1 Corinthians 11:27-30 ESV
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
For centuries the church’s leaders have gathered to debate, discuss, and decide on the official teachings. Here are 7 major lessons I’ve picked up on with references to official church teaching. They are the things I’ve gained along the way through conversations and curiosity.
1. The Catholic Church acknowledges all Christians as brothers and sisters. We are already family. So attending or even joining a Catholic Church is not ‘converting’ even though many will use the phrase “I converted to Catholicism.”. When I heard that phrase after I joined the church I tilted my head in confusion. I went to a priest and a teacher named Father Jeff Hebert. I said, “Father Jeff, why do people say ‘I converted to Catholicism?’” Before I even finished speaking he said bluntly, “I hate when people say that and I’ve instructed as many as I can to not say that!” We chuckled together since we were on the same page (albeit from very different angles since he’s so well versed and I’m just a newbie). He went on to explain the same reality that I had understood from the catechism: That, for many, conversion has already taken place and baptism in any Christian church (in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is accepted. Plus, the essence of our identity is not an ‘ism’ (i.e. Catholicism or Protestantism or Baptistism as if we could really even define these isms). Our conversion is about an identity and a relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. The work of that conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our participation at mass follows this conversion as an act of fellowship with those who have also been baptized into the body of Christ. I was baptized as an infant in Houston, Texas by my mother’s pastor. I was confirmed in the Catholic Church 46 years later. My baptism was recognized and unquestioned when I joined the Catholic Church. And my confirmation affirms that I am fully embraced by the church as I fully embrace the church as well.
2. Full understanding of doctrine or even agreement are not requirements or barriers for fellowship. The mass is a celebration in faith of a mystery. And every Sunday you will hear that word: mystery. The mystery of faith – “The Son of God died” (pause there and ponder the mystery). “The Son of God has risen” (pause there and ponder the mystery). “The Son of God will come again” (pause there and ponder the mystery). For me, engaging in the Catholic Church has been like finding a treasure house door. I wasn’t sure if could go in. I wasn’t sure if there were Indiana Jones style booby traps near the entrance that would swallow me up. But, after taking a relatively small step of faith I opened the door to find a treasure chest of wall-to-wall truth and fellowship, of floor-to-ceiling grace and mercy and filled with treasures in the hearts of people everywhere (imagine the scene from National Treasure 2 with Nicolas Cage if you saw it). In movies where people find a treasure house you don’t see them brisk through with a clipboard and start to take inventory of each artifact. Instead…you’ve seen the scene in so many stories…people walk around in wonder with their eyes popping open. It could be a ruby, it could be an emerald…who knows? Let’s explore. Let’s walk around. Let’s wonder. Let’s be curious not skeptical. Yes, you will learn things and find knowledge. Yes, you will experience dissonance and disagree with things. But, you’ll never give much or receive much as a skeptic. And you’ll like never get to the end of the treasure as a curious brother and sister. The church is not a warehouse of facts to inventory with strangers . It’s a treasure house of mystery to explore with family.
“He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end”
Ecclesiastes 3:11
3. The Eucharist is essentially a beautiful, long, communal prayer that mirrors the prayer of Christ Himself. The priest who presides over the Eucharist plays a very special role. And everyone in attendance at mass plays a very special role. As Christ presided over the Last Supper, a priest presides over the Eucharistic meal. Just as the disciples gathered around the table and joined Christ, so everyone who comes to mass truly participates and contributes. Among the many prayers the priest prays, he invokes the Holy Spirit to bless the elements and transform them into the “body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is why you will hear the phrase the “Real Presence” of Christ in the Eucharist. But, notice that he does not ‘presume’…he prays! At the very first Eucharist Jesus prayed. Jesus, the only Son of God gives thanks to God the Father (the word ‘Eucharist’ means to give thanks) and then extends to his disciples saying, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Notice He doesn’t say, “This is a lot like my body…” or “This bread is a symbol of my body.” And we recall in John 6 when Jesus says “Truly, 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.”
