THE AMAZING FAITH OF THE APOSTLES IN THE REAL PRESENCE.
Come May and June the Catholic parishes in England and Wales will bring forward children of a certain age and allow them to have their First Holy Communion. It is a most remarkable thing that these children in thank God the majority of parishes now, will receive Jesus with the same belief in the Real Presence as children did at the time of the Apostles. And the wonderful thing is that it is a belief and trust in the word of Jesus that has survived despite the attempts of the enemy to destroy this article of Faith. From the start there
were those who wanted the word of Christ to be reasonable and understandable and in full accordance with human reason. They constantly disparaged things they could not understand. It all had to make sense.
If we turn to John 6 we can read the account of how Jesus challenged people to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They did no understand a word of what he said and 'followed Him no more'. Then Jesus turned to his disciples "Will you also leave me". The response came from Cephas, the rock, Peter. "Lord to whom shall we turn for you have the message of etermal life" Notice that he did not say "Of course not Jesus, we understand every word you said". They very much did not but if Jesus said it then it was true. So the Last Supper comes along and Jesus tells them "This is my Body, this is my Blood, do this in remembrance of me" Then he goes off ad gets crucified. Then comes Easter when the Church is made manifest and they have this instruction to give out his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. Yet in their understanding they are no further forward. But this time they were full of Faith. They did not understand but if Jesus said it was true then it was true.
When I was growing up and argued about the early Church I had very little evidence to produce. What the Fathers in the early Church said was a mystery and only a few people had access to the documents. But now on the internet every document of the Early Church can be put up and examined. So let us examine a few to see if what I say is true.
St Ignatius of Antioch "Take note of those who hold hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which have 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 Saviour Jesus Christ, flesh that suffered for our sins and that the Father in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny this gift of God are pushing in their disputes".
You can see at once that Ignatius is talking about the Body that was offered up and the Blood that was shed. Hence they are denying the word of Christ at the last supper and are refusing to pray the Mass just like many today. The quote is from a letter Ignatius wrote to the Smyrnaeans around 110AD
ST JUSTIN, MARTYR. 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 has been washed in the washing for the remission of sins for regeneration {baptism} AND IS THEREBY LIVING AS CHRIST ENJOINED.
First Apology {151AD}
So how many people on a Sunday approach the Eucharist living as Christ enjoined? But let me take this further with my last quote, I could quote Turtullian, Clement, Origin, so many others but let the final word on the blog go to St Cyprian of Carthage.
"Paul threatens moreover the stubborn and forward, and denounces them saying 'He who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord' {1 Corinthians 11:27} All these warnings being scorned and despised {lapsed Christians will often take Communion} before their sin is expiated, before confession is made of their crime, before their conscience has been purged by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offence of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, violence is done to his body and blood and they sin against the Lord with their hand and their mouth than when they denied their Lord Jesus. {The Lapsed 251AD
This is an interesting writing. Yes, people who offend God constantly and ignore his commandments can be put into the role of the lapsed so are we happy that God is pleased with everyone going to Communion and few people going to confession. The Sacrament of Confession is established here.
There is another interesting point for me. If people offend with their hands it seems to indicate that they did in fact receive Communion on the Hand. For me the St Cyril of Jerusalem example to introduce them was not convincing for I read the full quote.
were those who wanted the word of Christ to be reasonable and understandable and in full accordance with human reason. They constantly disparaged things they could not understand. It all had to make sense.
If we turn to John 6 we can read the account of how Jesus challenged people to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They did no understand a word of what he said and 'followed Him no more'. Then Jesus turned to his disciples "Will you also leave me". The response came from Cephas, the rock, Peter. "Lord to whom shall we turn for you have the message of etermal life" Notice that he did not say "Of course not Jesus, we understand every word you said". They very much did not but if Jesus said it then it was true. So the Last Supper comes along and Jesus tells them "This is my Body, this is my Blood, do this in remembrance of me" Then he goes off ad gets crucified. Then comes Easter when the Church is made manifest and they have this instruction to give out his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. Yet in their understanding they are no further forward. But this time they were full of Faith. They did not understand but if Jesus said it was true then it was true.
When I was growing up and argued about the early Church I had very little evidence to produce. What the Fathers in the early Church said was a mystery and only a few people had access to the documents. But now on the internet every document of the Early Church can be put up and examined. So let us examine a few to see if what I say is true.
St Ignatius of Antioch "Take note of those who hold hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which have 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 Saviour Jesus Christ, flesh that suffered for our sins and that the Father in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny this gift of God are pushing in their disputes".
You can see at once that Ignatius is talking about the Body that was offered up and the Blood that was shed. Hence they are denying the word of Christ at the last supper and are refusing to pray the Mass just like many today. The quote is from a letter Ignatius wrote to the Smyrnaeans around 110AD
ST JUSTIN, MARTYR. 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 has been washed in the washing for the remission of sins for regeneration {baptism} AND IS THEREBY LIVING AS CHRIST ENJOINED.
First Apology {151AD}
So how many people on a Sunday approach the Eucharist living as Christ enjoined? But let me take this further with my last quote, I could quote Turtullian, Clement, Origin, so many others but let the final word on the blog go to St Cyprian of Carthage.
"Paul threatens moreover the stubborn and forward, and denounces them saying 'He who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord' {1 Corinthians 11:27} All these warnings being scorned and despised {lapsed Christians will often take Communion} before their sin is expiated, before confession is made of their crime, before their conscience has been purged by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offence of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, violence is done to his body and blood and they sin against the Lord with their hand and their mouth than when they denied their Lord Jesus. {The Lapsed 251AD
This is an interesting writing. Yes, people who offend God constantly and ignore his commandments can be put into the role of the lapsed so are we happy that God is pleased with everyone going to Communion and few people going to confession. The Sacrament of Confession is established here.
There is another interesting point for me. If people offend with their hands it seems to indicate that they did in fact receive Communion on the Hand. For me the St Cyril of Jerusalem example to introduce them was not convincing for I read the full quote.
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