Q&A 120
Q. Wsup! Been meaning to ask: why do you Catholics make such a big deal about the Eucharist?
A. Big deal in what sense?
Q. Like, for example - and I hope you won't get offended by this: you guys spend scandalous amounts of money on golden chalices and stuff that could be spent on helping the sick and the poor.
A. Ah. We make a big deal because of what the Eucharist is to us.
Q. Which is...
A. God himself.
Q. Wait. That piece of bread is God!? Not to be offensive, but that doesn't sound a bit absurd to you?
A. It would be absurd if anyone else said it.
Q. What do you mean?
A. As in if I bring you a slice of bread and I tell you "This is my body", of course it would be absurd! Or a joke... But it would be a joke precisely because it is absurd...
Q. But when Christ says it it's not absurd?
A. Let's phrase it differently: why is it absurd for me to say it?
Q. Because you're merely a man. It's impossible for bread to be your body in any real sense.
A. It can only be my "body" in a metaphorical sense?
Q. Exactly.
A. But if the God-man says the same words, as a mere man those words can be true only in a metaphorical sense; but as God they can be true also in the real sense.
Q. OK... That sounds agreeable... But I have two objections.
First, for me I find no difference between the statement "This is my body... This is my blood" and Christ's other statements such as "I am the door", "I am the true vine" and so on. Even as a God-man these latter statements were clearly metaphorical...
A. Correct.
Q. Why not then for "This is my body... This is my blood"?
A. Because we know that Christ meant these last specific words literally and not the earlier ones.
Q. How do you know?
A. Well his listeners - both His followers and those who stopped following Him, both those who were for Him and those who were against Him - understood him literally. They all found it absurd: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Jn 6:52)
But unlike in other situations where Jesus clarified any seeming absurdity in His words or any misunderstanding between Him and His listeners, here -
Q. Pause. Other situations? Examples?
A. Like when Nicodemus visited Jesus at night (Jn 3:1-21) and in conversation Jesus tells him "...unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus finds this absurd. "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"Jesus clarifies, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Or that other episode narrated by St. Matthew (6:5-12) "When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Q. OK... So you were saying that in the case of eating His flesh...
A. ...that in this case of seeming absurdity and misunderstanding He does three things.
To be continued...
Have a terrific Tuesday! 👍🏾
18th October 2016