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FWIW, for Catholics the Eucharist/Communion/Lord's Supper is ultimately about our uniting with Christ the eternal "high priest" (Heb. 9:11) in a perfect offering of praise, prayer, and thanksgiving ("Eucharist" in Greek) to God.
Catholics (and Orthodox and some Protestants) believe that the one atoning sacrifice of Christ made on the cross is not simply remembered ("do this in memory of Me" (Luke 22:19) but also continued/made present (but NOT repeated) at every mass. as Christ offers Himself eternally to the Father, He also offers himself to Christians in the communion where His body and blood (under the appearances of bread and wine) nourishes and strengthens them spiritually "unless you eat my body and drink my blood you shall have no life in you" (John 6:53)
additionally, the Eucharist is also a sign and sacrament of unity of faith and belief in the worshipping community in which we not only acknowledge and acclaim the Lordship of our Savior who we recognize in "the breaking of the bread" but also our loving fellowship ("the love feast" one of the early names for the Eucharist) with our brothers and sisters not only those physically with us at the service but ultimately with all God's children---we are "in communion" with them. strengthened by the Eucharistic feast we must now bring our Christian witness in faith and love and service to everyone, everywhere, at all times.
hope this helps.
Preparation day. Exodus 12 New International Version (NIV)
The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread
12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a] for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” Exodus 16 King James Version (KJV)
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field.
26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.
Preparation day. Exodus 12 New International Version (NIV)
The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread
12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a] for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.†Exodus 16 King James Version (KJV)
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field.
26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.
imagine someone tells you that a strange religious cult has a ritual at their weekly gatherings that consists of everybody drinking the blood and eating the flesh of their ancient prophet/God as a weird act of cannibalism.
Actually that is what Catholics believe it is happening in every Sunday mass, where the wine and the bread is actually transfigurated and BECOME the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ. The actual blood and flesh! Isn't that weird?
imagine someone tells you that a strange religious cult has a ritual at their weekly gatherings that consists of everybody drinking the blood and eating the flesh of their ancient prophet/God as a weird act of cannibalism.
Actually that is what Catholics believe it is happening in every Sunday mass, where the wine and the bread is actually transfigurated and BECOME the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ. The actual blood and flesh! Isn't that weird?
There is no blood or flesh in there. I think it is the essence of Christ in the form of bread. But the first Christians and modern Catholics are often called cannibals. But, who cares -----in religion anything is possible.
There is no blood or flesh in there. I think it is the essence of Christ in the form of bread. But the first Christians and modern Catholics are often called cannibals. But, who cares -----in religion anything is possible.
The practices seem strange only to those that have a misconception of Catholicism. If they bothered to ask a a well educated Catholic they would feel differently.
I suspect they will not ask because they want to continue to believe what they believe about Catholicis because in the end the foundation of their religion is anti-catholicism.
I was raised Catholic. I was baptized Catholic, had my first Communion, First Confessions, served as an altar boy, attended weekly, and was confirmed Catholic. Heck, I rememberI have an aunt that is a Nun. My grandmother taught in a Catholic school for decades. My dad was raised for 12 years of Catholic school.
We are told on these boards that a certain mormon on these boards knows more about Mormonism than anyone else because she's a Mormon. So based on that standard, and my the time I've spent as a Catholic, and my huge Catholic family...I am an expert in Catholicism.
Having said that, I'm not Catholic. I left Catholicism around 20 years old, and I met Christ. I have no hatred for Catholics, but I don't agree with the theology. I know what the Catholic church teaches, and I know what the Bible teaches. I just don't agree with the RCC, so I'm not Catholic.
There is no blood or flesh in there. I think it is the essence of Christ in the form of bread. But the first Christians and modern Catholics are often called cannibals. But, who cares -----in religion anything is possible.
You really ought to study Catholic theology a bit more. Maybe take an RCIA refresher course. Catholics believe in Transubstantiation. That means that the host is supposed to have been changed entirely into the flesh and blood of Christ. No other substance is present.
Lutherans, on the other hand, believe in something called Consubstantiation. That means that they also believe in the real, literal presence of the flesh and blood in the host, but they also believe that the host does not cease to contain bread or wine.
It's called a mystery and requires faith. And, it's what Christ asked us to do in memory of Him.
yes, it is a mystery and requires faith. But if you do believe and have faith and consider yourself Catholic, then you are literally eating and drinking Jesus' blood and flesh.
That sounds very weird to me.
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