The Mass | The Taking of Communion
The culmination of the Mass comes when the Catholic person receives the consecrated host or Eucharist orally. This physical act of consuming the reincarnated Christ is how the Catholic person obtains a bit of the Divine, which further aids them towards eternal life. The Roman Catholic Church also emphasizes that eating the Eucharist empowers the individual to overcome the temptation of mortal sin. In other words, the Eucharist is a supernatural food that is able to help one get to heaven and keep one from sin here on Earth. This teaching promotes obtaining spiritual benefits through physical acts. I challenge you, to consider what the Spirit of God says as you compare these Catholic teachings to the Holy Scripture.
The Catechism Says:
Para 1384 The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: “Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
Para 1382 The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood. But the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for us.
The Bible Says:
John 6:52-66 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
The Catechism Says:
Para 1405 we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ.”
Para 1392 What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life.
Para 1402 “O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to us.”
Para 1393 For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins.
Para 1395 the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins.
The Bible Says:
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Leviticus 17:11-12 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…
John 1: 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…
John 10:10 …I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 6:63 the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
The Bible is showing you the relationship between the written Word and Jesus Christ Himself. Proper interpretation of the Scripture is essential. Throughout the Scriptures we find that the Lord spoke in parables. These parables were a figurative language that would make the truths of Christ more discernible. Jesus knew that the parables would be difficult to understand without an interpretation, but He always gave the interpritation to those to whom He had called.
In the above text of scripture (John 6:52-66) the Jewish people, to whom the discourse was first addressed, misunderstood it. They quarreled among themselves and said, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? The Jewish people had seen and heard Him and yet, they did not believe in Him. Some of their unbelief may have stemmed from their understanding of the book of the Law (the old testament) in which eating flesh and drinking blood was prohibited. Even today, we know that Jesus could not have meant the literal eating and drinking of flesh and blood because it would be a contradiction of the very Word of God.
The Roman Catholic Church, just as the Jewish people, have misunderstood Christ’s message as a corporal and carnal eating of Christ’s Body. Jesus’ words have been misread to support the doctrine of transubstantiation. This doctrine contradicts the Lord’s essential message of the need to solely believe on Him for salvation. When Christ said, the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, He is stating that He would offer Himself as a sacrifice, His voluntary lying down of His life, His flesh. He gave His flesh willingly as an atoning sacrifice for the life of the world and this is for eternal life!
According to the above passage, eating the flesh’ and drinking the blood’ of the Son of man signifies the acceptance of the Redeemer and His sacrifice. Christ Jesus offers all the benefits of redemption: pardon of sin, acceptance of God and the adoption of sons in which one receives the Holy Spirit as a pledge of ones inheritance of eternal life. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means being identified with Him by faith. Remember, it is the spirit that quickenith, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Dear Catholic, of which bread have you partaken? Will you rest your eternal soul on the person and offering of Christ Jesus for your sins or will you eat the Eucharist in hope of obtaining eternal life? The Roman Catholic Church claims that God’s power effectively flows from the element of Communion itself. Christ Jesus teaches that it is believing on His person, John 6:29 this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Believing on Him whom the Father has sent is our duty, yet it is the work of God which clearly signifying that believing is possible only by the grace of God.