This might be a good time to play out an internal debate I comically play out between my historical ‘Protestant’ self and my current ‘Evangelical Catholic’ self. Growing up as a Protestant, whenever we would come across statements like this in the Bible, my teachers would quickly dismiss the language and help me quickly understand that what it says is not what it means. In hindsight these explanations were quite convenient. The dissonance and distraction was over for me and I could move on and chalk it up to a symbol or a clever metaphor (not a miracle). Easy. Now my Evangelical Catholic-self is asking these kinds of hard questions, “Ok…how do I explain the wedding at Cana? Was that just a symbolic story or did water actually become wine?” Or “What about the feeding of the five thousand? Did 5 loaves and 2 fish actually become enough to feed five thousand? How did Jesus stretch the molecules of that lunchbox of food to feed the masses? Why not just make it rain bread like in Exodus…Oh wait how did that happen?” Or my most common question I ask myself as a new, curious Evangelical Catholic, “Do I know everything? Don’t I have a lot to learn and couldn’t I learn from my brothers and sisters who seem to know a lot more than me about sacred Scripture, the early church tradition, church practice for centuries and current church teachings?” This has been so helpful because I can go to many people with my questions and I’ve yet to find anything but honest, helpful responses.
4. Members of the Catholic Church take the sacred Scripture very seriously but do not always have the same interpretation as their Protestant sisters and brothers. It’s easy to see how many Protestants arrive at a ‘symbolic’ interpretation of the Eucharist. Jesus said many extreme things right? So when He said, “This is my body” He really meant, “This is a symbol of my body” right? Catholics do take Jesus quite literally in this regard. So reading The Gospel of John chapter 6 is a very important scripture when understanding the Eucharist. You might remember that at the end of this discourse it says,
“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
John 6:66
Why would so many people leave Jesus if He said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you (symbolically) eat the flesh of the Son of Man and (symbolically) drink his blood, you do not have life within you?” Or, “Whoever (symbolically) eats my flesh and (symbolically) drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day?” Or “For my (symbolic) flesh is true food, and my (symbolic) blood is true drink. . . . Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who (symbolically) feeds on me will have life because of me?”
Jn 6:53-57 with my words in parentheses to describe what I understood earlier in my Christian life.
I’m not trying to be coy or explain away this mystery. But, I’ve never really thought about the fact that many people left Jesus over these words. And here we are still with great tension on the subject. Catholics are wondering why Protestants are giving less and less attention and honor to the Eucharist (frequency, form, etc.). And Protestants are wondering if Catholics are essentially… cannibals. That’s right. One of the most common questions I’ve had along with my Protestant brothers and sister is this: “Isn’t believing that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus kind of gross?!?! Isn’t that basically cannibalism!?!?”
5. Catholics are not cannibals. This is often a major misconception that I had as well. If people are saying that bread and wine become someone’s body and blood isn’t that a bit bizarre, even gross?!?! And how much of someone’s body can really go around? That would have run out within the first few days of the church right? As I entered the church, one of my mentors said to me, “Gordon, if you died right after communion and they did an autopsy on you, they would find… bread and wine.” “Wait,” I responded, “I thought you said it’s the body and blood of Christ?” He then continued to teach me about the mysteries of the Eucharist by referencing official teachings. This particular part would likely just benefit from a direct quote. Here’s a snippet from The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Though the bread and wine appear the same to our human faculties, they are actually the real body and blood of Jesus….Though Christ is substantially present—body, blood, soul and divinity—in the Eucharist, the accidents of bread and wine remain…Here it is important to define terms. When the Church teaches the bread and wine at Mass are transubstantiated into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, we have to understand what this means. The word, transubstantiation, literally means “transformation of the substance.” “Substance” refers to that which makes a thing essentially what it is. Thus, “substance” and “essence” are synonyms. For example, man is essentially comprised of body, soul, intellect, and will. If you remove any one of these, he is no longer a human person. The accidents or accidentals would be things like hair color, eye color, size, weight, etc. One can change any of these and there would be no change in the essence or substance of the person.
https://www.usccb.org/eucharist
6. Everyone who shows up is truly invited to the table, but not invited to change the celebration. The celebration is for all. And the invitation is for all. Eucharist means thanksgiving. So anyone who wants to join in giving thanks should come as a participant. I’m a blessed participant. Not the host.
