The Politicization of the Eucharist

[@Valued_Member_of_the_Community]

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

[@caterinadc5567]

Thank you to Bishop Paprocki, and to each and every priest and bishop who faithfully lives out his vocation as a teacher of truth, guiding us ever closer to truth and communion with Jesus, and not leading us astray. Your voices are an encouragement for the laity who desire to live faithfully and want to see that leaders still ask for this.

[@bangtigor2816]

After a long journey outside the Catholic Church, I finally came back and always cry when receiving the Eucharist and of course all the Sacraments that I have received

[@JJKK408]

Thank you for this. While it discusses some individuals in the service of the Church who failed to uphold Church teaching and Canon Law, hearing the stories and statements that we do not often hear continues to give me hope and remind me that at its heart, the Church is divinely protected.

[@devon6294]

God wins!!!

[@Catechuman23]

It's a shame we feel compelled to applaud public figures being denied the Eucharist. Not a shame on us, shame on them, and on our culture.

[@Davidjune1970]

It’s great to see that humanity is the exact same as those chosen Jew’s by God of the Old Testament. Mostly disobedient. It wasn’t the Romans or the Jews who killed Jesus … it was all of humanity as we are as stubborn and disobedient. We are all Barabbas at times, all like Judas, occasionally like a saint.

[@OganySupreme]

42:50 This is an amazing point about paying taxes as Catholics.

[@MathAdam]

Primus

[@bobbyrice6847]

The eucharist hardly makes any exegetical since to start with. Tradition cannot be the will of God if it goes against the word of God. Jesus uses parallelism in this discourse to equate believing with eating his flesh. Note the parallel between verse 40 and verse 54: (Jn. 6:40) “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn. 6:54) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” According to this parallel, beholding and believing (v.40) are equated with eating and drinking Christ’s flesh (v.54). This is further paralleled by verse 35: (Jn. 6:35) I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. (Jn. 6:54) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” To “hunger” and “thirst” and parallel to the one who “eats” and “drinks.” But note what Jesus says satisfies our hunger: “He who comes to Me… he who believes in Me.” Jesus isn’t speaking about his literal flesh and blood any more than he is speaking about literal bread (Jn. 6:35) or literal water (Jn. 4:10-14). Indeed, Jesus uses the term sarx for his “body,” rather than the common term sōma (which was the common term used in the Lord’s Supper). Indeed, the “term ‘flesh’ is never used in the NT to refer to the Lord’s Supper.”[4] Hence, this seems “to caution against a sacramental or eucharistic understand of these verses.”[5] This is why Augustine of Hippo wrote regarding this passage: “Believe, and you have eaten.” Jesus works in metaphor’s, analogy and hyperbole. In Mark 8 Jesus uses bread language again anhesd calls out those confused thinking he’s being literal not realizing the spiritual message.

[@bobperk7028]

I'll be honest - I no longer care about my part in healing the Church. The Church is supposed to heal *us,* not the other way around.