What does it mean?

[SteveVH]

I think this is wrong because if God intended only certain people to be able to participate in communion he would have mentioned it right there in the last supper.

The Catholic Church excludes no person, rather invites all people to participate in communion in the one, true Church. Your local parish can tell you when RCIA starts this year.

His salvation is available for all who accepts, why would communion or mass be any different?

For all who accept what? His body, blood, soul and divinity or a symbol? For those who say the sinners prayer and are saved at once; or for those who work out their salvation in fear and trembling? For those who deny Christ’s divinity but believe he was a good and wise prophet? For those who believe abortion is morally acceptable or those who do not. What is it that we must accept to be saved, Travis? And who decides?

 

[JerryZ]

very informative thank you, being a christian I have always felt that if we believe in Christ as our father that it makes Mary our mother. What I was confused on was when kneeling down to pray should that be reserved for the Most High and not shared with a human ? She did in fact intercede while alive. If I am a saint in heaven or you are will we be able to hear peoples prayers and inner most thoughts.

The action of kneeling is NOT equal to offering worship. I can kneel before my bed in my room and I am not worshipping the bed.
The worship comes from the heart. Not your knees.

When you kneel in front of the Queen of England or the Emperor of Japan or the Pope you are not worshipping them, merely offering respect and honor because of their position.

Also Christ is our Brother as Mary is our Mother. GOD the Father through Jesus’s we can rightly call HIM Father.

The Saints in Heaven are in the presence of the Most High, they can hear our prayers only through GOD. God can hear us even thoughts our thoughts and if we pray silently in our minds GOD hears us and allows the Saints to hear with HIM. Everything is done through GOD.

Peace

 

[SteveVH]

Jesus was using the bread and wine as symbols. Jesus would not have handed them bread if he wanted them to eat his body right? Im pretty sure him being Jesus would have just let them bit his arm or something if he really meant eat his body and drink his blood. You are not actually eating his body in Mass or drinking his real blood. It is to remember and honor the sacrifice Jesus laid down for you. I dont believe Jesus would have used symbolic items if he really wanted you to eat his flesh.

Jesus gives himself to us completely; everything that he is. He comes to us sacramentally, under the appearance of bread and wine. Just as Jesus’ glorified body could consume fish and at the same time walk through a solid wall, so his body and blood can become present to us in this manner. It is how he remains with his Church. He is God. He can do whatever he pleases.

 

[Dorothy]

Jesus was using the bread and wine as symbols. Jesus would not have handed them bread if he wanted them to eat his body right? Im pretty sure him being Jesus would have just let them bit his arm or something if he really meant eat his body and drink his blood. You are not actually eating his body in Mass or drinking his real blood. It is to remember and honor the sacrifice Jesus laid down for you. I dont believe Jesus would have used symbolic items if he really wanted you to eat his flesh.

What Jesus said in John 6 clarified exactly what he meant.

 

[Travis8257]

The Catholic Church excludes no person, rather invites all people to participate in communion in the one, true Church. Your local parish can tell you when RCIA starts this year.

For all who accept what? His body, blood, soul and divinity or a symbol? For those who say the sinners prayer and are saved at once; or for those who work out their salvation in fear and trembling? For those who deny Christ’s divinity but believe he was a good and wise prophet? For those who believe abortion is morally acceptable or those who do not. What is it that we must accept to be saved, Travis? And who decides?

For All who accept Jesus as their personal savior and believe he died on a cross for you. His blood was enough, you cannot earn your way to heaven. This is almost as muslims believe you earn your way to heaven through your deeds. If man kind were rewarded for their deeds we would be damned to hell. Salvation is a gift that Gods son paid for us. Your deeds will not get you there without accepting his son. Yes we are supposed to strive every day to be better people but the best people in the world cannot get to heaven without Jesus.

 

[fred_conty]

Travis,

you mentioned about Mary that it seemed that Jesus was down playing his mother with these words,“And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

I suppose if you wish to take it that way you could. But would Jesus downplay his own mother in public? Especially in the Jewish law, the fourth commandment requires honoring one’s parents?

What this verse says to me is that Jesus is uplifting his mother, because tho she is his earthly mother worthy of his honor, there is something in addition that was very important about her that others should take notice, and that is that she heard the word of God and kept it.
As it says in the bible about Mary in the Temple, “she pondered all these things in her heart.”

