Sharing the body and blood of Christ

[cinderelli]

I understand the Catholics believe that the body and blood of Christ is served during communion, and that it is not just a symbol of such. Wouldn’t Jesus invite everyone to come to the table? The truth is what it is, and sharing the body and blood of Christ with everyone would be a blessing to all. Just my opinion. Thanks.

 

[Brain]

true, he does in fact invite everyone to the table, but you have to be in full alignment with his church first.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

I think Brain means to say that you must be in “communion” with the Church, and really know what is happening when you receive the Eucharist. Here’s a good site on the subject of Holy Communion:

therealpresence.org/eucharst/holycom/holycomm.htm

 

[spetreopn]

St. Paul says that he who does not discern the body and blood of Christ is guilty of body and blood of Christ. It is a sacrilege for someone who does not accept the real presence or is at odds with any other teaching of Christ to receive the Eucharist.

 

[Bud_Stewart]

The following has been taken from the book “Pastoral Answers” by M. Francis Mannion and published by Our Sunday Visitor.

“The Catholic view of Communion is that in the Eucharist we don’t only receive Christ in a personal way. We are also expressing and deepening our commitment to the living Body of Christ, his Church on earth. To receive Communion in the Catholic Church is affirm publicly all that the Catholic Church belies, teaches and does. When we walk to the altar of the Lord in a Catholic Church, we are expressing belief in the Catholic doctrine of the real presence of Christ, in Catholic teaching about the authoritative role of the papacy and the episcopacy, in the Catholic moral tradition - in short, in the whole of Catholicism.”

This is why it is not proper for the Church to offer the Eucharist to non-Catholics. It is not out of a lack of charity. We as Catholics wish that all could truly participate in the Eucharist, but as this excerpt clearly points out, this evolves more that just cuing up in Communion Line.

 

[Apostle6]

Cinderelli,

I am a Catholic and I believe that it is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ in both the body and blood forms that we receive. When I receive these as a sacrament, I say Amen and that signifies that I believe that what I am receiving is his body and blood and that I am in communion with the Church. If you are not Catholic, for example a Methodist, and you don’t believe what I stated above, why would you want to receive the sacrament? By receiving it (with the Amen) you are stating that you believe what I believe and are in communion with the Catholic Church.There would be little or no reason for you to be Methodist then since they believe that it is just a symbol.