Eucharist VI The Plain Truth From The Bible
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THE PLAIN TRUTH FROM THE BIBLE
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT ST. PAUL AND THE EARLY CHURCH BELIEVED THAT WHAT THEY 'RECEIVED' AT "THE LORD'S SUPPER"
WAS THE TRUE "BODY & BLOOD" OF JESUS.
In First Corinthians St. Paul is sharing pastoral advice with a new Christian community.
1Cor 5:4b "When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,"
When you are "assembled", Paul is speaking of the celebration of the Eucharistic banquet.
St. Paul is basically saying; "When you gather together for Mass! This is what I ask of you."
1Cor 5:7 "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. [The "paschal lamb" was eaten to protect from death.]
8 Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Dr. Scott Hahn says that expression right there; "celebrate the festival," refers to the early Mass.
This Letter of St. Paul's to the Corinthians is a pastoral response to problems in the church at Corinth.
Paul covers many topics, as though he had a list. One topic is the exclusion of a man who is sinning.
Paul also talks of the Mass throughout this Letter. We have the verses that I just made reference to. He also refers to the "Real Presence".
St. Paul goes on to tell us about the immeasurable POWER that we have to carry out God's Will in our lives through the Grace given to us in the Holy Eucharist.
In 1 Cor 10:14-16 (RSV-CE)
14 "Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols.
15 I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"
Here we see Paul sharing with the believers at Corinth a sure "Truth".
We do not see him trying to convince anyone. He merely states that when the Corinthians, "assemble as a church"
(1 Cor. 11:18), the "cup" they drink is "the blood of Christ" & the bread is "the body of Christ".
First Paul tells us that God gives us a way to handle every trial.
Then he speaks of the "Real Presence" in a kind of "matter of fact" attitude.
St. Paul goes on to install restrictions in the, New 'tradition' (1Co 11:2). 1Co 11:22 Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Thereby, breaking up the 'festival' which was the Old Testament Passover, now become the New Covenant Celebration of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:20) .
There was a meal, a teaching and then the sharing of the Body and Blood of the Lord. St. Paul effectively breaks up the 'eating' part, "eat at home" (1 Cor 11:20-22). Then goes on to say, that some believers are getting sick and even dying as a result of not discerning " body and blood of the Lord."
1Cor 11:28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.
How can someone get sick or die from eating a symbol?
The Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition makes sense out of all the other Bibles.
For example; The King James says; 1Cor 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
Again, I ask, "Guilty of what?" A "symbol"? I doubt that people would be getting sick and even dying because they did not realize "discern" that they were eating and drinking a symbol of the body and blood of The Christ.
The (RSV-CE) 1 Cor 11:27 Therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of profaning the body and of the blood of the Lord.
That one word "profaning" makes sense out of the whole sentence. If, as we know from 1 Cor 10:14-17, St. Paul is talking of the Real Presence of The Body and Blood of The Lord, then this verse about 'discerning' and "sickness" and "death", and only then, can all this make sense.
You can not "profane" or "desecrate" a symbol. Only the True Real Presence of The Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ could be "profaned" and only that could one be "guilty" of.
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