Couple of months ago, I responded to a YouTube video (unfortunately the video has been removed already) and this was what I wrote to her:
God will always have mercy on you so long as you pray sincerely and ask for forgiveness. Go back to your old church during the daytime and just sit there and feel the comfort and love that fills you. After 20 years, I
went to confession & then communion & I knew I wanted God back
in my life & I needed to be around people who also felt that way. So
go to mass, start studying about our beautiful faith & pray the Rosary for grace to help you thru. I don't know you but I will pray for you even though your comment was 1 yr ago.
To those whom doubt the Eucharist but believe Christ is Lord, Please remember that Jesus Said:
"I AM the living bread which came down from heaven... except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood; you shall not have life in you... He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day... my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed... he that eateth this bread shall live forever..." Read John 6:36-67
1st Century Christian and student of St. John the Evangelist said:
"They that abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2--7:1 [A.D. 110]). - St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch
Justin Martyr said:
"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."Justin Martyr, First Apology, 66 (c. A.D. 110-165).
John 6:27,31,49 - there is a parallel between the manna in the desert which was physically consumed, and this "new" bread which must be consumed.
John 6:51-52- Jesus says that the bread He is referring to is His flesh. The Jews take Him literally and immediately question such a teaching. How can this man give us His flesh to eat?
John 6:53 - 58 - Jesus does not correct their literal interpretation. Instead, Jesus eliminates any metaphorical interpretations by swearing an oath and being even more literal about eating His flesh. In fact, Jesus says four times we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Catholics thus believe that Jesus makes present His body and blood in the sacrifice of the Mass. Protestants, if they are not going to become Catholic, can only argue that Jesus was somehow speaking symbolically.
John 6:23-53 - however, a symbolic interpretation is not plausible. Throughout these verses, the Greek text uses the word "phago" nine times. "Phago" literally means "to eat" or "physically consume." Like the Protestants of our day, the disciples take issue with Jesus' literal usage of "eat." So Jesus does what?
John 6:54, 56, 57, 58 - He uses an even more literal verb, translated as "trogo," which means to gnaw or chew or crunch. He increases the literalness and drives his message home. Jesus will literally give us His flesh and blood to eat. The word "trogo" is only used two other times in the New Testament (in Matt. 24:38 and John13:18) and it always means to literally gnaw or chew meat. While "phago" might also have a spiritual application, "trogo" is never used metaphorically in Greek. So Protestants cannot find one verse in Scripture where "trogo" is used symbolically, and yet this must be their argument if they are going to deny the Catholic understanding of Jesus' words. Moreover, the Jews already knew Jesus was speaking literally even before Jesus used the word "trogo" when they said "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" (John 6:52).
John 6:55 - to clarify further, Jesus says "For My Flesh is food indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed." This phrase can only be understood as being responsive to those who do not believe that Jesus' flesh is food indeed, and His blood is drink indeed. Further, Jesus uses the word which is translated as "sarx." "Sarx" means flesh (not "soma" which means body). See, for example, John1:13,14; 3:6; 8:15; 17:2; Matt. 16:17; 19:5; 24:22; 26:41; Mark 10:8; 13:20; 14:38; and Luke 3:6; 24:39 which provides other examples in Scripture where "sarx" means flesh. It is always literal.
John 6:55 - further, the phrases "real" food and "real" drink use the word "alethes.""Alethes" means "really" or "truly," and would only be used if there were doubts concerning the reality of Jesus' flesh and blood as being food and drink. Thus, Jesus is emphasizing the miracle of His body and blood being actual food and drink.
John 6:60 - as are many anti-Catholics today, Jesus' disciples are scandalized by these words. They even ask, "Who can 'listen' to it (much less understand it)?" To the unillumined mind, it seems grotesque.
John 6:61-63 - Jesus acknowledges their disgust. Jesus' use of the phrase "the spirit gives life" means the disciples need supernatural faith, not logic, to understand His words.
The Eucharist - Steve Ray
Former Baptist preacher, Steve Ray defending the Eucharist using history, the Church Fathers, Scripture, etc. "To be deep in history is to cease being Protestant" - John Henry Cardinal Newman. http://www.catholic-convert.com/ is Steve Ray's site,
After watching the video
above and reading some comments, I couldn't stop myself from replying on some
of the comments (below). If you will watch the video, just scroll down the comments and
replies to see how others reacted to the video.
