Is the Sacrament of the Eucharist necessary to be a part of the Body of Christ

[rightness]

Jesus himself basically said it’s important, so it’s really nothing to argue about.

John 6,54-56:

54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. 55 My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them.

Yeah, even though I’m not arguing for salvation, Jesus does say this in the Bread of Life discourse. Baptism washes away Original Sin and allows for the other Sacraments to enter us, but it’s the Eucharist that truly unites us with Christ. I was thinking of how to put it, and I think this is the best I can come up with: Baptism is declaring your marriage vows, by being united as one through God’s Graces, but the Eucharist is acting on those marriage vows, the physical act of uniting flesh, body and spirit.

Jesus, in all of His Godly wisdom, has a way to unite with us in the same way as a marital conjugal act, and that is through eating His flesh.

 

[Rob2]

Through Baptism we become members of Christ (Catechism)

Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ (Catechism)

A person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ (Catechism)

 

[Saint_Prince_Caspian]

To be Christian is to be a follower of Christ and His Disciple. Partly people can in some truth be apart of His Body. In a disconnected reality. In a disconnected way. But they are not incorporated into His Body.

If you bear someone’s last name, but were adopted. You could deduce you were not incorporated through the reality of the two (man and woman) becoming one flesh. But adopted by them.

But then again, what about Saint Joseph? He did not receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist, of Christ. Yet, he did receive Him as his Son, by what way? Adoption!

How does that reconcile?

Because, when you eat and drink the body and blood, you are becoming Christ-like. Or Persona Christie. Thus, when people speak to you, welcome you. They are receiving Christ by-proxy.

But if they reject you for the Eucharist? Then know they rejected Him in the same manner and way.

Thus, do they reject Christ. And even then there’s ignorance. For Christ, in the manner of rejection said Crucified: “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Thus, it is still possible for them to receive Christ by all that He taught and did for Salvation.

Thus, yes, it is necessary for the Eucharist to be not just part of the His Body, but in His Body. As incorporated into His Presence. And accepting even that by-proxy of the Church. Even the avenue of Scripture can by-proxy be the reception of Christ. In so far as the soul accepts Him as He stood on earth. And everything He said, taught, and did. Which means the Eucharist.

Someone could be dying, come to realize this. And didn’t have time to go through the Rites of Initiation. Is he lost? No! Because, as Christ said to His Father to forgive them. Remember, us finite human beings, slow witted, and less like being child-like as we get older. Thus, finding it hard to accept what Christ said, taught, and did to fullest sense.

To answer your question further. Is the Sacrament of the Eucharist necessary to be a part of the Body of Christ? Yes. But it works in many channels and extraordinary ways as Christ’s own life represents through the Gospel. A channel, a doorway of Hope. It is just the acceptance of the Eucharist people must accept. Which means subjecting one’s pride in humility to the Humility of God’s Presence in the Holy Eucharist.

 

[Rob2]

But they are not incorporated into His Body.

That is wrong .

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches very clearly "A person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ"

 

[HeDa]

I’m aware of CCC 1267 also teaching what you just said. I’m just doing some thinking into what the Eucharist means at a deeper level, and how it applies to protestants thinking they are already Catholic, using the Body of Christ in a broader sense, therefore they don’t have to follow the Catholic Church. What separates Catholics and Protestants is the Eucharist, but are Protestants a part of the Body of Christ in a spiritual sense whereas we are literally a part of the Body of Christ.

This is a mystery that I’m raising, though I certainly have no problem with Protestants being a part of us, even though they are separated brothers and sisters. I’m just figuring out how to elevate the Sacrament of the Eucharist in a way that makes it necessary for them to partake in Jesus’s Body and Blood.

The Catholic Church is talking about the communion of all baptised into Christ and that includes protestants of all kinds. Being in full communion with the Catholic Church is being a baptised Catholic. Those protestants who have been received into the Catholic Church are in full communion = in unity, as they are baptised and Catholic.

 

[Saint_Prince_Caspian]

[First]
I though should had referred to Baptism. That’s me being poorly Catechized.

