Note from the Author: I do not intend to chastise or otherwise condemn my Christian brothers and sisters. The purpose of this article and series of writings regarding the topic of Christian Misconceptions about the Catholic Church is to clarify the actual position of the church and our true beliefs as Catholics. I hope it starts a friendly dialogue between believers of different denominations and instigates not argument but deep thought about the teachings of Christ, Scripture, and the importance of sacred tradition passed down by the His disciples. We know how badly the world needs and would benefit from a unified congregation of believers. Each of us has received profound and unique gifts from God, which we ought to use to glorify Him. It is my personal belief that these gifts are best exercised under the unity and authority of the Catholic Church. However, I realize for some there are large stumbling blocks preventing this and many will cringe at my latter sentence. In any case, I hope at least these writings again, clarify the actual beliefs of Catholics and the Catholic Church and reinforce the common ground we already share as those who have faith in Christ.
A few of the things I hear frequently as a Catholic from other Christians is the lack of trust or belief in a “manmade” structure and religion (the Catholic Church). I find the views that most Christians hold the Catholic Church in contempt for, is not the Catholic Church at all. The “religion” they dislike and accuse of blasphemy, idolatry, and legalism, is not the Catholic Church but rather what they think the Catholic Church is. These misconceptions include the alleged "worship of Mary and the Saints", "cannibalism", the authority of the Priesthood to forgive sins through Christ, and many others. This series of articles is not intended to exhaustively address these misunderstandings, however, it will provide a brief introduction to the Sacraments of the Catholic Church and their backing by the Word of God.
Jesus Christ instituted the Seven Sacraments. The word sacrament is derived from the Latin word sacrō meaning “hallow or consecrate” and from sacer meaning “sacred or holy”. The Sacraments are an “outward sign of divine grace” and can be spiritual or physical. All seven sacraments originate from Christ, the Catholic Church cannot institute or create more. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is a document presenting all the official teachings of the Catholic Church. Its reference is essential to truly understand (if that is what one desires) the Universal Church’s position on faith and morality. Catholics are “Christians” but not all “Christians” are Catholic. The term “Christian” will primarily refer to non-Catholic Christians in this article and subsequent writings.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
Sacrament 2. The Eucharist/Holy Communion
“…Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “take, eat; this is my body.” 27And he took a chalice, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, “Drink it, all of you’ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-27).
I read the first verse 45 times from 45 different Bible translations. Matthew 26:26 clearly records Jesus saying, “This is my body”, in all 45 versions. This sentence also appears in each of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (see the last section of this article).
“The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ ‘The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch…it is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1324-1325)
Eucharist is called “Eucharist” as an act of thanksgiving; derived from Greek (eucharistein and eulogein) to call on the Jewish blessings that proclaim during a meal God’s works, creation, redemption, and sanctification. It is also called The Holy Sacrifice because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. It completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. It is called Holy Communion, “because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.” (CCC 1328/1331)
Bread and Wine
“Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord.” If, upon standing before God, we are compelled beyond human understanding to acknowledge the glory of God in this way, how then do we expect God to present Himself such that we will not tremble in fear? If at the moment of full realization of God’s glory we are likely to obey out of fear, does it make sense that God would conceal himself to the humble and meek of heart? “At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (Matthew 11:25).
It is evident that God does not want to make us fearfully obedient to him. He wants us to choose to follow, to hear, and to love Him. God seems to disguise himself in the smallest of ways—the homeless on the street, the friend struggling and in need, loving family and friends that listen and care. He seems to hide in plain sight within those that allow His light to shine through their words and actions. Perhaps through those who are humble, joyful, patient, kind, considerate, and empathetic; who choose to serve others with sacrifice and love. It is often through subtlety that Christ reveals himself.
“In the Old Covenant, bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God’s faithfulness to his promises.” (CCC 1334)
“The ‘cup of blessing’ at the end of the Jewish Passover meal…When Jesus instituted the Eucharist (John 6:30-71), he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.” (CCC 1334)
Worship as Sacrifice
God has asked His people to worship through animal sacrifice for thousands of years.