There are people who say that they don't need to go to church to follow Jesus. To those I ask: If you don't go to church, where do you receive the Eucharist? Jesus said in John6:53 that we must eat His body and drink His blood in order to be saved.
"The idea that the Eucharist would be required more than once in your life is ludicrous and baseless."
You are misunderstanding what reception of the Eucharist does. The effects of receiving the Eucharist are:
1. Union, by love, with Christ
2. An increase in sanctifying grace in the soul when received by a "living member of the Church" (i.e., one who is in a state of grace)
3. The blotting out venial sin and preserving the soul from mortal sin, in proportion to the communicant's devotion
4. The rewards promised by Christ in His words, "He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up on the last day."
Given these effects, why wouldn't a person want to receive the Eucharist more than once during their lifetime?
Receiving the Eucharist is an act of intimate union between the communicant and God. Why would a person want to experience that union only once in their life?
+Harry Pearson - If you can't get into heaven without partaking of the Eucharist, then it is a need. We all need it.
You said:
"And it definitely isn't an argument you can honestly put forth as one with which to force your own church on other faiths"
I'm forcing anything onto anybody. I'm just sharing what the Catholic Church teaches. Anyone who hears me is free to accept or reject what I'm sharing. There is no forcing involved. Accusing a person with whom you disagree of forcing their beliefs on others is a classic silencing tactic. It is a tactic that won't work on me.
You said:
"John 6:53 which you so flippantly quoted does not support the totality of your view on the eucharist."
How do you know you're interpreting John 6:53 correctly?
"You clearly can not defend the weekly or "as often as possible" or even the yearly frequency requirement from scripture or you would already have done it. "
Why do you want me to "defend it from scripture"? What difference would it make to you, since you're an atheist? You don't believe the Bible is the Word of God, right?
+Paul Schlenker I'm a protestant of 38yrs and a Baptist deacon of 20yrs, who came in the church in 7/30/11. in 2yrs I miss weekly mass only 2 time. the eucharist is my food. who would go with eating a year. I think a catholic who gone out of the catholic church, the 1st. thing to go is the eucharist. god is good. peace. p.s. acts 20:7 the first day of week the disciples came together to break bread (eucharist).
Thank you for sharing, +floyd rains. When I hear that a person has left the Catholic Church, or says that they don't need to go to church to be a Christian, one of the first things I ask them is where they're getting the Eucharist. Jesus said that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will not be saved.
+Paul Schlenker
in John chp 6 Jesus was talking about His saving blood sacrifice when He said eat my flesh and drink my blood. catholics take this very literally. Jesus wasnt telling us to really eat His body and drink His blood bcuz then we would be committing canabolism from heart. His blood sacrifice saves us, we can not go one day without trusting and believing in Him. His supper is a feast celebration to praise and thank Him for conquering sin, satan and death. just bcuz an individual doesnt eat His supper every day doesnt mean that that individual doesnt have Him in their lives. in the NT the believers would gather at different homes to break bread celebrating the death/sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, there was no priest there to offer Jesus to the heavenly Father.
+bornagainsaint1 - If Jesus wasn't speaking literally, why didn't He say so when so many of His disciples turned to leave Him? He didn't clarify because He meant what He said in a literal sense.
Partaking of the Eucharist isn't cannablism for several reasons. Unlike cannibalism, nobody dies when the Eucharist is eaten. Also, there is no literal flesh and blood consumed. The Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.
+Paul Schlenker
He did, in John 6:63.
why would Jesus hide under the appearances of bread and wine? He has already come in the flesh and He did not hide Himself, He really died on the cross as a blood sacrifice for the sins of the world. there has to be a real bloody death in order for a sacrifice to satisfy sin. there is no real bloody death on a catholic altar, therefore the sacrifice of the mass is false, it mocks and makes fun of Jesus' real saving blood sacrifice.
you admitted there is no literal flesh and blood consumed - and this is exactly what Jesus cleared up in John 6:63 to the crowd around Him. so why would the church accuse Jesus of not explaining that to the crowd that was around Him. if Jesus is under/hidden in the appearances of bread and wine then what are catholics really eating? His supper is celebrated in remembrance of His blood sacrifice.