Hosting is a very significant responsibility for the presiding priest, deacons, and others who dedicate their lives to many things, including both providing and protecting the sacred nature of the Eucharist. But, even a priest cannot change the nature of the invitation or the liturgy surrounding it. The entire mass is a communal prayer led by the priest and in conjunction with the entire congregation. The priest will pray a number of prayers (all which are available to everyone in writing to follow along), the congregation responds at many times in responses, affirmations and participation. It’s hard to spectate at mass. You need to participate. I count no less that 15 moments where the congregation through words and actions participates in the symphonic prayer led by the priest. This has actually been my favorite aspect of mass. In every other context (including many of my evangelical church experiences) I experience the service as more of a consumer and spectator, even feeling somewhat marketed to during the course of the service. So to experience myself as a necessary participant and a contributor has been amazing. It’s beautiful. It’s poetic. I’ve followed along with all the prayers and pray along in my heart.
And here’s what is really amazing…the very last words of the Eucharistic celebration are…mine. At the end of the prayer and preparation of the elements, the people come forward. Every time I see this I think about the feeding of the 5,000. A crowd of people line up, literally, to be fed. As you approach the table to partake of the Eucharistic meal, along with the priest or a lay person distributing it, two final professions are made. If you go to fast you might miss it. The priest or layperson who is serving says slowly and sincerely extending the host to each person, “The body of Christ.” And they wait and expect a simple but important affirmation when the person receiving says, “Amen.” Then you continue on to a priest (or lay person) who says slowly and sincerely to each person, “The blood of Christ.” And there again is the space for a simple but critical affirmation when the person receiving says, “Amen.” When and if you say “Amen” you are essentially affirming that everything the Priest has said and prayed is true. You might believe this because you are convinced by the Scriptures. You might believe this through simple faith. You might believe this because of your family tradition. But, your choice to say “Amen” is your response. It’s your choice. And you need to make it carefully.
Herein lies another irony. One the one hand, the priest is leading the Eucharistic celebration. But, on the other hand, it’s up to each individual to end the prayer with a simple, “Amen.” Here’s an interesting tidbit from research I did: “Use of the word ‘Amen’ in Jewish temple liturgy as a response by the people at the close of a doxology or other prayer uttered by a priest seems to have been common as early as the time of the 4th century BC. This Jewish liturgical use of amen was adopted by the Christians. Justin Martyr (2nd century AD) indicated that amen was used in the liturgy of the Eucharist and was later introduced into the baptismal service”(https://www.britannica.com/topic/amen-prayer). If you don’t say ‘Amen’ the priest will likely notice something is off. It could be an awkward moment since this is a very sacred thing. But, no worries, there are alternatives if you are not ready to say “Amen.”
7. There is more than one option for people who are not ready to say “Amen”. There are those who are not ready, willing, comfortable, or preferring to partake of the Eucharist. And yet the invitation goes out to those people with as much fervor as any other. You can stay seated and simply examine your own heart and life. I’ve done this many times. You can honor the body and blood of Christ that was shed for you from anywhere anytime. So, sitting in a pew does not mean someone is inactive in the celebration. You can also go forward and cross your arms across your chest to receive a blessing. I’ve done this many times. You can wait until after mass is over and start asking a lot of curious questions to people and priests. I’ve done this many times. This led to my participation in what’s called the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. During that time I confirmed so many things and experienced so many things. After that period I went through what is called the Sacrament of Confirmation. And there at my confirmation mass, November 25, 2018 I partook of my first communion with my Dad and my friend Daniel attending to support me.
This post is part 3 of 4. To read the final post “The Eucharist: What is the the invitation?” Click here. To go back to part 2 click here. To go back to part 1 click here.