Help! "Do this in remembrance of me."

[Verita]

Passage Luke 22:19:

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In a discussion I had with my protestant mother, this verse came up. She insists that there is no reason for “communion” to be understood literally. She says she fulfills what Jesus instructed because every time she has communion she remembers his sacrifice. She is quite hung up on the word “remembrance”.

I’ve read somewhere here that this passage has a deeper meaning than the english word conveys. Anyone able to provide some answers/documentation to this problem?

 

[djrakowski]

Passage Luke 22:19:

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In a discussion I had with my protestant mother, this verse came up. She insists that there is no reason for “communion” to be understood literally. She says she fulfills what Jesus instructed because every time she has communion she remembers his sacrifice. She is quite hung up on the word “remembrance”.

I’ve read somewhere here that this passage has a deeper meaning than the english word conveys. Anyone able to provide some answers/documentation to this problem?

I’ll give it a try

Acts of remembrance are not necessarily acts of symbolism. Considering John 6 in conjunction with this passage from Luke, it could easily be read as “eat my flesh and drink my blood in remembrance of me.” The simple presence of the word “remembrance” doesn’t take away the reality of the act. And even in the passage you included from Luke, it says “this is my body given for you,” and not “this is a symbol of my body, which will be given for you.”

 

[Mickey]

In a discussion I had with my protestant mother, this verse came up. She insists that there is no reason for “communion” to be understood literally. She says she fulfills what Jesus instructed because every time she has communion she remembers his sacrifice. She is quite hung up on the word “remembrance”.

In other words, your dear mother thinks that Jesus Christ is saying, “This is my body, but not really”.

That doesn’t make much sense.

 

[Penitant]

If you want to make an argument about the Eucharist, then John 6 is much stronger. In the Greek, Jesus literally tells us to chew or gnaw on his body.
Furthermore, the first time he speaks about eating his body, many turn away from him, which they would only do if they understood him literally (symbolically ‘eating’ someone’s body is not a hard teaching). However, he doesn’t say “No, I didn’t mean that; I meant this”. Instead, he reiterates what he said, this time with the aforementioned gnawing/chewing – which they definitely would have understood to be literal (Symbolic eating, ok, but symbolic gnawing?).

-Penitant

 

[Vincent]

I’ve read somewhere here that this passage has a deeper meaning than the english word conveys. Anyone able to provide some answers/documentation to this problem?

“Remembrance”/“Memorial” in this context is a “making present” in the here-and-now an event that happened in the past.

In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation 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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1363, emphasis added

 

[Fidelis]

You should find this article from Catholic Answers extremely helpful:

catholic.com/thisrock/2004/0402sbs.asp

 

[MrS]

A few years ago, Gary Michuta (an pretty good apologist in his own) wrote an article in “Hands on Apologetics”, his magazine.

He gave a presentation of the word “…do…” in “Do this in …”

Turns out that a better translation would be “As often as you offer this, offer it in …”

Each time the Greek word is used in Scripture, it is in the context of “offer”… which is what the priests do at the Mass. There is one exception when do means simply to do… in the book of Wisdom, I believe. (But the Protestants tossed that book out )

You can reach Gary at www.handsonapologetics.com if you need more info.

.

 

[jpy15026]

The Greek word used for “rememberence” is actually anamnesis, a word that has no real translation in English. It basically means to “live it again”, or to connect to an eternal event/thing. It definately doesn’t mean to simply remember; the closest we can come is “re-present”, as in “make present again”. Memory is a function very different from anamnesis.

In other words, when the Eucharist is confected at the Mass or Divine Liturgy it’s not a comemoration of the Last Supper, and in fact it’s not even really a new event at all, but rather our participation in the Eucharist that Christ made with his disciples. It’s not so much happening again as it is us going back to be present at that event again, hence “re-present”.

It’s a truly awesome and amazing gift from God, and the words used in the original language of Scripture absolutely attest to its reality. The Mass truly is the most incredible thing on Earth.

ANAMNESIS and Memorial Sacrifice

There is the statement of Jesus concerning anamnesis (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24) which clearly implies the Eucharist is to be a perpetual “memorial sacrifice” given the OT background of the language used:

***Touto poieite eis ton emen anamnesin ***translated "Do this in remembrance of Me"

Poiein(“DO”) has sacrificial overtones. In the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek version of the OT, there are about seventy sacrificial uses of poiein. One example: “*Now this is what you shall OFFER *[Gr poieseis] upon the ALTAR: two lambs a year old, day by day, continually” (see Exodus 29:38).

ANAMNESIS(“REMEMBRANCE”) also has sacrificial overtones. It occurs only eight times in the NT and the Greek OT. All but once (Wisdom 16:6) it is in a sacrificial context: “There is in these SACRIFICES a REMINDER [Gr anamnesis] of sin year after year” (Heb 10:3).

“And you shall put pure frankincense with each row, that it may go with the bread as a MEMORIAL portion [Gr anamnesis] to be OFFERED by fire to the Lord” (Lev 24:7).

“On the day of your gladness…you shall blow over your burnt OFFERINGS and over the SACRIFICES of your peace OFFERINGS; they shall serve you for REMEMBRANCE (Gr anamnesis) before your God” (Num 10:10).

Psalm 38 (39) is titled “A Psalm of David, for the MEMORIAL OFFERING” [Gr anamnesin]. Psalm 70 (71) is titled, “To the choir-master. A Psalm of David, for the MEMORIAL OFFERING” [Gr anamnesin].

In these cases the term ANAMNESIS can be translated as “memorial portion,” “memorial offering,” or “memorial sacrifice.”

Thus in the remaining two occurances of ANAMNESIS (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24), Christ’s words “DO THIS*** in REMEMBRANCE* of Me**,” can be translated as “OFFER THIS for my memorial SACRIFICE.” Given the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, there is little doubt this translation is appropriate. To tell someone, “offer this for my memorial sacrifice” is to direct him to fulfill a priestly function (see Heb 5:1; 8:3).

The Catholic Church has correctly regarded Christ’s words as the institution of the apostles’ priesthood and as the basis for all future priests who offer the Eucharistic sacrifice

 

[Verita]

Wow. Thank you for your responses. There’s a lot of good material there. I knew the people here could help me.

Now the hard part will be getting my mother to understand and accept all of this. She’s a very simple, “all I need is my faith and I don’t need to think about it” type of person.

 

[Axion]

Also: suppose somebody left money in their will and said “Build a house for the poor in remembrance of me?”

Would that mean the house was only to be a symbolic house?