Hot answers tagged communion
21
The only safe thing to do is to ask the priest beforehand. To willingly participate in someone else's communion when they would say "no" if they knew your story is offensive. As a result, the only option I see is to ask them.
If you explain your position, and that you are [insert denomination here], but visiting their congregation with your friends, is it ...
15
The answer is: "more than likely not".
Catholics do allow others to take part in the Holy Communion, but they maintain tight restrictions on this.
Guidelines for the Reception of Communion
For Other Christians
... Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and ...
10
As you note, there are lots of different traditions here. My ancestry is Scottish and some old Scottish churches only celebrate communion once a year. I've looked through the some liturgies for these services that basically run all day, and it's quite an affair. I have even heard it advocated that once in a life-time ought to do the job, sort of like ...
10
Symbolic meaning of the bread and wine
JW's do not accept transubstantiation (the unyeasted bread means/symbolizes Jesus' perfect and sinless body and the wine represents his blood he sacrificed to save humankind from the sinful state inherited by Adam and to seal the second covenant).
The biblical verses in the New World Translation (NWT), the ...
9
John's Gospel does not contain many of the things recorded in the Synoptics, including the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, the virgin birth, the Great Commission, and the Ascension. In fact, the only miracle outside of the Resurrection that appears in both the Synoptic gospels and John's gospel is the feeding of the 5,000.
This doesn't mean that ...
9
One aspect I don't see addressed in other posts is the significance of bread and wine. Yes, it's because that's what Jesus said to do, but he did not merely pick to random substances to represent himself.
Although I would argue that John 6 does not have sacramental overtones in mind per se, we do see Jesus using bread to represent himself. A couple of ...
9
This is the analogy that Jesus chose at his last supper.
Matt 26:26-29 (NIV)
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and
eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to
them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 ...
9
On the Meaning of Transubstantial
To me, the prefix "trans" is the key.
Transformation is change of form
Transmutation is change of shape
Transfiguration is change of appearance
Transubstantiation is the change of substance.
While often one will be related to another, it does not follow that there is a co-dependence. So, while it is possible that ...
8
Communion with bread and wine is common in most Christian denominations, although it can mean different things to different denominations (see What do different denominations mean when they talk about the Real Presence in the Eucharist?).
The bread and wine are from the Last Supper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Supper
The Last Supper is the final ...
8
It seems that regulations and opinions on this are varied. It depends (very strongly) on the denomination and what they believe.
Key Verse:
I'll put this here for later reference:
1 Corinthians 11:27-28 (NIV)
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an
unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood
...
7
tldr version: It is not normally permissible by Cannon law for you to partake of the bread and wine. However, you can still join the communion line and indicate you would like a blessing by placing your index finger over your lips (similar to shhing someone) or by crossing your arms over your chest in the shape of an 'X' when you approach the minister.
The ...
7
I can give you an answer based on my experience.
I live in Rome, I'm Catholic, and I have travelled quite a lot. Every time I travel I search a local catholic mass.
I can tell you with a 99% of certainty that this is a cultural matter, dependinding on the community.
Here in Rome people is more or less ordered and goes in line. In France they have a more ...
7
There's an article here that covers the history of intinction quite extensively. (I apologize that it's a PDF reference. It's the best article I could find.)
The article starts out like this:
The common wisdom among opponents of intinction is that it arose after
the doctrine of transubstantiation, and was a method of preventing
Christ's blood ...
7
The LDS church proscribes wine (or any alcoholic beverage, really), so water is used instead, although it doesn't matter what is used for the symbols of the sacrament, according to Doctrine and Covenants in the LDS canon:
D&C 27:2
2 For, behold, I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink when ye partake of the ...
6
I don't think there is any problem with the order Martin Luther used, as it is the same as the order used by Christ in the Last Supper. I do believe the 1324 order is likely used due to it scaling a little better when the bread and wine are distributed after consecrating them.
The Last Supper was only a few people, compared to a Sunday service which could ...
6
Yes, but receiving the species of consecrated wine alone is not common.
During Mass, the celebrant(s) separately consecrates the Bread to the Body, Blood, Spirit and Divinity of Christ, and the Wine to the Body, Blood, Spirit and Divinity of Christ. Each is equally divine, and each is the Eucharist. The priest signifies this by taking a piece of the host ...
6
(wider Christianity perspective, not Catholicism specific...)
This will vary from denomination to denomination, and much hangs on what the "this" is referring to in Jesus' instruction "do this in remembrance of me".
One view is that he was referring to eating together. He happened to have bread and wine handy but these days it could as easily be chips and ...
6
Hebrews is a letter directed to Jewish Christians in danger of apostasy (Hebrews 2:1), explaining the sacrifice of Christ with particular emphasis on themes in the Old Testament that would have been very familiar to the audience. It is not intended to be comprehensive ("I have written to you rather briefly", Hebrews 13:22), but it does mean to explore ...
6
Asking "What do Protestants think about the sacraments?" is a bit misleading. There are a large variety of Protestant views, some of them are more traditional than others. The question as to whether Protestant groups are wholly divorced from the Apostolic succession is also not 100% correct. There are a few clearly Protestant groups who have at least some ...
5
I'm still looking into this next claim, but perhaps, while the Synoptic Gospels give us parables (think: "The Kingdom of God is like..."), John does not. In the Synoptics, it seems that Jesus says that he speaks in parables to the crowds, but reveals the secrets to the disciples. In John, he speaks more openly. What I think is that John contains the meaning ...
5
For my part, I can quote the inside flap of the Missal in the pew which says, Catholics believe that the Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Christ (not a symbol, but actual fact).
It goes on to say, the Catholic Church permits eastern Orthodox adherents to come to Catholic Mass, celebrate the Eucharist and receive communion. But Catholics are not ...
5
After speaking to someone I know who is a former witness, the short answer is "No." They treat the body of Christ similarly but differently. If they have some equivalent, which many would debate, it's something they call "The Memorial of Christ's death" which occurs once a year and only the "anointed" are allowed to eat the bread and drink the wine.
...
5
It is by implication.
Melchizedek is supposed to be Christ (his name means, "my king is righteousness" after all) and the references to the meeting with Abraham will have undoubtedly brought up the memory of the story from Genesis where Abraham and "The King of Peace" (for he was king of Salem, which translates to "Peace") share "bread and wine". Such a ...
5
In Catholic churches, Communion is required by the Holy See to be distributed by a minister (priest, bishop, deacon, etc) and may only be done so by a lay person if there are not enough ministers to do the job. This, and the requirements about how the congregants receive the Eucharist from the minister, suggests that in Catholic churches, altar distribution ...
5
It is pretty clear that when Jesus called his disciples together on various occasions was to teach them things that they were to pass on to the entire church, this is one of them. Just as various commands on how we aught to live was only said to them, and not other disciples, so this practice was initiated with only them.
The text does not specifically say ...
5
On the contrary, St John of Damascus himself says:
since it is man's custom to eat and to drink water and wine, He connected His divinity with these and made them His body and blood in order that we may rise to what is supernatural through what is familiar and natural. The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not ...
4
Per @awe and @Jamess, there are really two sides of this. It can go either way.
Are you breaking your fast? Yes. You truly are. But you have to question: Why am I fasting?
If you are fasting in order to grow closer to God and find reliance only on him, then taking communion would not necessarily be bad. Since communion is meant to draw us to God, ...
4
Like many things Jesus said, the Jews would have found more than just the drinking of the blood offensive. They would have also been offended by the concept of eating Christ's flesh, which is akin to cannibalism in the Bible.
The key verse here is this (Leviticus 17:10-14)
“‘I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing
among ...
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