“When the sin that you have committed is made known to you, you shall bring a female goat without blemish as your offering, for the sin that you have committed…Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the sin that you have committed, and you shall be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:28/35)
“If, however, the person cannot afford an animal of the flock, that person shall bring to the Lord as reparation for the wrong committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a purification offering and the other for a burnt offering… Thus the priest shall make atonement on the person’s behalf for the wrong committed, so that the individual may be forgiven.” (Leviticus 5:7/10)
“According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)
“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.” (Genesis 8:20)
John the Baptist the day of Jesus’ baptism, “The next day he say Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)
Bishop Robert Barron surveyed Catholics and asked what John the Baptist meant by this verse.
“Every person responded, ‘it means he’s gentle and innocent like a lamb”. He continued, “John is the son of a priest, which means he grew up very well acquainted with what happened in the (Jewish) temple—which was above all animal sacrifice. Historians have remarked that of all things in the ancient world, animal sacrifice would likely surprise us most. Nearly every ancient culture worshiped in this way.”
John did not say, ‘oh look there’s the great moral teacher who takes away the sin of the world by giving us new moral instruction’ or ‘oh there’s the great psychological counselor who helped us deal with our problems’…no, rather he said, ‘Here is the Lamb of Sacrifice who will take away the sin of the world’…what could that possibly mean?”
-Bishop Robert Barron
Eucharistic Miracles
Several different Eucharistic hosts (the Body and Blood of Christ) miraculously transformed into visual flesh and/or blood. They were independently tested and ALL miracles ranging a span of 1200 years returned identical results:
-The flesh is human myocardium tissue of the left ventricle of an inflamed heart
-The blood type is AB
It is worth repeating, every Eucharistic miracle tested returned these results.
Full article available: https://media.ascensionpress.com/2021/11/03/the-amazing-science-of-recent-eucharistic-miracles-a-message-from-heaven/
Difficult to Accept
This teaching on the Eucharist is often challenged by non-Catholic Christians of nearly all denominations. Christ also encountered heavy resistance to this teaching. Many of His followers were divided and left because of Christ’s teaching on the Eucharist. “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60)
You might say, how can this actually be his real body and real blood? The Jewish people asked him the same thing,
52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 61 Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? 62 What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.
John 6:52-65
One might say, he’s talking about the spiritual bread, not actual flesh because of verse 63 above. Christ says, “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending…it is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” This appears to be talking about listening to the spirit and following that over the flesh. THE flesh is of no avail, not HIS flesh. Jesus is a wise man who builds His house on the rock, if it was merely spiritual bread, he would be directly contradicting Himself when He says, “This is my body.” Christ cannot contradict Himself nor can a follower of Christ (Christian) by preaching against this teaching.
Mass vs Service
At the heart of worship in the Catholic Church is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior. “…do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice. The victim is one and the same.” (CCC 1367)
“The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church…it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood: ‘Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers” (CCC 1545)
Thus, the Mass in the Catholic Church is not merely a “service”, nor merely a reading of the Bible, nor a place to have your cup filled. The Mass is a sacrifice.
Conclusion
I cannot begin to explain nor understand quite how Christ transforms bread and wine into His Body and His Blood. I suppose that many at the time of Jesus also could not understand how He raised Lazarus, cured lepers, healed paralytics, or turned water into wine. If this IS His Body and Blood, are we cannibals? I don’t know.
It seems to me, the spiritual realm exists on a dimension far exceeding our three here on Earth. In the same way, if we place our finger on a tabletop and assume the plane of the tabletop exists in the X and Y directions (two dimensions), these two dimensions cannot see the third dimension. Although it cannot see the third, it may perceive the higher-order dimension. In our example, the tabletop would feel pressure on a particular location in the two-dimensional plane from the finger. Perhaps, in a similar way, we cannot fully understand God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit or some of His teachings, but maybe we can detect the presence of God and His workings in our lives.
I’d like to invite us to lower our defenses and become toward Christ as a child is—receptive, docile, and eager to learn and follow. If Christ says, “This is my body”, who are we to question the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?
Have mercy on us, Lord.
o “Drink it, all of you’ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” Matthew 26:26
o “While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)
o “Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)
o So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” (John 6:53-54)
o Do not be afraid:
Jesus Walks on the Water 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I;[c] do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
The Bread from Heaven 22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 But some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which[d] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir,[e] give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away, 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”[f] 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot,[g] for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.” (John 6:16-71; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6&version=NRSVUE)