oops, sorry guys!
It seems I got so carried away with that one passage, that I forgot to connect it to the Catholic Eucharist. Whelp, here goes:
It seems I got so carried away with that one passage, that I forgot to connect it to the Catholic Eucharist. Whelp, here goes:
The direct correlation from John 6 to the Catholic Mass is rooted in the prefigurement of the Mass in the Old Testament, the institution of the Mass in the New Testament, and the Traditions of the Church after New Testament times.
In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek, a king and priest, offered sacrifice to God in the form of bread and wine. Psalm 110 predicts that the Messiah would be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek," meaning He would offer a sacrifice of bread and wine. We must look to some sacrifice offered other than His crucifixion, because it is not under the form of bread and wine. The Last Supper (the lamb's supper, the Catholic Mass) fills that need.
Some might say that Christ followed in the order of Melchizedek in the Last Supper, but there's no reason it would be repeated. The problem with that is Luke 22:19, when Jesus said "do this." The Greek for "do this in remembrance of me" can also be translated as "offer this as my memorial sacrifice." So, "the Eucharist is a memorial offering we present to God to plead the merits of Christ on the cross." (Essential Catholic Survival Guide) So, this command of "do this" was from Jesus and passed down through the ages via the apostles, and their followers.
And THAT is where 2 Thessalonians 2:15 comes in!
That's why we cannot rely only on the bible apart from other sources for spiritual truth. Here, St. Paul says to hold fast to the traditions he handed on to them, and in 1 Corinthians 11:23, Paul said "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."
He passed on the tradition of the Mass, just as Jesus had asked.
This Tradition, was explained in John 6, instituted in Matt 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26, and Luke 22:14-20, and repeated for the first time in Luke 24:27-35. After Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, the breaking of the bread CONSUMED the lives of His followers. This is evident in Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, 11:20, and many others. Another source of how important the mass and Eucharist was to the early early Christians can be seen from their extra-biblical writings. Justin Martyr, who lived from 103ad-165ad wrote the following: "For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both 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." (First Apology 66) And, the Didache, a liturgical manual written around 70ad, referred to the bread as "an offering" and "a sacrifice".
Going out on a limb and asking for a leap of faith, I could also provide the following links, which are not unheard of, nor are they the only example of such phenomenon. But these are two examples when the bread and wine were changed in appearances into physical flesh and physical blood (complete with human DNA, the same blood type as the blood on the Shroud of Turin). But at our average Mass, the bread and wine are changed (transubstantiation) into the literal body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine.
God is aware of the doubt we as humans have in the truth of the Eucharist, so, He has given us proof of His truth in these miracles. Even though Jesus said "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:24-29), He still showed his wounds to Thomas because He is a God who understands our human nature. What happens through these miracles is no different from what happened to Thomas. Just like Jesus showed great love to Thomas by showing him His wounds, Jesus also shows great love for humanity by revealing himself in these rare occasions in the appearances of flesh and blood. He does not give us that blessing of the change in appearances on a regular basis because that would remove our need for faith.
And THAT is where the Catholic Mass comes from. Some claim that it was invented in the 300s ad and some even say as late as the middle ages. But this is the actual timeline of events leading up to the practicing of the Mass and the literal meaning of the Eucharist.
Peace in Christ,
Luke
just as a side note, there are several other prefigurements of the eucharist in the old testament. but i chose this one because it seemed most relevant.
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