Benedict XVI affirmed that the Eucharist is the “instrument of this reciprocal transformation.”
“He is the Head and we are the members. He is the Vine and we the branches,” he said. “Whoever eats of this Bread and lives in communion with Jesus, allowing himself to be transformed by him and in him, is saved from eternal death: Certainly this person will die as everyone does, participating as well in the mystery of the passion and the cross of Christ, but he is no longer a slave of death and he will be raised up on the last day to enjoy the eternal feast with Mary and all the saints.”
Finally, the Holy Father assured, this “feast of God” begins on earth.
“It is a mystery of faith, hope and love, which is celebrated in the liturgy, especially the Eucharistic [liturgy], and is expressed in fraternal communion and service to our neighbor. Let us,” he concluded, “ask the holy Virgin to help us to always with faith nourish ourselves on the Bread of eternal life to experience already on earth the joy of heaven.”
Heard it said that Communion is when Heaven, specifically the Holy Trinity, intersects with us us on earth.
I basically preached this exact message Sunday for last. Maybe His Holiness is reading my sermon blog?!
Should have been Sunday [b]be[/b]fore last.
HH Benedict teaches (although not here explicitly), and believes, that the substance of the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. The grace he describes, obtained by Holy Communion, is obtained by those (not in a state of sin) who sacramentally eat Christ’s Body (as consecrated by a priest of the Church) “in communion with Jesus”, a communion seen on earth as visible communion with the Church of Christ.
Why does he have to bring Mary into this? She has nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper, except she probably participated in the Lord’s Supper sometime after the Resurrection. But so have I.
Because she is mediatrix of all graces.
I answer your (somewhat cheeky) querry with another. When you are in the presence of the Lord, does an archangel descend and speak praises of your name? Does the Bible close with a vision of you, Harry Edmon, riegning as Queen mother over the marriage feast? Contemplate the answers to my questions and you may find a reasonable answer to your own.
Mary is a “saint” in the “communion of saints” … that is, all who are eternally the “body of Christ.” Mary is understood by Roman Catholics as the perfect model of Christian behavior; she is a model of Christian behavior through Grace. Mary is also understood as being human only. The reason she is mentioned is to set the bar of expection for all of our behavior as high as possible. Sadly, most RCs seem to miss the point.
“God took from her a human body… .” Wasn’t it St. Irenaeus who said, “God became man in order for man to become God.” It seems that Mary was critical in God’s plan of salvation.
#5: “Why does he have to bring Mary into this?”
Although you say that Mary has nothing in particular to do with the last supper, it’s important to realize that the Pope is speaking from a Catholic perspective which believes that the Eucharist brings Christ’s body and blood, Christ’s presence, into our world.
Mary, as the woman who choose to become Mother of God, is paradigmatic when it comes to bringing the presence of Jesus into the world.
Granted, the Incarnation is the advent of the Lord into the world for once and for us all, and the Eucharist is introduction of us into that one event. But the parallel, and thus the parallel role which the Pope assigns to Mary, is easy to see. Look again at what he specifically says about Mary:
“Let us ask the holy Virgin to help us to always with faith nourish ourselves on the Bread of eternal life to experience already on earth the joy of heaven.”
Mary, who by her choice brought Jesus into the world, is asked to help us to accept Christ into our world.
How exactly is the “holy Virgin” going to help us?
#11 – have you read the gospel of Luke? Mary, in saying “Yes” to God, is the ultimate example of a disciple of Christ. She is helping us by serving as an example to us as well as by her prayers.
Mary prophesied:
“All Generations will call me ‘blessed’!”
It seems that the Pope has read his Bible.
The saints in heaven interceed for those of us here on earth. We do not pray TO them, we ask them to pray FOR us, as I would ask you to pray for me.
That is a 2000 year old teaching of the church that is referenced here by the Pope. On the tombs in the [url=http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/spiritualita.html]catacombs of Rome[/url] are inscriptions dating back to the end of the first century, graffiti that says things like:
[i]Peter, pray for us![/i]
along side of carved crosses and some of the earliest images of Jesus and the saints.
so we know it was a practice of the Roman Christians to ask those gone ahead to pray for them.
