Sacramentally Present

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Faith1960

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What does it mean when they say Jesus is “sacramentally present” in the Eucharist?
 
Faith1960 said:
Anyone who says it. :rolleyes:
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Sacramental presence is a mode of being present that differs from mere symbolic presence (i.e., sacramental presence is Real presence) but also differs from the manner in which ordinary objects are present and extended in space (e.g., so that if you cut the object in half, you cut what is present in half). Christ is not present in this manner (e.g., if you break a host in half, you have not broken Christ in half).

Because the mode of Christ’s presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist differs from the other familiar modes in which a thing can be present, the term “sacramental presence” is often used to refer to it.

Honestly i’m not a fan of the term but it is acceptable.
 
This was discussed at some length, last month, on a thread entitled “What does it mean that Jesus is not literally but rather sacramentally present in the Eucharist?” on the Liturgy and Sacraments forum. Two posters in particular address the reason for using the term “sacramentally present”: Brendan (#10) and Vico (#36).

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=342340
 
What I remember from the CCC, Sacrament means union with Christ as the head of the Church and it’s members. I guess that’s what it means, we join with Christ and all other members of the Church.
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in the Eucharist, is the most awesome Gift to us!!!
 
BartholomewB said:
This was discussed at some length, last month, on a thread entitled “What does it mean that Jesus is not literally but rather sacramentally present in the Eucharist?” on the Liturgy and Sacraments forum. Two posters in particular address the reason for using the term “sacramentally present”: Brendan (#10) and Vico (#36).

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=342340
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I participated in that thread…and I still don’t get it. :confused:
 
Dear Faith,

Can you believe it even if you don’t “get it”? Theology is difficult to wrap one’s mind around – it is not like science, it is supernatural.

Jesus told us that He is the Living Bread come down from Heaven. He comes to each one of us individually in the extraordinary sacrament of the Eucharist.

In John 6 He explained all of that to the disciples.

Peace and all good things to you,

Dorothy
 
Dorothy said:
Dear Faith,

Can you believe it even if you don’t “get it”? Theology is difficult to wrap one’s mind around – it is not like science, it is supernatural.

Jesus told us that He is the Living Bread come down from Heaven. He comes to each one of us individually in the extraordinary sacrament of the Eucharist.

In John 6 He explained all of that to the disciples.

Peace and all good things to you,

Dorothy
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I don’t know…it seems like there’s something I’m missing and when I read it, it’ll make sense to me.
 
Faith1960 said:
I don’t know…it seems like there’s something I’m missing and when I read it, it’ll make sense to me.
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I believe if you keep asking our Blessed Mother for help in understanding she will get it for you!
 
Latin sacramentum is literally translated to “mystery” in English, and we transliterate it to say “Sacrament”.
A mystery, for the Church, is something that you can only know is true by revelation from God that “This is the way it is”. Once you know it is true (faith accepts words from God, from Jesus and his Church), then you can also come to various levels of understanding about it also, but whether or not it is real is all a matter of taking God (Christ and his Church) at His word, trusting Him.

So, Jesus tells his disciple that “This is my body, given for you; take and eat”, and they do, they take and eat. Then he tells them to do it, and as often as they do it, do it in re-membrance of him. So they do this also, even today, and you then hear Jesus saying it to you, “This is my Body, take and eat”. And you do, you take and eat what he gives you with his words ringing in your ears. You may also have other words of his ringing in your ears, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day”

Mystery, - is it true? well, “to whom shall we go?” Jesus has the words of eternal life, so we stick with him and eat what he hands us and believe his words.

Now, there are explanations of Jesus’ sacramental presence - transubstantiation. The substance of what we are being handed has become the substance of his body. The substance of something is what it really is, no matter what it appears to be. We normally can guess a substance by what it looks like, so we “intuit” the substance based on what we see. If you close your eyes and someone says “I am going to give you salt in your hand”, you would know what substance you are receiving by their word, and accept “salt” substance. If the person is beyond reproach, you really would have salt in your hand, while a trickster might give you sugar. Jesus is beyond reproach, he is God with us. So, try closing your eyes at the next mass and hear Jesus by the mouth of your pastor say, “This is my body, my flesh, for you, take it and eat it; I will abide in you and you will abide in me.”
 
you must understand substance and accidents to understand the Eucharist

the substance, simply what a thing is, for the Eucharist is Jesus

the accidents, what explains a thing, is the qualities of bread and wine.

to put it simpler, the Eucharist looks and tastes like bread, but it is Jesus.
 
catholictiger said:
you must understand substance and accidents to understand the Eucharist

the substance, simply what a thing is, for the Eucharist is Jesus

the accidents, what explains a thing, is the qualities of bread and wine.

to put it simpler, the Eucharist looks and tastes like bread, but it is Jesus.
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I know that, and I also know that the Eucharist is sacrament. I just don’t know what it means when we say Jesus is sacramental present. Maybe I don’t understand the definition if sacrament?
 
It means “physically present except that we cannot perceive Jesus accidents with our senses.” He is wholly and completely present, body and soul. But we can only perceive the appearances of bread and wine. Please let’s not start another long thread on this.
 
JimG said:
It means “physically present except that we cannot perceive Jesus accidents with our senses.” He is wholly and completely present, body and soul. But we can only perceive the appearances of bread and wine. Please let’s not start another long thread on this.
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With all due respect, if you don’t want to read a long thread about this, you have the option to skip it.
 
Faith1960 said:
With all due respect, if you don’t want to read a long thread about this, you have the option to skip it.
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That’s true, long threads will carry on whether or not I approve or not! And that’s a good thing!

But books and books have been written about the Eucharist. I’m not sure we can add anything to it. Jesus is wholly and entirely present. As far as I can see, the reason for using the word “sacramental” is to distinguish his presence from either “physical” or “spiritual.” It isn’t physical only because we don’t perceive his appearances. It is ‘physical’ in the sense that he is all there, completely. Not just in a ‘spiritual’ manner. Not in a miniaturized form. We don’t receive a little piece of Jesus; we receive all of him. And he is present under the appearances of bread and wine but not ‘in’ them. When we break the host, we don’t break Jesus. I guess I’d better stop there.
 
Faith1960 said:
I know that, and I also know that the Eucharist is sacrament. I just don’t know what it means when we say Jesus is sacramental present. Maybe I don’t understand the definition if sacrament?
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basically a Sacrament is a sign, an object, word, etc. that points to something else. You know to stop at a stop sign because the stop sign points to the action of stopping so you stop.

Sacraments point to certain actions in our spiritual lives, for example Baptism points to the cleansing of sin, the water, which cleanses points to forgiveness of sins. What makes sacraments different is that the sacrament actually takes on what it signifies. So Baptism both signifies and actually cleanses us of our sins. The Eucharist therefore both signifies and actually is the Body and Blood of Christ, just as he said at the last supper.

To put it simply what it means to be sacramentally present is that the bread and wine take on and signify Christ.

hope this helps.
 
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