Inter-Faith Series, Holy Eucharist: What does your Church teach about the …?

Question

Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist/Lord's Supper?

Answer 1

My denomination is Presbyterian and we believe in the spiritual presence of the Lord in the communion meal. A literal presence of the body and blood would mean being simultaneously present wherever mass is being celebrated--which would make it spiritual since the human body can't be more than one place at once. MORE importantly because a literal body and blood would mean sacrificing Jesus over and over again something the Bible clearly says is not necessary since He gave His life once and for all.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church teaches the Real Presence(as do the Orthodox Churches, Lutheran and many Anglican Churches.) that the Eucharist is actually Jesus not a symbolic remembrance of His Presence.

The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine actually change in substance into the substance of the Crucified and Risen Christ even though the species et accidens( the chemistry,tangibles like taste,appearances,etc) remain unchanged. Jesus remains present after the celebration of the Eucharist or Mass.

Unlike the Protestants, the Catholic Church joins the Pre Reformation Churches in affirming that the Eucharist is a presentation of the unrepeatable sacrifice of Christ's death and Resurrection.

See Catechism of the Catholic Church Article 3 I-IV paragraphs1322-1419

Answer 3

The Church feels that Christians who are not Catholic should not receive the Eucharist since they do not believe that the host is the body of Christ and the wine his blood. However, the priest cannot stop someone from receiving unless he knows that the receiver is a public sinner. Most of the Protestants that I know of that have been receiving the Eucharist on a regular basis have converted to Catholicism. I, frankly, don't understand the Church's reasoning. If we truly believe that the host and the wine ARE Jesus, why would we stop anyone from partaking of him?

Answer 4

That Jesus is literally and wholly present--body and blood, soul and divinity--under the appearances of bread and wine.

The Church draws her life from the Eucharist .
‘For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself’” (EDE 1; cf. Lumen Gentium 11; Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5). He emphasizes that “the Eucharist, as Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession that the Church can have in her journey through history” (EDE 9)

Answer 5

Jesus Christ, Body, Soul and Divinity is Really Present in the Most Holy and Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

Answer 6

We Roman Catholics believe that the Sacred Host contains the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is the miracle par excellence that happens in our churches every day!

ALL of the Christian Orthodox churches believe the exact same thing.

The Methodist Church initially believed likewise. John Wesley wrote a sermon on receiving Communion frequently and one on not waiting until one was deemed "worthy". Why feel worthy for something that is merely symbolic? NO placebo for me! I NEED the Real Thing with all of today's stresses! It is the highest act of faith. In all cultures, bread is the ultimate food staple. The Bread of Heaven is the Ultimate "soul" food.

"This IS my Body....This IS my Blood." How can anyone interpret this otherwise? Martin Luther insisted that it is only the devil himself who could make people believe that the word "IS" = "symbolizes".

We Catholics/Orthodox do NOT re-sacrifice Jesus over and over again. What happens on the altar is an un-bloody sacrifice. God stands outside of time so Jesus -- through the hands of the priest blessed at ordination -- offers his sacrifice to God for all eternity. It is the perfect gift and offering.

Answer 7

That Christ is sacramentally present -- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. I like to stay away from the terms "literal", "literally" because they do not appear in the Catechism and I feel it just feeds the misconceptions of non-Catholics (see above).

"In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all." -- CCC 1353

"Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species" -- CCC 1390

Answer 8

We believe that it becomes the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We believe the only way to go to communion in the Catholic Church is if you believe that it is the true Body and Blood of Jesus, and that you agree with what the church teaches.

God Bless,
Ryan

Answer 9

It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end," even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love:
.

Answer 10

Another way of putting what the other answerers have already said: Jesus makes the bread and wine a part of his body and blood, soul and divinity. Thus is is bread and wine only in its form, or accidents, but in its essence, it is wholly Jesus.