One big reason I opted for the Catholic Church as a teen-ager (my father was Catholic, my mother Methodist) was that so many of my Protestant relatives and so much Protestant literature I read either ignored Mary totally or sneered at her as Harry Edmon has here. But that didn’t strike me as what the Bible was saying. Christ gave Mary to us as our mother at the cross. You don’t ignore your mother. Or sneer at her. You love her and Thank God for such a priceless gift. One of the most powerful reasons for living life as the best Christian you can be is that our mother said at the marriage feast of Cana: “Do what he tells you.”
11. Sick & Tired of Nuance wrote: “How exactly is the “holy Virgin†going to help us?”
SToN: Could you please clarify: by putting “holy Virgin” in scare quotes, are you objecting to the “holy” or to the “virgin”?
Several good answers to #5 and #11: I would only add that 8/15 is t Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps the Holy Father had her on his mind for that reason.
Besides being a Catholic, that is.
deaconjohn15 – I am not “snearing” at the Virgin Mary. She is called “Blessed” by the Scriptures, and as a good Lutheran who am I to argue with the Scriptures? What I don’t accept is the tendency of Roman Catholics to elevate her far beyond anything mentioned in the Scriptures. She is “Blessed”, she is the “Mother of God” (rightly understood), her acceptance of the angel’s message is a model for us all – but she was a sinner just like me, she needed a Savior just like me, and she has no power to save anyone just like me. The elevation of Mary robs glory from Christ, to whom alone all honor and glory are due.
The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s – it is NOT Mary’s.
As to the Bible closing with her reigning as Queen Mother – that is not how I read the Scriptures. Revelation talks about the Church, but I see no references to Mary – although I know that is the interpretation of Rome.
In the previous posting, I said “The elevation of Mary robs glory from Christ, to whom alone all honor and glory are due.” It would be better to say “The excessive elevation of Mary robs glory from Christ, to whom alone all honor and glory are due.” Again, the Scriptures do call her Blessed so in that regard she is elevated and higher than me (which is not hard). But remember – it is God’s that does it all (including the elevation to Blessed), not Mary.
#15 Drew – Sick & Tired was quoting your reference in your #10 – “holy Virgin” quote.
By the way, (to get back on topic) if you remove the comments about the Virgin Mary (except for Jesus receiving his humanity through the Virgin) from the Pope’s message, the message contains some good statements about the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus pointed out that anyone who does His will is His mother, brother. His sacrifice on the Cross was the finishing deed. No other is required. Jesus is my Mediator and Advocate. I don’t recall Jesus worshipping Mary, but His Father. He honored her as his mother as the Commandments require. He performed the miracle at Cana at her request. Mary agreed to be used by God and it was a wonderful, blessed event. But Mary will never be on the same level. I could see someone asking a Jewish mother such as Mary to “ask”/influence her son on their behalf – as Jesus did at Cana. But that’s the extent of it for us L2. Don’t agree with the elevation of her, but if others choose to, it’s their thing.
Harry Edmon: the Pope’s message contains no statements at all about the “Lord’s Supper”. He is talking about Holy Communion received by the faithful at Mass in the Catholic Church. This is not merely a distinction of words. You are a Lutheran, you say. Others here are Anglicans. The Pope is not speaking of the religious rites of Lutheranism or Anglicanism, which do not convey the sacramental grace of Holy Communion. You may think they do, but the Pope doesn’t believe so.
#22 – Of course the Pope is talking about RC communion among RCs. There are some on this list thinking of swimming the Tiber, so what he says is worthy of comment and deliberation.
Well, I guess I am corrected about the focus of the message. I understand I would not be welcome to commune at an RC Mass, neither would I want to participate. The Pope would not be welcome to commune at my church either. Sad there are such separations among Christians, but we can’t ignore them and pretend they do not exist.