. He is Presbyterian, and I am Catholic. He made a statement about the Eucharist that I know is not really true, but I don’t know how to explain why it is wrong. He said that the Eucharist is the equivalent of killing Jesus again. I know that the Eucharist was given to us by Jesus himself, but I feel that I need a more solid explanation. Help please?
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Protestants have accused Catholics of “crucifying Christ over and over again” for the last 500 years – which is as long as Protestants have existed.

They fail to understand that the Crucifixion is outside time. It is eternal. It is re-presented (made present again) in every Mass.

The Greek word translated into English as “remembrance,” or “memory.” or “memorial” is anamnesis, which means not merely to recall an event, like we remember our birthdays, for example, but to “make it happen again.” Jesus said “Do THIS in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19); that is, ‘change bread and wine into my Body and Blood.’

CCC 1104 Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.

CCC 1106 . . . You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine … the Blood of Christ. I shall tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them … and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought. . .Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh. [St. John Damascene]

This is His way of remaining with us, abiding in us and we in him (John 6:56), forever, until the end of time.

Read the Catechism 1103-1109, 1354, 1362

To believe as the Apostles believed and taught, be Catholic. The Catholic Church is God-made. All Protestant ecclesial communities (there is only one Church) are man-made.

Your friend the Presbyterian belongs to a tradition begun by John Calvin in Switzerland and perpetuated by John Knox in Scotland in the 16th century. They have lost touch with original Christianity and rely upon their own interpretation of the New Testament (which was written by the Catholic Church) for what they believe is true. They are their own authority.

To a Presbyterian the Eucharist is “spiritual.” Well, yes. But it is more – it is truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed” John 6:53-55.

Peace, Jim Dandy
Former Protestant
 
Shannon,

I am going to to ahead and type this out. I am pulling this from Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Dr. Ludwig Ott. He goes into it extensively, so I will try to simplify and make it as conscise as I can.

There are 2 De Fide dogmas I want to share with their accompanying explanations.

1st one.

** In the Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross is made present, its memory is celebrated, and it saving power is applied. [DE FIDE]**

While the Sacrifice on the Cross is an ABSOLUTE SACRIFICE, as it is neither the commermoration of a past sacrifice nor the archetype of a future sacrifice, the Sacrifice of the Mass is a RELATIVE SACRIFICE, as it is essentially linked to the Sacrifice on the Cross. The Council of Trent teaches: Christ left a visible Sacrifice to His Church: “in which that bloddy sacrifice which was once offered on the Cross should be made present, its memory preserved to the end of the world, and its salvation-bringing power applied to the forgiveness of the sins which are daily coommitted by us.”

[The next praragraph was consisely explained by the CCC quotes I have, so for sake of brevity and simplicity I pass over it.]

It follows from the relativity of the Sacrifice of the Mass that it in no way detracts from the Sacrifice of the Corss. The Sacrifice of the Mass draws its whole power form the Sacrifice of the Cross, whose fruits it applies to individual men.

2nd Dogma

In the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Sacrifice of the Cross the Sacrificial Gift and the Primary Sacrificing Priest are identical; only the nature and mode of the offering are different. [DE FIDE]

The Council of Trent declared: He is the Same Who now offers Himself through the ministry of His priests and Who then by Himself offered Himself on the Corss. The difference lies soley in the mode of offering.

The sacrificial gift is the Body and Blood of Christ, and by concomitance, the whole God-Man Jesus Christ. The sacramental species confer a sensible presence on the sacrifical gift, but do not themselves belong to the sacrifical gift. The Primary Sacrificing Priest is Jesus Christ, who utlises the human priest as His servant and represetntative and fulfils the consecration through him. According to the Thomistic view, in every Mass Christ also performs an actual immediate sacrifical activity, which, however must not be conceived as a totality of mnay successive acts, BUT AS ONE SINGLE UNINTERRUPTED SACRIFICAL ACT OF THE TRANSFIGURED CHRIST.

The purpose of the Sacrifice is the SAME in the Sacrifice of the Mass as in the Sacrifice of the Cross ; PRIMARILY THE GLORIFCATION OF GOD, SECONDARILY ATONEMNET THANKSGIVING, AND APPEAL.

While the sacrifical gift and the Primary Sacrificng Priest are numerically identical, the outward sacrifical action is numerically and specifically distinct. On the Cross the sacrifical gift was offered in a bloody manner by a real separation of the body and blood [immolatio realis], in the Holy Mass it is offered in an unbloody manner by a mystical separation of the body and blood [immolatio mystica.]
Hope this helps. God bless.
 
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