But, nevertheless, Baptism is not the fulfillment of the Sacrifice which Christ would endure. Revelation depicts the Lamb for which was slain. The necessity of the Sacrifice for expiation of sins. Penance was observed through the baptism of Saint John the Baptist. But was elevated through Christ’s Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. The regenerative affects of His Baptism.

The necessity of the Sacrifice follows. For if Christ did not suffer death. Baptism would be unfulfilled. The Our Father: forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. That is key. Because, it is through the expiation of Christ’s Sacrifice of Mercy, that then we partake and forgive others their sins. Without the Lamb being slain. Thus, Baptism has no affect, except for being forgiven. Even if you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. You still can fall into sin. The Grave sins which sever the soul from Christ’s body. Thus, to make recompense. The sinner though falls continually through the Happy fault of Adam, may address in Confession, receive Absolution, restored to his state once before he fell from the regenerative state of Baptism.

You can be in the state of Baptism as long as you receive Confession, whilst you may have fallen into Mortal sin.

If you are in the state of Baptism, but deny Christ’s Soul, Body, Blood, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. You are in contempt. Because, to deny His Sacrifice, means there wasn’t satisfaction due to the transgressions and sins of men through expiation of sin through His Sacrifice.

You must receive Baptism in order to receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist (the Lamb Who for which was slain.) And, it is of necessity for Baptism to be there to receive He Who was slain for expiation of sins, the Sacrifice. Both/and.

Can Christ, though Who was slain, His Body be both where the soul is in Hell from grave mortal wound of sin, and yet be in the Heavenly state of Grace? I fear not!

Thus, you are outside the Body of Christ when you lose the comforts of Baptism. Thus the everlasting horrors of Hell persist.

 

[rightness]

Through Baptism we become members of Christ (Catechism)

Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ (Catechism)

A person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ (Catechism)

Again, I already spoke using the Catechism…
Catechism of the Catholic Church 790:

Believers who respond to God’s word and become members of Christ’s Body, become intimately united with him: “In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification.” This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the Lord, . . . we are taken up into communion with him and with one another."

Catechism of the Catholic Church 793:

Christ unites us with his Passover : all his members must strive to resemble him, “until Christ be formed” in them. “For this reason we . . . are taken up into the mysteries of his life, . . . associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1329:

The Lord’s Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The Breaking of Bread , because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, above all at the Last Supper. It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.

The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis) , because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1331:

Holy Communion , because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ , who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body . (Catechism 1331)

The Catechism has much more explicit language of unity and communion with the Body of Christ through the Eucharist, especially 790, which says we’re united to Him through Baptism, and we’re REALLY sharing in the Body of the Lord through the Eucharist, taken up into communion with Him and with one another.

 

[sevenswords]

some decent replies here!
I like this, A rich man approached Jesus and said master what must i do to be saved, and Jesus replied you must follow the commandments, and the rich man replied I have done that from my youth, very well said Jesus go sell all you own and give it to the poor then come follow me and be perfect . the rich man skulked away.

So you can be saved by the law( or Christians by the word) or you can have perfection in Christ. Jesus is the word so he can be received that way, think also about the many holy people hermits and such that have spent years in solitude away from the Eucharist with only the word of God for bread and the many good Holy Protestants and other denominations that have not received him, they have refused perfection in a sense but are saved through the law/word.
To say you have to have Christ in full is wrong as many many have died without eating his flesh and drinking his blood yet have lived the Christian life of Mercy and Love, some better than Christians who receive Christ!. We are saved through Christ but Christ is not only present on earth and in life he is present in everything and in death. One can be saved through Christ at death or after death. The greater the sinner the more demands they can make on his mercy.

So we are saved through baptism and made perfect in the Eucharist

 

[rightness]

some decent replies here!
I like this, A rich man approached Jesus and said master what must i do to be saved, and Jesus replied you must follow the commandments, and the rich man replied I have done that from my youth, very well said Jesus go sell all you own and give it to the poor then come follow me and be perfect . the rich man skulked away.

So you can be saved by the law( or Christians by the word) or you can have perfection in Christ. Jesus is the word so he can be received that way, think also about the many holy people hermits and such that have spent years in solitude away from the Eucharist with only the word of God for bread and the many good Holy Protestants and other denominations that have not received him, they have refused perfection in a sense but are saved through the law/word.
To say you have to have Christ in full is wrong as many many have died without eating his flesh and drinking his blood yet have lived the Christian life of Mercy and Love, some better than Christians who receive Christ!. We are saved through Christ but Christ is not only present on earth and in life he is present in everything and in death. One can be saved through Christ at death or after death. The greater the sinner the more demands they can make on his mercy.

