In Memory of Me

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Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”. How do I explain the reason for we as Catholics take it literally?

Thanks again!
Tony
 
You could point to John chapter 6, in which Christ said “My body is real food, and My blood is real drink.”
He emphasized this with repetition when those listening argued about it.
He emphasized it to the point that many of His followers left Him over it.
When they did, He didn’t stop them, didn’t call them back to explain that He meant it symbolically.
Instead, He turned to the Twelve and asked them if they also would leave.
Which implies that He would have let them go rather than say He was speaking symbolically.
 
Jesus calls Himself the bread of life and says unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life within you. There are about 12 references like this in the bible. Nowhere does Jesus say it means symbolically. He lets people leave rather than explain it’s just a symbol. Jesus cannot lie. Therefore, He meant what He said.
Also, the words originally used would more correctly be translated as a representation, rather than a simple symbolic memorial ceremony.
Another thing i would point out is that Adam and Eve ate the bad fruit from the tree of knowledge. We have to eat the fruit of Mary’s womb, the bread of life, to correct this. Adam and Eve didn’t symbolically sin, they actually did it. Unless we’re just symbolically kicked out of the garden. This doesn’t feel like paradise to me, though.
There are other threads on this subject, too.
 
Read the early church. The ones that were taught by the apostles themselves. They say it was his actual body and blood.
 
I ran across this article years ago. I’m not sure of the author, but he explains it rather well:
Finally, 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). So 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.
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tparsons said:
Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”.
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So his contention is that if I sit down and drink a shot of whiskey in memory of a deceased friend, I’m not really drinking a shot of whiskey?

– Mark L. Chance.
 
tparsons said:
Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”. How do I explain the reason for we as Catholics take it literally?

Thanks again!
Tony
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Suppose that your favorite Grandmother said to you on her deathbed, “My child, each year, on the anniversary of my death, please bring a bouquet of daisies and place them on my grave. Do this in memory of me.”

Would you then say to yourself in years to come, “We don’t really want to drive all the way over to the cemetary just to put a few flowers of Granny’s grave. Let’s all just take a moment of silence to mentally place some flowers in memory of her.”

Would you really being doing what she asked that way?
 
I have also heard that to Jewish folks of the day, doing something in memory of me was the same as stepping back in time to the very instance that the act took place. It is the same as the Jewish folks at Passover. They believe that they are in fact celebrating the Passover with Moses when they do it in “memory”.
 
Father Corapi says some Christians remember Jesus in their communion service. Catholics enter into the new and everlasting covenant with the eucharist.

Another response I heard on Catholic radio spoke of the difference between a Jewish “rememberance” and remembering in the modern day sense. A modern day couple may “think of” (remember) an event such as a wedding by looking at wedding photos, etc. vs. renewing wedding vows.

Another response I heard and liked was how devout Jews view Passover. At each passover meal, they are present at the Passover, not just re-enacting it.

Fr. Groeschel says you kill faith a little more each time you try to remove the mystery from Christianity.

The link in my signature (which changes often) has loads of information from Protestants and Catholics compiled by Dave Armstrong concerning the causes of disunity in Christianity.
 
tparsons said:
Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”. How do I explain the reason for we as Catholics take it literally?
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Your friend’s reasoning makes no sense. Christ says “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.” So, Christ is clearly present in some form even when they are taking their symbolic communion. Therefore, “in memory” does not mean that Christ is not present, even in the Baptist understanding. Heck, just ask them “Is Christ present at your Baptist worship service?” You know darn well what they’ll say! 🙂

So what they are really arguing is that that somehow “in memory” means that Christ is truly present, but He is not substantially present in the Eucharist. Now, how in the world can “in memory” be understood to mean that Christ is truly present, but not substantially present? Ask them that question – they won’t be able to give an answer.
 
tparsons said:
Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”. How do I explain the reason for we as Catholics take it literally?

Thanks again!
Tony
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This was a major road block in my last conversation about the Eucharist with my non-denom mother. She repeated “in memory” and “remembrance” to show me that clearly it isn’t something physical, but just spiritual. After that conversation (it’s always after that you come up with the really good arguments) I found 1Corinthians 10:16-21.

16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons

Here the word used is “participation” and it is emphasized over and over. Ask him which is correct. 🙂
 
Memory…ability to remember, act of remembering.

Symbolic…Used as a symbol; Symbol…something that stands for or represents something else.

Every time we have Communion we are doing it in memory of him just as the bible says. Your friend is trying to insert the word “symbolic” in place of memory to say that the wine and bread were not actually the flesh and blood of Jesus. Jesus said “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood”. Everyone knew what he meant that’s why some left because they could not accept this teaching. Your friend cannot accept it either.
 
tparsons said:
Should have been in my last thread. My Baptist friend also said that the reason they take communion as symbolic is because Jesus said “Do this in MEMORY of me”. How do I explain the reason for we as Catholics take it literally?

Thanks again!
Tony
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You have gotten a lot of good answers here. The Scripture describing the Last Supper is not enough for many to understand about the true nature of the Eucharist.

But, Jesus gave a very explicit message in the Bread of Life Discourse, in John 6:26-59. Sadly, it is ignored.
 
Dorothy said:
But, Jesus gave a very explicit message in the Bread of Life Discourse, in John 6:26-59. Sadly, it is ignored.
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In all three Gospels that recount the Last Supper’s meal, Jesus said of the bread after he blessed it, “This is my body.” He commanded the Apostles to take his body and eat it. When Jesus said, “Do this is memory of me,” the “this” to which he was referring was taking and eating his body.

There’s another thread asking if Protestants teach the same Gospel as the Church. The answer is yes, but the Protestant’s Gospel is always incomplete.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
To All!!!
Thanks for all the insight…I appreciate all the help!

Tony
 
Randy_Carson said:
Suppose that your favorite Grandmother said to you on her deathbed, “My child, each year, on the anniversary of my death, please bring a bouquet of daisies and place them on my grave. Do this in memory of me.”

Would you then say to yourself in years to come, “We don’t really want to drive all the way over to the cemetary just to put a few flowers of Granny’s grave. Let’s all just take a moment of silence to mentally place some flowers in memory of her.”

Would you really being doing what she asked that way?
Click to expand...
I really like this explanation.
 
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