Who will walk away…? Who will accept without
questioning?
Our Lord was and
remains well aware of those who would not trust in His word (John CH6; v64). That is not to say we
must understand everything, no one can know the mind of God. But we must accept
with trust in faith. As Christians we acknowledge God as the Creator of all
things from nothing and Jesus Christ as God incarnate or “in the flesh”, made
man. If we say we accept this how difficult can it be for God to consecrate or
“set apart” the bread and wine as an extension of His very being; to
spiritually take up bread as He took up human flesh or to take up wine as He
took up blood, the life force of the body. Both bread and wine, as does man, come
from the earth as forms of life. In this case by His word it becomes HIS flesh
and HIS Blood and sustenance for our soul.
Divinity of Jesus
Jesus expressed His
Divine authority over all creation. He did so by His word in the raising of the
dead and the healing of the sick just as He raised Lazarus from the dead. We as
true Christians accept these things in faith. He made the blind see, the lepers
clean and the crippled walk by His word and we accept these things in faith. He
commanded the demons to enter the swine and destroyed them, tamed storms,
winds, rough seas, and made trees flourish or wither and die by His word. We
accept these things in faith without question but we can not and will never
comprehend them in our human nature. Jesus also expressed His humanity as in
the tears of love and sorrow He shed over Lazarus’ death, His sadness of the
sins of man, His affection toward children, His anger in the temple, and His
frustration with those who slept during His suffrage in the Garden, and His
sacrificing Himself for His love of man.
As Christians we
are to accept these things in faith and our expression of that faith is in our
trust without questioning His word. Yet there remain some who continue to deny
Jesus’ proclamation of the Eucharist with no less justification than any other
miracle we claim to accept. The faith of the apostles was confirmed in their
unquestioning trust and acceptance of His word when Jesus asked them, “Will you
also leave me” (John CH6; vs67-69).
Again, we are not required to comprehend all matters of faith, only to accept,
trusting in the Word of Christ.
One Sacrifice
God consecrated
Mary, setting her apart to take upon Himself of her flesh and blood by His
Word, nothing more, yet God is purely Spiritual in being. He, who was never
flesh, took up the nature of man so that He may become for man the
exemplification of love and life as we are meant to live it. His sacrifice was
to be made only once. Through His commission to His Church He continues to
provide all future generations the means (the Eucharist) to re-enter into the
new covenant and reconfirm ourselves as a living part of that new Covenant
until the consummation of the world upon His return [(1 Corinthians CH11; vs22-29), (Mark CH14: vs22-25), (Luke CH22:
vs14-20)]. By accepting His word without question as the apostles did, we
join in the covenant He set forth at the last supper before His Passion, Death
and Resurrection. His human sacrifice brought a new beginning for all who would
believe and abide in Him so they may achieve eternal life.
Our Heritage
Through the
consecrated Eucharist Jesus offers all man the means to become one with Him (John CH6; v56). In accepting His Body
and Blood He provides through Himself our “heredity”, a true share in Heaven in
the most intimate way we as human beings may choose to accept this heritage. He
provides us renewed strength through Grace, His “spiritual nutrition” for those
who would accept Him faithfully as the apostles did. He established one Church,
one body that preaches one truth and sustains His covenant through the
Eucharist. If another church or body preaches adversely to it, it can not claim
to be a part of or in union with it simply because one body can not preach
against itself. By consuming that which He proclaimed to be His Body and Blood,
the faithful become renewed into His one physical body on earth, His Church [(Ephesians CH5: vs25-27), (Colossians CH1:
vs18, 24), (Ephesians CH5: v29)]. We accept His Word in faith and commit
ourselves to Him, reconfirming our self in the New Covenant without question.
Each becomes an intimate living organism of that Body sharing as organs in the
flowing Lifeblood that is Jesus Christ.
And the one who partakes of the Eucharist worthily within that blood
line, shares in His Legacy.
By accepting the Eucharist, are we not accepting and
honoring that which Jesus vehemently declared was His Body and Blood [(John CH6; vs27-59), (1 Corinthians CH10:
v16), (1 Corinthians CH11; vs23-26), (Matthew CH14; vs22-25), (Luke CH22;
vs14-20)]?