So we are saved through baptism and made perfect in the Eucharist

I just want to add something, and not saying you’re mistaken, but I’ve been reading about the history of the Catholic Church. This is in regards to your idea of holy people, hermits, live without the Eucharist. It may have been true when Monasticism first started in the 3rd century with St. Anthony (and some scholars even say that St. Anthony had bread with him), but in actuality, the monastic life became a communal life of monks of men and women who would reduce their life to prayer and celebrating the Eucharist. The Eucharist is absolutely necessary, even for those leading a Monastic life, like how a cloistered monastery of nuns will still have a priest to be able to administer the Sacraments.

I lived a good amount of time apart from the Mass relying on the Word of God, but I always knew that belief isn’t enough because it’s easier to fall away without the community that is represented in the Eucharist. God wants us to be a family, and nothing does that better than a family meal, that’s why God was so specific about the Passover and the 10th Plague because it promoted family unity, then Jesus took that and made it a universal family.

 

[sevenswords]

I am never frightened of correction, so don’t worry about that!
Your right of course about hermits, yet there are still some that live in solitude, more so probably in the eastern church.
For me the Eucharist is our invitation to perfection, to draw closer to God and bind our hearts minds and soul to Christ in union with his sacrifice. It is our invitation to be like him in all things and a way to help us carry our cross daily. We are on a Pilgrimage and it is our food for the journey, but my point is that outside of that there is Justice and Mercy and that means salvation for the soul who by choice of not has not eaten the flesh of Christ.
Baptism is necessary for eternal life just as the rich man was saved through his works yet he never reached that perfect union with Christ because he let the world steal his heart . The Eucharist is salvation but also perfection and only a person in the state of grace can eat of it, so many who are not in this state and outside of the church are not free to partake so most depend on Mercy and Justice for salvation. "Every sin shall be forgiven accept Blashemy of the Holy Spirit, so there is Hope for all who live a good life and long for Mercy and Justice in their hearts because they can not long for them if Love and Mercy are not present in them.
I hope that makes sense, God Bless.

 

[Saint_Prince_Caspian]

But when they die, the Lamb that was slain will be seen. And then they shall receive Him. Thus, receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

If anyone rejects the Lamb after Death, thus the necessary Sacrifice. Then they won’t be in Heaven. Because, sin is universal and shared by all. Baptism is the aide which the soul see’s clearly the Sacrifice of Christ by, and must accept Him.

Many holy men like the Pharisee’s though they were holy. But, they did not believe in the Blessed Sacrament. Nor did they believe in Christ as the Only Begotten Son of God, Who for was going to be slain. The Paschal Lamb. Thus, they rejected Him.

Hermits did not discount the Sacrifice, and the requisite necessity of Christ’s suffering on the Cross.

Again, people by not fault of their own. Not being able to receive or perhaps being Baptized. Are not necessary partakers of Hell, but Heaven. Christ is the high Priest in the Order of Melchizedek. And the Lamb Who was slain. Thus, every soul will know the necessity of the Lamb through suffering due to sin. Thus, the necessity of expiation of that sin through Him. The necessity and fulfillment of sin through suffering. For which the Lamb of God Who was slain.

All will see the Lamb. All will see the wounds of Christ in Heaven. All souls will take account and witness before Him. And see, as Saint Thomas the Apostle did. Wherefore He touched the wounds of Christ, the Lamb for Whom was slain, saying: “My Lord, and my God!”

Thus, that still takes witness and reception of the Holy Sacrifice which we share in the Mass. The Holy Eucharist. All will see.

 

[sevenswords]

Yes I agree that salvation is not determined by this life alone as Christ told us when he said all sins will be forgiven in this life or the next and more.
maybe I’m wrong and these hermits had eternal bread with them???. Anyway I hope and I pray that all men will be saved and forgiven. God bless

 

[Saint_Prince_Caspian]

I also meant to say: All will believe.