The Holy Eucharist

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lathrokl

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I have been a Catholic all of my life. My wife is going through RCIA classes to convert to the Catholic faith. We are going to be married in the Catholic Church once my wife finishes the classes. She is too shy to bring this topic up in the classes.

My wife is confused over what it means when the bread and wine become (literally), the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. She is having a hard time understanding this and how this is not like canabalism. Literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Just like eating a human. (She means well, just lacks understanding.) My wife is converting from a protestant background where she has been taught the bread and wine are taken symbolically.

I have tried to explain it with no success. Can anyone give some more in-depth understanding into the Eucharist
and to give more insight that this is not canabalism and what to truly believe in this, so it is easier for her to understand?
 
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lathrokl:
I have been a Catholic all of my life. My wife is going through RCIA classes to convert to the Catholic faith. We are going to be married in the Catholic Church once my wife finishes the classes. She is too shy to bring this topic up in the classes.

My wife is confused over what it means when the bread and wine become (literally), the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. She is having a hard time understanding this and how this is not like canabalism. Literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Just like eating a human. (She means well, just lacks understanding.) My wife is converting from a protestant background where she has been taught the bread and wine are taken symbolically.

I have tried to explain it with no success. Can anyone give some more in-depth understanding into the Eucharist
and to give more insight that this is not canabalism and what to truly believe in this, so it is easier for her to understand?
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Well, first of all, if a person thinks it is cannabalism, then how does doing it “Symbolicly”, remove any accusation. I mean after all a symbolic act of cannabalism, is just as bad as the real thing as far as I am concerned. So this is the real Protestant fallacy. They think it is cannabalism, yet they do it symbolically.

No, it isn’t cannabalsim. If it tasted like flesh, and smelled like blood, then you might be able to call it cannabalism. But it doesn’t. It tastes like bread and wine, and looks like bread and wine - therefore in the strictest sense it can’t be cannabalism.

The God of the universe has found a way to feed us, physically, and spiritually, and it is one of the greatest gifts he has given us.

Conclusion: Protestant has Symbolic Cannabalism. Catholics have True Food.
 
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lathrokl:
I have been a Catholic all of my life. My wife is going through RCIA classes to convert to the Catholic faith. We are going to be married in the Catholic Church once my wife finishes the classes. She is too shy to bring this topic up in the classes.

My wife is confused over what it means when the bread and wine become (literally), the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. She is having a hard time understanding this and how this is not like canabalism. Literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Just like eating a human. (She means well, just lacks understanding.) My wife is converting from a protestant background where she has been taught the bread and wine are taken symbolically.

I have tried to explain it with no success. Can anyone give some more in-depth understanding into the Eucharist
and to give more insight that this is not canabalism and what to truly believe in this, so it is easier for her to understand?
Click to expand...
Try these links for starters:
catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0103sbs.asp
catholic.com/library/Christ_in_the_Eucharist.asp
 
A) She shouldn’t be shy about bringing ANYTHING up at RCIA–that is the whole purpose of the process–to get her questions answered. At least give them a chance to address it, and if she needs further claeification, she can seek it out.

As forthe answer to her question, here is an excerpt from an article about defending the Eucharist from This Rock magazine:
**5. If we took Jesus’ words literally, wouldn’t that imply cannibalism? **
Cannibalism is when one individual physically eats the human flesh off of another’s body. Catholic or not, the words in John 6 do sound cannibalistic. Even a Fundamentalist would have to say that he eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood in a symbolic manner so as to concur with the passage. By the same allowance, Catholics eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood in a sacramental way. Neither the Protestant nor the Catholic appears to be doing anything cannibalistic, though.
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It would have been cannibalism is if a disciple two thousand years ago had tried literally to eat Jesus by sinking his teeth into his arm. Now that our Lord is in heaven with a glorified body and made present under the appearance of bread in the Eucharist, cannibalism is not possible.
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To see the whole article, go here:
catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0103sbs.asp
 
Hi Lathrokl,

Congratulation on having your wife attending RCIA with the intent of converting to Catholicism. I think it’s wonderful that your wife is paying close enough attention to what is being taught that her initial reaction to the description of what is happening at the consecration is one of revulsion. This means to me that she really gets it, she understands that God is capable of really, truly transubstantiating the host into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. This is a very important step in coming to an understanding of the Eucharistic Celebration.

You may want to take her to John for the Bread of Life Discourse, Jn 6: 22-59. In this passage, Jesus tells those listening in the synagogue in Capernaum that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life. He loses many of his followers because of this shocking teaching, and yet he does not call them back for clarification. Rather, he turns to the 12 and asks if they too will leave. He challenges them to also believe or go. This is what she is now being asked to do. Believe that this is what Christ wants, or do not accept Catholicism. It is an either / or situation.

Because we have a wonderfully gentle God, when we are given Christ’s flesh and blood, we are spared from seeing them as such. The accidence of their form as bread and wine remains even as their substance has changed to body and blood. This lessens the shock and challenge for those of us who would be otherwise squimish. This aspect of the miracle of transubstantiation is something for which I will be ever greatful.

If she is still having difficulty, you may want to look into examples of Eucharistic Miracles, such as the miracle of Lanciano. If you are unfamiliar with it, see: acfp2000.com/Miracles/eucharistic.html

A priest was uncertain of the reality of the Eucharist and was brought to the truth quickly when during the consecration they changed in both substance and accidence. The flesh and blood from around the year 700 is still retained on display. I had the opportunity to see it when on Pilgrimage in 2003. It’s pretty intense. Read through the web page for more info on it.

Again, congratulations that your wife is going through this. How wonderful that the two of you will be sharing the Faith.

God Bless,

CARose
 
A cannibal eats and digests his victim. The one eaten is chewed up, destroyed, and digested.

In consuming the Eucharist, it is impossible to divide or destroy Jesus in any way. Even tearing the host apart into numerous particles simply means that Jesus is entirely present in the smallest particle. Jesus remains whole and entire throughout.

It is only the appearances of bread and wine which are metabolized, and it is under those appearances that Jesus is present, whole and entire.

In receiving Jesus, He is not divided; rather, we are united.
 
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