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

 

[Travis8257]

What Jesus said in John 6 clarified exactly what he meant.

yes you are exactly right. John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

This represents spiritual fullness, not you eating his body. the bible is full of parables and meanings that you really have to have God reveal to you. Salvation is a free gift for all mankind. But i have got out of this exactly what I figured was going to happen. The catholic church is really the only ones they say can offer Mass or communion. So no one is really saved unless it is done in a catholic church, because every one else is doing it wrong. I am so against this. Jesus did not put a limit to his salvation and neither did he put one on Mass or Communion. This was added by Man.

 

[Travis8257]

Travis,

you mentioned about Mary that it seemed that Jesus was down playing his mother with these words,“And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

I suppose if you wish to take it that way you could. But would Jesus downplay his own mother in public? Especially in the Jewish law, the fourth commandment requires honoring one’s parents?

What this verse says to me is that Jesus is uplifting his mother, because tho she is his earthly mother worthy of his honor, there is something in addition that was very important about her that others should take notice, and that is that she heard the word of God and kept it.
As it says in the bible about Mary in the Temple, “she pondered all these things in her heart.”

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

I didnt take this as a dishonor to his mother but the truth. I was thinking maybe he was saying even family ties come second to God.

 

[Travis8257]

i have found a pretty good history of the roman catholic church from original christianity. bgrnathan.blogspot.com/2010/04/early-christianity-before-papacy.html

it answered a lot of questions for me and yes even this religion broke off because of one persons interpretation of the bible. It all is small things though when it comes to the father son and holy spirit we are all brothers and sisters , love yall gotta run

 

[ServantPD]

yes you are exactly right. John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

This represents spiritual fullness, not you eating his body. the bible is full of parables and meanings that you really have to have God reveal to you. Salvation is a free gift for all mankind. But i have got out of this exactly what I figured was going to happen. The catholic church is really the only ones they say can offer Mass or communion. So no one is really saved unless it is done in a catholic church, because every one else is doing it wrong. I am so against this. Jesus did not put a limit to his salvation and neither did he put one on Mass or Communion. This was added by Man.

I suggest that you watch this… It’s from the CA’s radio and it explains this very well, especially this John 6 part. And it refers to the Miracle of Lanciano. You should look that up as well, in which Jesus ultimately proves the legitimacy of the Eucharist.

youtube.com/watch?v=XI8ZFDY0YLw

Hopes it gives you a better understanding of things. You, like all of us, need much to learn!

 

[Travis8257]

ok thank you all I will check out all these links before I go to bed. You all were so helpful in helping me understand your religion. God bless you

 

[robert_chacon]

You asked, why should one be Catholic?? Read.

First of all, you seem to confuse the word pray with worship. Pray simply means to ask. In the legal profession, pray means to ask, as to ask for a point of legal clarification. Catholics do NOT worship Mary or the Pope on any way! To pray to Mary ,or the saints mean we simply ask for their intercessory prayers just like we would ask a family member or friend. The Communion of Saints , based on the bible, teaches that we are ALL alive in the body of Christ. Those in heaven are not just sitting there basking in Gods glory! They are praying for us! Book of Revelation is very full of illustrations of the heavenly hosts praying for all the saints.

As the Mother of God, as she is shown in the bible, she simply wants us ALL to go to Christ. She tells the waiters at the Cana wedding, “do whatever He tells you”. That is not just a cute little wedding story…it is Marys message to all of us to DO WHATEVER HE TELLS US! Also it clearly shows that Mary is able to intercede for us, as Christ tells Mary it is not yet His time. But the waiters PRAY to Mary , and she intercedes and Christ grants the miracle of turning water to wine. So it is not a burden to Mary or the saints that we should all be asking for her intersession. That is their deepest desire - to see all of the rest of in heaven with them. To simply be sitting in heaven enjoying without consideration for us, would not be at all Christian or biblical. As for the logistics of answering all those prayers, thats the same as asking how Noah got ALL the animals on the ark- its a matter of faith. If God created the world, and Christ became man, does it really matter how the saints respond to our prayers?? Our prayers are all ultimately to God through Mary and the saints. God can figure out a small thing like that! Furthermore, its heaven, its eternity. There is no time. So the vast number of prayers is really a meaningless obstacle when we think about heaven and eternity

Regarding repetition, others have commented that the Book of Revelation shows the HOLY HOLY HOLY being prayed. That is repetition. That is not what the admonition against vain babbling refers to. Catholic prayer, the Mass , the Rosary are prayed with all earnestness and devotion as any non repeating Protestant prayer. The admonition is against just running your mouth as if the words and number of words are pleasing to God. This is what the pagans believed, that shear numbers and rantings garnered them favor. That is NOT Catholic prayer! The words in the Mass may be repeated, but every time I am in Mass they are in my heart and as if they were being said for the first time because they are SO powerful, because they are NOT vain repetitions but sincere prayers. They bring us the REAL PRESENCE of Christ, which is not just a symbol.

