A ROMAN MIRACLE

[jgredline]

I've asked this before a few times... no one answered.

What does the actual word Eucharist mean? (I know, but please explain it to the forum at large)

Well, I will take a stab at it..The best way for me to explain it, would be the same way I explain it to my seven year old twins...

When we partake of the elements, the bread (body) and the blood (Welches grape juice) it is a time to not only acknowledge what Christ did on the cross, but to enter into spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.....To worship God, we must do it in spirit, so when we take communion, we are indeed fellowshiping with God....

My quick short answer...

 

[Vic C.]

Nice shot, lol. Actually, I did say "the actual word". You did a good job at describing the act of communion though.

Give it another shot Javier. You got them there Greek books. ;-) (hint - Eucharistia)

 

[Solo]

Well, I will take a stab at it..The best way for me to explain it, would be the same way I explain it to my seven year old twins...

When we partake of the elements, the bread (body) and the blood (Welches grape juice) it is a time to not only acknowledge what Christ did on the cross, but to enter into spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.....To worship God, we must do it in spirit, so when we take communion, we are indeed fellowshiping with God....

My quick short answer...

Great Answer!!

 

[francisdesales]

Can you please explain as precisely as possible what you believe the Eucharist actually is and on what grounds you base your position.

The Eucharistic bread (I presume you are speaking of that and not the Mass, which is also called the Eucharist) is the living sacramental presence of the Second Person of the Trinity, His entire self (humanity and divinity). What makes the Eucharist so great is that Jesus is not alone in the Eucharist. The Church teaches what is called "circumincession", which is the mutual presence of all THREE divine persons in one another. Thus, the Spirit and the Father are also present WITH Christ in the Eucharist, although only Jesus is sacramentally (visibly in the form of bread) present.

It is the perfect sacrifice continuously offered to the Father in heaven, as foretold in the Old Testament. When we partake of Him, we become united to that eternal sacrificial offering in heaven. The Eucharist is the sign of our unity, the one Loaf that we share as part of the Body of Christ. He gives His life to us. Not only do we call this to mind (since this giving is centered on the Passion and death of Jesus), we are called to continue to imitate this in our own lives - a dying of self for the sake of others. Christ's sacramental presence helps to make this possible as we become further united with Him.

On what grounds do I base that position? Because the Church has always believed in the literal interpretation of John 6 and the subsequent Synoptic Gospels' relaying the events of the Last Supper. We accept Paul's description of the Real Presence in 1 Corinthians. And of course, we accept the writings of the earliest generations of Chrisitians that describe the literalness of the Eucharistic bread. While one COULD take a metaphorical approach to the Scriptures on this issue if you ignore other Scriptures and twist the meaning enough, you are 2000 years removed from the scene, while those first Christians heard the Apostles with their own ears. It is safe to say that they understood the Apostles meant that Jesus was literally present in the Eucharist, uniting Himself with His disciples in a most intimate way in a sacramental manner.

We even have hostile witnesses (the Romans) who verify this understanding of the Real Presence, as Catholics were accused of being cannibals.

Regards

 

[jgredline]

Nice shot, lol. Actually, I did say "the actual word". You did a good job at describing the act of communion though.

Give it another shot Javier. You got them there Greek books. ;-) (hint - Eucharistia)

Hmmm
The Greek word εὐχαριστία means thanks or thanksgiving....Interesting.

 

[jgredline]

On what grounds do I base that position? Because the Church has always believed in the literal interpretation of John 6 and the subsequent Synoptic Gospels' relaying the events of the Last Supper. We accept Paul's description of the Real Presence in 1 Corinthians. And of course, we accept the writings of the earliest generations of Chrisitians that describe the literalness of the Eucharistic bread. While one COULD take a metaphorical approach to the Scriptures on this issue if you ignore other Scriptures and twist the meaning enough, you are 2000 years removed from the scene, while those first Christians heard the Apostles with their own ears. It is safe to say that they understood the Apostles meant that Jesus was literally present in the Eucharist, uniting Himself with His disciples in a most intimate way in a sacramental manner.

We even have hostile witnesses (the Romans) who verify this understanding of the Real Presence, as Catholics were accused of being cannibals.

Regards

Hey Solo, pass the arm.....

 

[Vic C.]

Hmmm
The Greek word εὐχαριστία means thanks or thanksgiving....Interesting.

Yes it is brother. It is used 15 times in the KJV and if memory serves me, 55 times throughout the Septuagint. Here is Thayer's take on Eucharistia:

Definition
thankfulness
the giving of thanks

King James Word Usage - Total: 15
thanksgiving 9, giving of thanks 3, thanks 2, thankfulness 1

KJV Verse Count

Acts - 1 time
Acts 24:3

1 Corinthians - 1 time
1 Cor 14:16

2 Corinthians - 3 times
2 Cor 4:15, 2 Cor 9:11-12

Ephesians - 1 time
Ephesians 5:4

Philippians - 1 time
Philippians 4:6

Colossians - 2 times
Col 2:7, Col 4:2

1 Thessalonians - 1 times
1 Thess 3:9

1 Timothy - 3 times
1 Tim 2:1, 1 Tim 4:3, 1 Tim 4:4

Revelation - 2 times
Rev 4:9, Rev 7:12

Notice it is not used once in the 4 Gospel books.

 

[jgredline]

Vic, while I did not do a word search, other than looking it up in my Greek dictionary, what did find ''interesting'' was the context in which the word was used by Paul in his letters, because the Greek shows it used quite differently than the English translations....rather than jump to an assumption, I will look at it more closely when I get I get home....I was looking at 1 cor 4 and phil 2, I believe....

You also have me wondering how this all ties into the catholic version of communion..... :robot: ....I just wanted to use the robot, since it keeps looking at me........

 

[Guest]

:robot: ....I just wanted to use the robot, since it keeps looking at me........

We take a quick break from our regurarly scheduled topic to say:

I am more freaked out by a blinking duck that stares at me, than a tin-man!

:robot: :robot: :robot: :robot: :robot: :robot:

 

[Guest]

We now return you to the scheduled topic!

 

[Solo]

And to think that I just had Thai Peking Duck last night, and now have to look at him blinking at me!!!

I wonder if the Roman Catholics have Thai Peking Eucharist? 8-)