+bornagainsaint1 - We could sling scripture passages back and forth for days and not get anywhere. What it boils down to is this: how do we know whose interpretation of a given scripture passage is correct? How do you know your interpretation of scripture is correct? Why should I accept your interpretation? What authority do you have to interpret scripture? If you believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding you to the correct interpretation of scripture, how do you know the Holy Spirit isn't guiding me to the correct interpretation of scripture?
+Paul Schlenker
Jesus suffered a horrible agonizing torturous death for all of us who believe, He actually went thru what we deserve. His resurrection proves and agrees with His Father that His saving blood sacrifice has accomplished forgiveness. read the book of Hebrews, Jesus died once. He doesnt need to keep coming back in the "flesh" to be re-offered/re-presented in a different kind of sacrifice back to the Father over and over "under" the appearances of bread and wine as an unbloody sacrifice. in the book of Acts 1:9-11, it says that we will see Jesus come back the same way He ascended back to His Father. He doesnt need to hide under or within bread and wine.
+Paul Schlenker help me if I'm off in this. moses transforms water in to blood. it's not a symbol. jesus transforms water into wine. not a symbol. jesus by his priests transforms wine in to blood and the bread in to his body. not a symbol. the sacrifice was not completed by the death of the lamp. but the eating of it's flesh. not a symbol. all so bread of the face (panim) ex. 25:23-24, 29-30. not a symbol. god is god peace.
Literally some people says the Holy Eucharist is just another Catholic work of pagan fiction designed to give people an impression that it has some Biblical foundation…WHICH IT DOES NOT! They say it is an oldest and sacred ritual in honor of cannibalism consuming victims flesh and blood. THEY SAY THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS AND OBEY HIM (Jesus specifically gave His instructions on what to do during the Last Supper) and YET THEY DO OTHERWISE (these people just do all they can to twist and mislead people): 1) Matthew 26:26 And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. 2) Mark 14:24 And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many. 3) 1 Corinthians 11:25 In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. Literally & spiritually 150,000 people witnessed the TRUTH and they are not liars:http://catholicsilentcrusade.blogspot.com/2013/09/10-triumph-of-blessed-sacrament-history.html Truly seek the truth with your heart with open mind but not just by your mind. Also do not preach the truth when you don't have it....you can only share what you have, what you don't have you can't share. If they are not the truth then they are not. What is not of Jesus is of man and liars. The father of all lies is Satan. Thanks Steve for you speak the TRUTH. Pls continue your good works as Jesus will always be with you....in your heart. God Bless Silent Crusader http://catholicsilentcrusade.blogspot.com/2013/08/1-look-at-birds-in-sky-they-do-not-sow.html
There are people who say that they don't need to go to church to follow Jesus. To those I ask: If you don't go to church, where do you receive the Eucharist? Jesus said in John 6:53 that we must eat His body and drink His blood in order to be saved.
CCC #1367 #1414, the New St Joseph Baltimore Catechism pg 175, Faith of Millions pg 258 all say the same thing: Jesus comes down to a catholic altar allowing a priest to offer Him back to His Father in a different manner - unbloody. not according to Hebrews.
if the RCC believes they dont offer again His blood to His Father, then why did this same church create the doctrine of transubstantiation?
This is a wonderful video. Thank you Steve Ray. Jesus said he would be with us always even unto the end of the world and that didn't mean only in a spiritual but in a REAL sense. He is really with us, body, blood, soul and divinity EVERYDAY all over the world. I'm sure non-Catholic Christians love Our Lord and sincerely seek to obey him but they are missing out on really receiving Him.
Seems that the bloke who introduced the dogma of transubstantiation was the same bloke that ordered crusades and wiped out 20,000 Albigensian Christians. None other than Pope Innocent III. So you could eat God in the morning and kill heretics in the afternoon. Where do I sign up?
hi its me. look at the Ante Nicene Fathers. they believed in it. it was only needed to be made official in the 12th century because nobody debated it until then.
Jesus first said His flesh was true food and that it would be in the guise of bread. you seem to like to ignore scripture a lot more than any catholic i know.