No one suggested only Catholics can have communion, but ONLY the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have the REAL PRESENCE of Christ, just as the bible describes! Those are the literal words of the bible. You want to pick and choose when the bible is literal and not. It is literal unless it is clear it is parable or analogy. And in this case it was always understood by the very earliest Christians to NOT be symbolic but rather literal. The pagan Romans sometimes executed the early Christians of being cannibals! Why would they have done that if the Christians communion was only symbolic? They would have simply explained it wasnt the real blood and body of Christ, just a symbol and they would have been released. Furthermore, ALL the early Church Fathers clearly wrote about the REAL PRESENCE of Christ. A symbolic communion was an invention of the Reformation!

 

[robert_chacon]

So you ask , why be Catholic. You mention having a personal relationship with your Lord and Savior, accepting Christ into your life and making Him Lord. That is EXACTLY why you need to be Catholic! Only the Catholic Church has the apostolic teaching authority to teach ONLY the truth, including the truth about Mary, the saints and THE EUCHARIST , or communion. All our priests and bishops are direct successors of the apostles. Only the Orthodox Church can also claim that! No other Church can, including the Anglican Church. If you believe in the inerrant nature of the Bible, then you have to accept that it is inerrant because it was handed down to the world from somewhere. From where? The Catholic Church. If the Church had the authority to declare the authority of the bible, which the bible does not do itself (there is no statement in the bible that declares ONLY the bible as sole authority, not even in Timothy as some Protestants claim), then it also has the authority to teach and interpret the Word of God. Why ? Because Christ left a Church, not a bible. There was a Church with no official cannon for over 300 years! Who taught the Word of Christ?? The Catholic Church. That same Church that gave witness to the bible is the same one now called the Catholic Church. The teachings then are all consistent with the same Church today, including the Mary, the saints, and the Mass. The Catholic Church gives us the REAL PRESENCE of Christ every day at Mass! I am leaving for Mass in 30 minutes to be with the REAL Christ, to worship Him alive with the angels in heaven. I get to be transformed from an earthly existence to be " re - presented" with Christ Himself in heaven at the Eucharist. He told us we if we eat His body and drink His blood , we will have everlasting life! HE told us that! Not my Pentacostal pastor, but Jesus Christ himself through His ONE, HOLY , APOSTOLIC CHURCH, the Catholic Church. One can have no closer personal relationship with Jesus Christ as ones Savior than through the Catholic Church in the holy Eucharist. That is why you need to become Catholic. Everything else misses the mark, perhaps excluding the Orthodox Churches. What you think the Catholic Church teaches is simply lies you have been taught out of ignorance. That you are here is a sign of Gods grace to help you continue to understand the truth. Dont rely on non Catholic sources to learn what the Church teaches. Find out from actual Catholic sources like this site! Just keep asking! God Bless!

 

[fred_conty]

Travis,

You mentioned several things about prayer in different ways. And they all are important to understand. But rather than explain them individually it may help more to explain a certain aspect of prayer first. Sort of like explaining the forest before looking at each individual tree.

Jesus said, “I am the vine and you the branches.” He is telling us we are all linked together in one organism, and in this sense we belong to one another.

St. Paul said, “We are one body.” Meaning again that we belong to one another and are linked together.

So what affects one member will affect the whole vine or body. If one is sick it hurts the other members. And if the member is strong, it helps the rest of the body.

And this is exactly what prayer accomplishes, to improve the life and wellbeing of all members. By doing so, we are helping ourself and also doing what Jesus asks us to do, “love one another.”

If a member dies a physical death, unless they are absolutely a dead member in spirit to Jesus, they are still alive in spirit and continue to live in heaven. So all the healthy members of Jesus’ body are living in heaven or on earth, and are continually aware of each other’s wellbeing and helping one another by their prayers, because they are of one body in Jesus forever. It would not make good sense for members to ignore one another in heaven for they still belong to the same body for the wish of Jesus still holds, “love one another”.

Mary being the very mother of Jesus(God), and the mother of Jesus’ mystical body still on earth, has the greatest role in prayer for her other newborn children. As Jeus said about Mary to St. John from his cross, “…behold your mother.”