As scripture tells us, He offered Himself this way to
us that we may remain one in Him and Him in us (John CH6; v56). In the Old Testament the Jews were required by
God to eat of the Passover lamb in attaining their salvation from the clutches
of Pharaoh. As Jesus became the new Passover Lamb, He declared we must eat of
His Body and Blood, the new Passover Lamb of the New Covenant. Can we accept
His Word without question any less than the apostles did and still claim to be
devoutly Christian? Faith must be the path that leads to Christ. Our works of
love of God and each other are the steps we take to reach Him. The stronger our
love, the closer we are to Him.
If we refer to the Gospel, we see the apostles
maintained the Sacrament of the Eucharist since the beginning (1Corinthians CH10; vs16-22). It is the
very source center and summit of true Christianity. It is the Bread of Life and
who ever eats His Flesh and drinks His Blood will be raised on the last Day.
Those who
would not accept
Jesus never attempted to stop those disciples who
walked away from their abandoning Him and He did not say anything to make His
proclamation more acceptable, like; “wait, I mean, this is like my Body";
On the contrary. His silence in allowing them to walk away without changing a word
of His proclamation and the fact He only broke His silence after they left to
ask the remaining apostles if they would also walk away should show clearly
that He was firm in His meaning. He changed nothing of His proclamations at any
time. Still there are those who have taken the spoken words of our Savior and
gone as far as to add a word here or there to make it fit a meaning more
comfortable to their own way of thinking. This is a distortion of His word as
He warned some men would do. Yes, we have been warned and it is Biblical (Acts CH20: vs29-30).
Although the acceptance of Jesus in the form of the
Eucharist is beyond human comprehension, it remains a matter of trust through
faith as does all other aspects of Jesus miraculous life. Logically, we can
consider it this way: first, if it were accurate for man to claim Jesus only
“meant” the bread and wine were “like” His Body and Blood, why did Jesus not
try to stop the discouraged disciples from walking away and clear up their
misunderstanding? This would be in direct opposition to what Jesus claims of
Himself in scripture [(1 John CH1:
vs5-10), (John CH8: v12)]. Further, would God allow anyone to hear His word
and leave them misunderstanding what He was teaching? According to scripture, God
proclaims:
“I will lead
the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn
darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I
do for them, and I will not forsake them (Isaiah CH42: v16).
“God's way
is unerring; the LORD'S promise is tried and true; he is a shield for all who
trust in him” (Psalms CH18: v31) Also see (Psalms CH119: v130).
Secondly, why didn’t those departing disciples just
take it on themselves to assume He spoke “figuratively” and accept it accordingly
as many non-Catholic Christians have done in recent times? Simply answered,
because they knew exactly what He was saying.
To say "like" changes the meaning of the spoken word from
saying “it is”, to implying it is something else but with some similarity or
representation and that is not the proclamation Jesus made.
If the apostles believed and taught that the bread
and wine were merely symbols representing the Body and Blood of Christ, it
would then be completely irrelevant and inaccurate regardless of the ancient
language, to say we “participate in the Body and Blood of Christ”. “Symbolic”
means to be a symbol of or representing something or someone that is not
present. Therefore it is only logical when referring to such participation that
taking an active part would be only in the commemoration or tribute to, not the
participation in the actual Body and Blood of Christ. To say one participates
in the Body and Blood of Christ as Scripture dictates, the true elements must
be substantially present.
It would be irrelative for condemnation to be imposed
against a person for receiving only bread and wine in an unworthy state. As
warned in 1 Corinthians - Chapter 11,
"whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have
to answer for the body and blood of the Lord." Logically we should ask
the question, why has scripture declared such harsh judgment of condemnation
against those receiving the Eucharist unworthily if it is merely symbolic? No
where else does such condemnation occur in scripture. Because Jesus’
proclamation was specific, intentional and unwavering that the Bread and Wine
was His Body and Blood of the New Covenant and as such the warning becomes
extremely relative - that consuming the Eucharist in a state of serious sin is
desecration of His Body and Blood. Such can not occur if only bread and wine
were consumed.