I really didn't know that there are quite a number of converts to catholic, I always thought it's the other way around.. I'm born a Catholic but thanks to God and dr. steve, I'm more than just a catholic now 'cause God blessed me with answers regarding doctrinal issues.. God bless everyone!
steve go back to Jesus. the bible doesnt say that Jesus comes down to an altar for a priest to offer/re-present Jesus back to His Father. Hebrews says that Jesus offered/presented Himself once to His Father on the cross, He said "Father I give you my spirit". He doesnt offer Himself daily. in John chp 6 Jesus is saying that we must take His blood sacrifice very seriously, eating the bread & wine reminds us of that & reading the bible also reminds us of His saving blood sacrifice. BTW what parts of His body are we suppose to be eating according to the RCC?
Literally some people says the Holy Eucharist is just another Catholic work of pagan fiction designed to give people an impression that it has some Biblical foundation…WHICH IT DOES NOT! They say it is an oldest and sacred ritual in honor of cannibalism consuming victims flesh and blood.
THEY SAY THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS AND OBEY HIM (Jesus specifically gave His instructions on what to do during the Last Supper) and YET THEY DO OTHERWISE (these people just do all they can to twist and mislead people):
1) Matthew 26:26 And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body.
2) Mark 14:24 And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.
3) 1 Corinthians 11:25 In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me.
Truly seek the truth with your heart with open mind but not just by your mind. Also do not preach the truth when you don't have it....you can only share what you have, what you don't have you can't share. If they are not the truth then they are not. What is not of Jesus is of man and liars. The father of all lies is Satan.
+Tony Morales
what parts of His body are we suppose to be eating when transubstantiation takes place? the bible says do not eat blood. do catholics really believe that they are really eating His body and drinking His blood?
+bornagainsaint1
You have taken the words of Jesus literally. Jesus always speak spiritually and mostly in parables. Most humans would always literally explain things: ex "clean the bathroom and use your head" - would this mean literally use the head to clean the bathroom?
Jesus once told Judas "Judas use your heart and not your mind, but open up your heart and your mind." Are we to use knife to cut open our heart and our brain?
The bible has deeper spiritual meaning than the words themselves. Judas almost always was confused by Jesus parables. When asked, Jesus explained that He speaks in parables because He knows that only those who sees the TRUTH will understand his parables and said many will not understand which is still true even up to this day. The Bible is our spiritual GPS to show our souls the direction to reach heaven. The Bible is not the life itself, it is Jesus the author of the Bible and life itself. No one can go to the Father except thru Him. No one can reach heaven without His life.
There is nothing impossible with God but man limits God within the limits of one's capacity to understand and believe.
At the last supper He took bread and consecrated-blessed it (spiritually converting the bread as His body to symbolize life for He is life). He didn't cut His own flesh and give to His disciples. When he consecrated and blessed the wine which turns spiritually as His blood and gave to His apostles, He did not cut his own flesh and let His own real blood drip into the cup for His apostles to drink. And He said "do this in memory of me" which means we do this as often as possible. There is no limitation. What is blowing in the wind we will never understand but Jesus does. We cannot explain why wind blows gently in our face that gives us a nice feeling but Jesus does.
As mortal we need food to keep our body alive....spiritually we also need food to keep our soul alive. Our souls without the Holy Spirit are dead. They are dead because we commit sins. When we commit sins we closed our souls from the Holy Spirit. And when our souls continues to be dead until our human body dies, that is when the soul is condemned to eternal damnation. The bread and wine are our spiritual food for our souls. We need Jesus daily and every second of our lives for our souls to stay alive with the Holy Spirit.
Syllogism: Without Jesus, we will not have the Holy Spirit for they are one and the same. If we don't have the Holy Spirit in our soul then we don't have God and if we don't have God we have no heaven. If we don't have heaven we will only have hell.
Everyday when we pray to Jesus we are actually inviting Him to be our life and light for the day and that in itself keeps our souls spiritually alive. It is important for all mankind to pray everyday for Jesus to keep our souls alive .
When we sin we die spiritually and only when we are nourished by Jesus' that our soul is filled with the Holy Spirit and we become alive spiritually once again.