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

 

[agnes_therese]

communion is done in remembrance of Christ body and blood. It is about a personal remembrance. It has nothing to do with who in the church is handing it to you. It says “do this in remembrance of me” it is on a personal level. And he said we dont pray to mary the same way we pray to God. Please explain , you dont get on your knees and pray to her like you would God?

The physical posture you take when praying doesn’t mean HOW you’re praying. Surely you don’t think that if one doesn’t kneel, one isn’t praying to God?

 

[MartinJordan]

1 Corinthians 11:27-29

***27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

---

Clearly, not everyone should be participating in Communion.

Exactly. Intact no iota of symbolism here. :yup: Praise God!

MJ

 

[Reuben_J]

For All who accept Jesus as their personal savior and believe he died on a cross for you. His blood was enough, you cannot earn your way to heaven. This is almost as muslims believe you earn your way to heaven through your deeds. If man kind were rewarded for their deeds we would be damned to hell. Salvation is a gift that Gods son paid for us. Your deeds will not get you there without accepting his son. Yes we are supposed to strive every day to be better people but the best people in the world cannot get to heaven without Jesus.

I want to ask you, how do one accepts Jesus? In the Acts, when this was done, they had to undergo Baptism and then to be brought into the community of believers. How do you think you accept Jesus?

If Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior, what does that mean to you? Would you treat Mary, his mother as yours too? Would you believe that since Jesus is the heir to the Father, and that through his death and resurrection we are made heir to Jesus too, whatever is his is ours too, would you not accept Mary then as your mother?

How do you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Why it is personal? What about the whole world that Jesus was sent for? What about the Church? Do you believe in the Church? Do you believe that Jesus set up his Church, yes or no?

It is important that you answer questions like these so that we can see your understanding of your faith. And probably Catholic posters here can answer your questions appropriately pertaining to Catholicism while having some information on your background.

 

[MartinJordan]

Yes I would pray for you, I would pray for any one. I was just always taught when I get on my knees and pray it is the best to only pray to the Father,Son and Holy Ghost, I was never taught to pray to the Mother. Please do not be offended but you could imagine after being raised a certain way how hard it is to understand. I can google these questions all day but it is nothing like a personal conversation to see many point of views. I am still wondering what luke 11:27-28 means, in my opinion it is God objecting to the woman crying out about how blessed the mother is.

We are not offended. Unless you think you are an authority to tell what is right and wrong. First you have to understand the Catholic teaching that Mary is NOT worshiped but we ask her to pray for us.

Now you will be happy to know that we don’t Have To pray to Mary nor any other Saint for that matter…but it Helps! Because the Saints are Holier than us and can hear prayers and offer the prayers to God. The book of Revelations says so!
God Bless

MJ

 

[SteveVH]

For All who accept Jesus as their personal savior and believe he died on a cross for you. His blood was enough, you cannot earn your way to heaven. This is almost as muslims believe you earn your way to heaven through your deeds. If man kind were rewarded for their deeds we would be damned to hell. Salvation is a gift that Gods son paid for us. Your deeds will not get you there without accepting his son. Yes we are supposed to strive every day to be better people but the best people in the world cannot get to heaven without Jesus.

When did I say anything about deeds getting me to heaven?

 

[Reuben_J]

yes you are exactly right. John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

This represents spiritual fullness, not you eating his body. the bible is full of parables and meanings that you really have to have God reveal to you. Salvation is a free gift for all mankind. But i have got out of this exactly what I figured was going to happen. The catholic church is really the only ones they say can offer Mass or communion. So no one is really saved unless it is done in a catholic church, because every one else is doing it wrong. I am so against this. Jesus did not put a limit to his salvation and neither did he put one on Mass or Communion. This was added by Man.

“So no one is really saved unless it is done in a catholic church, because every one else is doing it wrong.”

This statement is incorrect. The Catholic Church does not teach this.

Let’s clarify:

1. The Catholic Church teaches that people can be saved outside of it. She only says that she has the fulness of truth.
2. The Holy Communion is not a guarantee of having to be saved. It is merely a Sacrament, a grace and it has to be worthily received.
3. Not anybody can confect the Holy Communion. You are right there.Why? Because it is not just merely symbol, please take note, the Eucharist is NOT just merely symbol, it is true body and blood of Jesus after the consecration during the mass. So you understand why not anybody can do it. Only a priest that has apostolic succession does.
4. Eucharist is a worship since the days of the apostles. If it is added by man, yes, if you mean the apostles. But then again, Christianity is a religion of apostolic succession and witnesses.