I believe what Jesus said to His disciples at the Last Supper. ‘Take this and eat for this is My Body, Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying," Drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood, the Blood of the new covenant, which will be shed on behalf of ,many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of Me’. The last sentence Jesus spoke here instituted the Sacrament. As Jesus gave this to his apostles and they in His name gave it freely to others, so it came to Paul and to us. St. Paul did not invent the taking of Bread and the drinking of Wine which was leading up to the suffering of Christ, and of course what we remember every time we go to Mass and take Communion. .
The Church was already practicing the breaking of bread in Acts. And even if Paul had a clear vision of God’s will given to him on the matter, so what?
Great point! I can’t see a reason for Jesus to give Paul a revelation to initiate something that at best was something the twelve were supposed to do, at worst is a historical lie about a central event of Christian Worship.
No doubt the first communion formed immediately, or very soon after Pentecost. No way did the Mass not originate from the Apostles who heard the voice of Our Lord make the command. These to experienced the Real Presence. They weren’t ignorant of what was happening when they Consecrated the bread and wine. There was no need for more than a simple understanding of the Eucharist at that time, because they experienced it as real. There were no abuses no misunderstanding
I think it possible that St. Paul answered a need to expand and articulate the Real Presence to growing communities that needed a more developed catachesis and his unique way of understanding and communicating the divine mysteries were incorporated into the words of Consecration.
Maybe those are the words that eventually influenced Mark and Luke when they wrote their accounts of the last supper. The influence this scholar argues as evidence that St Paul invented the Eucharist. And his final comments, a statement claiming that Jesus wouldn’t institute a rite of drinking His blood and eating His flesh. No Jew would do that. Sheesh.
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