Besides our own sins one way to kill our soul is not to forgive anyone for Jesus will ask: How can I forgive you when you don't to forgive yourself. We do to others what we want Jesus to do to us as well.
you: the bible doesnt say that Jesus comes down to an altar for a priest to offer/re-present Jesus back to His Father.
me: it sure does. did you miss the Holy Thursday narratives?
Jesus' blood sacrifice was once and it was sufficient, He pleased His Father, His sacrifice satisfied sin Isa 53. He doesn't need to come down to an altar to be re-offered and re-presented back to His Father in an unbloody manner over and over, there must be a real shedding of blood, a real death, Heb 9, but bcuz there is no real bloody death/sacrifice on a catholic altar, then this sacrifice of the mass is false and it doesn't satisfy sin.
+bornagainsaint1
i'm glad we are getting to the meat and potatoes of this. first, you are making a serious mistake in your understanding of the Eucharist and Mass. Catholics dont "offer again" the Blood of Jesus. It is the same sacrifice as 2000 years ago, made present now. So you are right to say, once was sufficient; we agree. the Mass is a participation in that one offering. Because the Eucharist is Jesus:body, blood, soul and divinity, it is really a making present of that Sacrifice of Calvary.
What is Jesus's very first miracle? It's "transubstantiation" turning water into wine. Read the "hard" teaching in John 6:54. Does Jesus provide any "proof" or "evidence" He means what He says? Read 6:62 in context as Jesus provides the "proof" that will get all to believe in His "hard" teaching. Lastly, if you doubt GOD can transubstantiate the host during the priestly consecration, then wouldn't you have to be consistent and logically doubt all other miracles in the bible too? Come to believe in His real presence.
Put yourself in Jesus shoes repeating four times a "hard" teaching to shocked Jewish followers. Would you not want to provide some form of "evidence" to back up your claim? Read John 6:62 in proper context as Jesus provides evidence He means what He says. Come to believe in the real presence. God's blessings.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, in Heaven and earth, during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
Thank you Steve for your humility in accepting the simple Teachings of Christ through His Church!!!
Wow, awesome talk by Dr. Ray, it made a lot of sense. The Eucharist is one of the Biggest reasons why I will never leave the Catholic Church. I'll also add that really like Dr. Steve Ray's humor. :)
Video Sancto...could you check out my blog at: eucharist-emc2.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html... I just finished listening to this Steve Ray teaching and when he finished with the analogy to the sun...I was moved to send it to you and him.
a protestant of 38 yrs a baptist deacon of 20. i came home to the mother church 7/30/11. my 20 yrs was a deacon not one time did i believe it to be a symbol.
A couple of years ago I
wrote of an unusual experience I had at Mass wherein a person who
was troubled by a demon had those demons manifest themselves at the
consecration, causing the person to run out of the Church. More on that
in a moment.
I thought of that long-ago incident in relation to the current events transpiring in Oklahoma City,
where a satanic cult stole the Eucharist from a Catholic parish and
announced plans to desecrate it at a satanic “mass” in
September. Archbishop Paul Coakley filed a lawsuit, asking a judge to
stop the desecration by requiring the group to return the stolen
property. He indicated in the suit that the Host was to be desecrated in
the vilest ways imaginable as an offering in sacrifice to Satan.
But what is revealing here is what Msgr Charles Pope really experienced when he was celebrating a mass:
" But behind me there was a disturbance of some sort; a
shaking or rustling sound came from the front pews behind me to my
right. And then a moaning or grumbling. “What was that?” I wondered. It
did not really sound human, more like the grumbling of a large animal
such as a boar or a bear, along with a plaintive moan that also did not
seem human. I elevated the host and again wondered, “What was that?”
Then silence. As the celebrant in the ancient Latin Mass I could not
easily turn to look. But still I thought, “What was that?”WHAT WAS THAT? Please click on the link.
Carry Your Cross and Follow Christ There
is no doubt that our Pope is to suffer much for the love of Christ for
Jesus said that anyone who wishes to follow Him must take up and carry
his cross. When you love and follow Jesus, you will be humbled,
ridiculed, criticized or ostracized. Reward is in heaven and not here on
earth. There is no greater love than to serve God with no recourse for
one's safety or conditions. The pope's love for Christ is unconditional
and he is ready to accept all the sufferings just to be able to serve
God in his lifetime. I would if I have to just to earn the rewards of
heaven..
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