If one has the fullness of faith in the salvation Christ provided for us through His Passion, Death and Resurrection, it is merely selective not to also accept the Eucharist as Jesus proclaimed. Man can no more understand Jesus’ resurrection from the dead or any other miraculous event He performed than the transubstantiation[1] of the Eucharist. Faith does not come with physical promises or guarantees we can experience with our human senses but specifically without them. Where such promises or guarantees exist, faith is negated.
Infused
Heritage
Just as He in His Spirit took up the nature of a
human being of which He previously possessed no part, He in His Godly essence
chose to take up the form of the bread and wine. Once consecrated within the
bloodline of His body (His Church), it is substantially transformed becoming
His Body and Blood by His declaration for the ages to come. In the Eucharist
Jesus provides us a true share of “heredity” through Himself in the most
intimate way we as human beings may choose to accept this heritage. He offers
us a renewed strength through this “spiritual nutrition” for those who would
accept Him in the fullness of faith as the apostles had done. By consuming His
Body and Blood, the faithful within the body of His Church accept Him
unconditionally by His testimony, each becoming part of His living organism
(the Church) sharing in its flowing lifeblood of which He remains the High Priest
and head [(Ephesians CH1: vs22-23),
(Colossians CH1: vs18-20), (Ephesians CH5: v23)]. Each one who partakes of
the Eucharist of Christ within the body of the Church, that blood line, shares
in true heritage of the Son of God as a living part of the Body of Christ.
Worthily Received
What must be made
perfectly clear is that a person must not receive the Body and Blood of Christ
unworthily or while in a state of serious sin.
As ‘1 Corinthians CH11: vs27-29’ tells us, “…the unworthy shall answer for the Body
and Blood of the Lord”, and shall “...eat and drink judgment on
himself.” This is without question
one of the most crucial stipulations of our part of the covenant Jesus made
with us. Just as the act of receiving the Eucharist is a sign of our acceptance
of Him in the fullness of faith, receiving Him unworthily is no less than
defilement of His Body and Blood. This is the reason the Catholic Church has
always attempted to provide the Eucharist to those confirmed in the Faith
possessing the understanding of the seriousness of what is offered (see quote
#4 - Justin Martyr – “First Apology” of 151 A.D. below). It is therefore only
rational to see how the passage of scripture above in ‘1 Corinthians CH11:
vs27-29’ serves as validation of the necessity for the sacrament of
Reconciliation. Through it, Jesus provided us the means to reconcile with Him
for our sins by the authority He bestowed to the apostles and their successors (John
CH20: vs21-23). The authority to forgive or retain sins is further expressed
in ‘Acts CH2: v38’, when Peter directs others to repent and amend their
ways. We must be reconciled with our Lord before we receive the Eucharist.
Sample
quotes from the Early
Church
1. "I have no taste
for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of
God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for
drink I desire is blood, which is love incorruptible." (St. Ignatius
of Antioch
2. “Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on
the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their
opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from
prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our
Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father,
in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing
in their disputes.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch
3. “. . . now ready to obey your bishop and clergy
with undivided minds and to share in the one common breaking of bread – the
medicine of immortality, and the sovereign remedy by which we escape death and
live in Jesus Christ for evermore” (St. Ignatius of Antioch
4. “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these, but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus (Justin Martyr – “First Apology” A.D. 151)
5. “He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be
his own blood) from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of
creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto
our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread
receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from
these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported) how can they say
that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal
life — flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord and is in
fact a member of him?” (Irenaeus
– “Against Heresies” A.D.
189).
6. Jesus says "Eat my flesh" and "and
drink my blood." The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he
delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the
growth of his children.” (Clement of Alexandria
7. "The bread which our Lord delivered to his
disciples, was changed not in appearance, but in nature, being made flesh by
the Almighty power of the divine word." (St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage
[1] Transubstantiation: The complete change of the
substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood by a
validly ordained priest during the consecration at Mass, so that only the
accidents of bread and wine remain. While the faith behind the term was
already believed in apostolic times, the term itself was a later development. See “Modern Catholic Dictionary” - by
Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
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