Communion: Real or Symbolic?

When I was 17 years old and attending the Presbyterian church, I was best friends with a Roman Catholic girl.

One day, my friend invited me to a special class that her church was having in regards to the different books and tools they use during mass.

I thought it would be a lot of fun. I didn't know much about Catholicism (Aside from what I had seen in movies) and I thought it would be really cool to learn about how they worshipped.

At the time, all the different items and prayers was a bit overwhelming to remember. But one thing that did stick out that the Deacon (Who was leading the class) said was this:

"One thing that makes our communion different from the Protestants is that we believe that the bread and wine are Christ's real Blood and not his Symbolic. For Christ said himself "This is my Body and Blood."

At the time, I couldn't believe what he just said. "His ACTUAL body and blood? That's not possible. Jesus just meant it figuratively. This guy does NOT know his Bible very well".

Well, it took almost a decade for the Teenage know it all to finally  realized that the deacon actually knew what he was talking about.

When I started attending the Anglican Catholic Church, Father nick brought up the subject of communion (Or Eucharist as it's more commonly known in the more liturgical church) and explained that In The Anglican Catholic Church, it is believed to be that it is, in fact, real.

I pondered this a bit. When I was in the Charismatic church, I was told Catholics only knew tradition and religion, and not the Bible.

But I knew Father Nick knew his word. He's a former priest of the Roman Catholic church, and left when he saw the corruption. Hence why he became an Anglo Catholic.

And from what he explained, every tradition in the Anglican Catholic church had a Biblical reasoning for it.

I later also learned that it wasn't just the Roman Catholic or Anglican Catholic church that held this same belief.

Episcopalians and Lutherans hold the same belief. So, I decided to research myself. Does the Bible say that the bread and wine (Or crackers and grape juice) is the ACTUAL body and blood of Christ.

I obviously started with Luke 22:19.

"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Only thing was,  growing up, I was taught that the "Do this in remembrance of me" part was Christ telling us, it was symbolic. So I kept digging.

John 6:52-58
"The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “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. So Jesus said to them, “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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”



That hit me. Christ said that it was, indeed, his body and blood.

It took me a while to comprehend. I would talk about this subject with some of my Evangelical friends, and most of the time would just scoff.

"Come on, April... We're not ACTUALLY eating Jesus! That makes no sense!:
"

And it didn't to me, for a while anyway. but then I remembered the old testament.

As a way of repentance for the Jews of the old testament, they would slaughter an animal. Sometimes cows, sometimes lambs,

 The reason why we no longer need to sacrifice our animals was because Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the lamb of God.

In old testament times, after they slaughtered the animal, they wouldn't just throw it away. they feasted on the lamb. Lamb's and cows were considered clean. It was one of the reasons why They could not slaughter pigs and other animals considered unclean.

Christ was the purest lamb and we consume his body and blood as channels of grace through him and into ourselves.


So when does the bread and wine stop being bread and wine?

Well, different denominations have different theories.

In the A.C.C., it is believed that when the Priest lays his hands on the cup and bread and says "This is my body/ blood" then it truly becomes so.

It's one of the reason why we bow towards the altar before we take our seats in the pews. On the altar, is, for lack of a better term, a safe, with the pre transubstantiated bread. It's kept there for safe keeping for when the priest needs to give the Eucharist at a moment's notice.  We bow to show our respect because the presence of Christ is in the Sanctuary.  We kneel while taking communion as a sign of respect because we are eating Christ's body and drinking his blood.

I hope this clears some things up for some of my Evangelical friends out there.

Also, I just started up a Twitter Account. You can find me @vieledanglican .

May the Lord be with you.




 

Praying to Saints?

So since I've been open about praying the Rosary, I've had quiet a few people express concern that I am "Praying" to saints.

I've mentioned in a previous blog that I am not praying to the saints but asking them to pray for me.

That blog can be found HERE!

Still, I have a lot of friends and family still convinced that I am praying to saints, and therefor, seeing them as gods.

This is FAR from the truth.

I want to make it very clear:

I pray TO God. Every Anglican does. If you pick up any Book of Common prayer, every single prayer is directed to God the father almighty.

so, what's the point of asking saints to pray? Why not always go directly to God?

well, let me ask YOU a question.

Have you ever dealt with something that burdened you? Maybe a particular sin you can't seem to shake?
 Or maybe a health issue?

Or a death in the family?

Sure! We all have. Now let me ask you this:

Have you ever gone to your family, friends, or fellow church members and asked them to pray FOR YOU?

I know almost everyone of my Christian friends do, because I see it on their Facebook statuses daily. You'll even see a prayer request on my wall on occasion.

So why ask them to pray for you if you can just go directly to God?

See the similarities?

Whenever I speak to a saint, I never ask them to deliver me or to cure me. I always ask them to pray for me.

Examples:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God (Again, Mary is the Mother of Christ who IS God. She is not the Mother of the father or the Holy spirit), pray for us sinners now and until the hour of our death."

or
"Saint Zachary, Patron saint of Peace, pray for us." etc.

Any prayer I send up to ask for forgiveness, healing, or strength, goes to God directly.

Another question I get constantly is "Is it Biblical"?

Actually, Yes! There are quiet a few passages in scripture in which it mentions the prayers of the saints in heaven.



  Hebrews 12:1
" Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us^[b] and persevere in running the race that lies before us "

Key words there being " Great Cloud of Witnesses". So that tells me, that all the saints that enter heaven (canonized or non) are looking over us.

 Psalm 103: 20-21
"Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!"

Psalms 148
"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"

In the book of Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.


 Angels do the same thing:

(Rev. 8:3–4).
"An angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the
smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God"

The Rich man in the book of Luke called out to the Father Abraham to intercede on his behalf.

Luke 16:24
"The rich man shouted, 'Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.'


So we do have some strong Biblical evidence that the saints pray for us and that the saints on earth asking the saints in Heaven to pray.


The church in heaven is very much alive. The saints that are in heaven are in heaven with God. They have achieved enteral Life. They are just as much apart of the Body of Christ as the church here on earth.
 
More so, even, since they resonate in the same Domain (Heaven) as the God-head (Trinity).

So if I am willing to go to my earthly mother and ask her for prayers when I am dealing with something difficult, why wouldn't I be willing to ask my spiritual Mother Mary for prayers?

 Now does this mean that every single Anglican asks the saints for intercession?

No. We have a lot of people who refuse to participate when we meet in the Archbishop's office on the occasional Sunday of reciting the Rosary.

Is it nessicary to be an Orthodox Christian and to ask the saint to intercede?

Of course not.

Why do it?

Well, besides Biblical evidence, I see it strengthens my relationship with Christ when I communicate with his family members.

Here on earth and those I shall meet in Paradise when that day should come.

It strengthens my prayer life, and there for, my faith. It what works for me and many other, but not everyone has to.

If you choose not to, that's fine.

Just please keep in mind, that those that do, are not worshiping the saints.

Before I go, I do want to leave a great Spoken Word by Father Pontifex, a Roman Catholic priest, who does great justice with this subject.

The Lord be With you.