Holy Communion has nothing to do with the last supper. Wrong teaching by many

[stpurl]

My point was you might want to consider something like, “Protestant Christians think X but Catholic Christians may have a different take”. IOW, you could have phrased it like that and we’d be aware we are all Christians. It isn’t Christians and Catholics as if Catholics are a totally different category from Christians. And if you don’t like Protestant Christian, although it’s been in use for 500 years, you could say mainline Christian. Or nonCatholic. The Catholics were, after all, the main Christian group for some 1500 years of Christianity.

 

[BartholomewB]

The Catholics were, after all, the main Christian group for some 1500 years of Christianity.

I believe we are still, aren’t we? The breakdown I see here is Catholics 50 percent, Protestants 38 percent, Orthodox 12 percent.
https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/50mp

 

[pnewton]

post deleted. Plenty of answers above.

 

[angelic06]

Eucharist , also known as communion is to celebrate Jesus passion in death.

The bread was meant to symbolize Christ’s crucified body, while the wine was meant to symbolize Christ’s blood. Christians believe that Christ’s death on the cross is the means by which salvation is brought to the human race. Therefore, his death on the cross is imbibed with spiritual symbolism.

It’s very poor teaching of leaders who allow christians to think it’s to do with the Last Supper.

This is not the proper Catholic understanding. Our Lord did not say, “Take and eat, this symbolizes my body”. No, he said, "take and eat, this is my body " (Matthew 26:26).

 

[MagdalenaRita]

I think I understand what the OP is saying. Focusing only on the last supper, which has been the main focus for the last several decades, is an incorrect understanding of the Mass. The Mass is not just a communal meal. It needs Calvary or it is just a ceremony.
Sadly, most of the communion songs sung today focus on the Last Supper and forget that there is more to what the Mass is and so many people don’t have a correct understanding. Calvary has been forgotten.

I have always thought this explained it very well, from a 1953 St. Joseph Sunday Missal:

"The Mass commemorates and re-creates two cardinal events in the Life of Christ: the Last Supper and the Sacrifice of the Cross.
The Mass re-enacts what took place at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. At the consecration the priest repeats the words and acts of Jesus our High Priest.
Secondly, the Mass also recalls and sacramentally renews the Sacrifice of the Cross on Good Friday…
in the Mass, Jesus again offers to His Father the suffering and death He endured for us on Calvary."

My own personal opinion also on this topic is that focusing mainly on the Last Supper also takes away an understanding of suffering and our need to take up our own crosses. Part of Jesus’ passion began at the Last Supper when He was betrayed. It is all connected as His Passion.

I hope we can get back to recognizing the Mass as a Sacrifice.

 

[Vico]

…
I hope we can get back to recognizing the Mass as a Sacrifice.

The Catechism affirms what you say.

1330 … The Holy Sacrifice , because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. …

1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit …

 

[Wesrock]

“Do this in memory of me.”

 

[Joe_5859]

We don’t fix faulty understandings by making false assertions in the opposite direction. And the statement “Holy Communion has nothing to do with the Last Supper” is categorically and unquestionably false.

The Paschal Mystery is more than just Christ’s death on the Cross. In the Eucharist, we enter into the Paschal Mystery. Holy Thursday flows into Good Friday, which in turn flows into Easter Sunday. There is no need to compartmentalize them.

The Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a meal. It is linked with both Holy Thursday and Good Friday (and Easter Sunday and Ascension Thursday…).

To not look at the Last Supper in our understanding of the Eucharist would be a great disservice to the Most Holy Sacrament and a great handicap to ourselves.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

The Catechism affirms what you say.

You are correct, it does. We just haven’t heard that so much over the years.

 

[edward_george1]

Hebrews 13, 15 says “Let us then offer up continually the sacrifice of praise, which is fruit of lips that confess his name.” This is the only place in the New Testament that the words “sacrifice of praise” occur, and they are laden with meaning from the Old Testament. The first appearance of the idea is in Leviticus 7. The zebach todah, which we might translate as “thanksgiving sacrifice” or “sacrifice of praise,” (the word “todah” is hard to translate exactly, though modern Hebrew uses it as the word for “thank you.”) consisted of three parts:

1. A bloody animal sacrifice
2. A ritual meal where bread was consumed
3. The singing of Psalms and hymns of praise

The author of Hebrews clearly links this phrase to the Christian Eucharist, and thus

1. the bloody sacrifice is that of Christ on the Cross
2. the ritual meal is the consumption of the Eucharistic bread
3. the singing of Psalms and hymns of praise is the liturgy

Communion has everything to do with the Last Supper, which was the beginning of the original Sacrifice of Praise offered by the Lord, as Communion is our sharing in the sacrifice. The sacrifice is not only one part of those events, the Last Supper or the Cross, but includes all of it. The cup of blessing which we bless is a share in the Cross of Christ, and the way of the Cross begins with the Last Supper.

You’re right that it’s not either/or, it’s all-inclusive.

-Fr ACEGC