tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post8833973023712217164..comments2024-03-25T13:40:30.747-04:00Comments on Faith and Theology: Sacramentum caritatisBen Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-7236384897915453382007-04-07T19:54:00.000-04:002007-04-07T19:54:00.000-04:00I agree with you completely, Ben. The Holy Father...I agree with you completely, Ben. The Holy Father's intentions are anything but to focus on the "crude conception" of eating and drinking Christ's Body and Blood. However, I would like to point out to Jeremy that this is only "crude" if you consider it purely from a human perspective (as you do). For those of us who look at the Holy Eucharist with the eyes of the Christian Faith, it is anything but crude. After all, it is God's greatest gift to mankind.<BR/><BR/>"Oh", but you might object, "it is not God's greatest gift. His greatest gift is His Son". I would reply to that: Precisely! The Eucharist IS the Son of God, and that is why we love it so much. The Holy Eucharist contains the fullness of the Mystery of Christ. This is why it is anything but "crude" to eat Our Lord's Body and drink His Blood. It is foolishness to the Jews, folly to the Greeks, but for those of us who believe, it is the Power and Wisdom of God (cf. 1Cor1:24)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-84697039616667637252007-03-29T23:48:00.000-04:002007-03-29T23:48:00.000-04:00Hi Jeremy. I appreciate your point of view -- but ...Hi Jeremy. I appreciate your point of view -- but perhaps it's rather skewed to interpret this passage simply as a statement of transubstantiation! After all, it's a thoroughly <I>ecumenical</I> point to say that Christ is present in the eucharist. And in any case, in this document Benedict XVI isn't interested in foregrounding transubstantiation. He does mention transubstantiation in §13 -- but his concern in this context is the very laudable one of emphasising the connection between eucharist, mission and Spirit. Thus he speaks of the importance of the liturgical "petition [<I>invocatio</I>] to the Father to send down the gift of the Spirit so that the bread and the wine will become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and that 'the community as a whole will become ever more the body of Christ'" (§13).<BR/><BR/>This certainly isn't just a crude conception of "literally digesting Christ's flesh and blood" -- it's much more profoundly concerned with the role of the Spirit in communicating Jesus Christ to us as the free gift of God's own self-giving love.Ben Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-51459802751817139162007-03-29T16:52:00.000-04:002007-03-29T16:52:00.000-04:00Even one of the statements you quote favorably is ...Even one of the statements you quote favorably is something Protestants would disagree with, at least as he intends it. He says, "The Eucharist makes us discover that Christ, risen from the dead, is our contemporary in the mystery of the Church, his body." <BR/><BR/>Well, yes, I suppose that's especially true of someone literally digesting his flesh and blood and making it part of themselves, which is almost certainly one thing he has in mind by saying that.Jeremy Piercehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03441308872350317672noreply@blogger.com