-  Straight to Catholics - Why I believe in What I believe  - 

                                                By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J. 

                                                  ---              S A C R A M E N T S             ---

This belief of Saint Cyril's sounds like a paraphrase of Saint John's and Saint Paul's teaching on the Eucharist. Saint John's chapter 6 is also a refutation of the docetists' denial of the reality of Christ's human body. It starts with the multiplication of the loaves which has two meanings: (a) nothing is impossible for God to do and (b) symbolic reference to Christ feeding a multitude with His own body and blood.

After this, came the miracle of Christ's walking on the waters ( Saint John chapter 6 - vv. 16-21) which to the Jews, was a proof of divine power. Then comes the central message. Christ compared himself to the ancient "manna from heaven" which fed the Jews in the desert, asserting that He is the true bread which comes from God and give live - John 6:33 - The ancestors of the Jews ate "manna in the wilderness and they died" but those who eat the bread from heaven will never die. It is in this context, gradually leading His disciples that Jesus Christ asserted that He is "the bread which came down from heaven" - John 6:41 - Immediately the Jews murmured in protest. Jesus repeated in strong terms, "and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh" - John 6:51 - The Jews became impatient and disputed among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" The Jews were scandalized because the Mosaic Law forbade the drinking of blood. They obviously took Jesus at His words - that Jesus was not speaking in a parable or figuratively. At this point, Jesus did not try to correct them by saying that he was only speaking symbolically or metaphorically. On the contrary, Jesus went much further and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you..." - John 6:53f - Now the Jews took offence - John 6:61 - and Jesus knew it. Still Jesus did not withdraw what He had said. Jesus continued in the same strain and "many of his disciples left him and no longer went about with Him" - John 6:66 - Jesus turned to his Apostles, the closest to him and asked: "Do you wish also to go away?" Jesus did not wave down his assertion. Instead Jesus challenged his closest associates to believe in what He had said. Peter Simon taking the lead among the Apostles said: "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" - John 6:68 - This was also the confession of faith of Saint John and His disciples. They believed in the true presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in their "breaking of the bread" (the Eucharist).

Saint Paul also believed in the presence and the real communion of Christ Jesus. "Is not the chalice of benediction which we bless, the communion of the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Is not the bread we break the partaking of the body of Our Lord Jesus?" - 1 Corinthians 10:16 - Only this belief could justify the severity of Saint Paul's warning: "Whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For he/she who eats and drinks unworthily without discerning (discovering) the body, eats and drinks judgement to himself/herself" - 1 Corinthians 11:27, 29 - To make it more real, Saint Paul compared the Christian Sacrifice and meal to those of the Jews and pagans. Both the Jews and pagans offered real sacrificial victims and shared in the divinity. The Christians were forbid-doing, they shared in the divinity. The Christians were forbidden to participate in the Jewish and pagan sacrifices because they held the one true sacrifice, Christ, which was acceptable to God. There is no evidence that Paul believed in the symbolic presence. If there is any evidence, it is proof to the contrary: the Real communion with the body and blood of Christ.

Besides this, the background to the whole Passover of Christ or as Saint Paul puts it, the New Pasch - 1 Corinthians 10:14, 21 - is the Jewish "Passover" which they celebrate in such a way that God's past saving action becomes present to them here and now. - See article: "Do this in Memory of Me" by Monsignor Peter Coughlan, IF, 1981 - Saint/Apostle Paul chose the Greek word anamnesis to express this reality - 1 Corinthians 11:24, 26 - Unfortunately we do have an equivalent word that captures all the nuances of anamnesis. Hence it is translated as "Do this in memory of me, or in memorial of me". Anamnesis is a Greek word taken from a stage play. When a play is acted out on stage, it becomes alive so much so that the audience seem to live the play. They become so involved emotionally in the play that, at the end, they experience a "purging of their emotions" (Katharsis) and become better people. Of course, when St. Paul used the word anamnesis his background was Jewish rather than Greek. Yet, this was the closest Greek word that he could find to bring out the reality of what Jesus meant. When Jesus said: "Do this in anamnesis of me," he meant to tell us to relive his death and resurrection in the Eucharistic meal. (The Last Supper) in such a way that He/Jesus is present in the bread and wine, that His past saving power is present here and now in the bread and wine, so that we, who go with faith, to receive Him will experience His saving power (making it our own, the power that is His). How are we to translate the richness of the meaning behind the word anamnesis into English?

I, therefore, personally believe that the Catholic understanding of Christ's true presence in the bread and wine is the correct interpretation because it can trace its Tradition right back into the earliest Church, to the New Testament. What other guarantee is there? Anyone can take a passage from the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and interpret it the way he/she sees it? There are many interpretations. Who is to say which is the right interpretation? Even non-Christians use scriptural texts to attack Christians. Where is the truth if not in the interpretation that can be traced right back into history to the early Church to the New Testament.

There is a further theological point I would like to add. Those Christians who claim that Christ is only symbolically or nominally present have failed to understand the full meaning of God's unlimited love. As I have explained in the previous chapter on the Triune God, God has done the impossible for love of us because He is Infinite (All Powerful) and He is Love. Out of Love for us, He gave His life by dying for us. "No greater love has a man than to lay down his life for us." But we Catholic Christians claim that after laying down His life, He was not satisfied because of his infinite love. He gives, the last that He has of Himself - His own life, his body and blood given to us as food so that we are nourished, then, we will stand up and walk as true human beings for which He has created us. It is the ultimately impossibility: God the Infinite gives His life for us as food. He knows that we as poor humans are weak. So He gives us His very life in order that we may be nourished and be strengthened to live a life worthy of our name as humans. Beyond giving His own life to be eaten by us, there is nothing left. His infinite love for us is completed. His Love is equal to His infinite Power.............   ---  P A G E   T W O  ---  

 .............  This belief of Saint Cyril's sounds like a paraphrase of Saint John's and Saint Paul's teaching on the Eucharist. Saint John's chapter 6 is also a refutation of the docetists' denial of the reality of Christ's human body. It starts with the multiplication of the loaves which has two meanings: (a) nothing is impossible for God to do and (b) symbolic reference to Christ feeding a multitude with His own body and blood.  ---  P A G E   O N E  ---

  - WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 -

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -       

                                        -  Straight to Catholics - Why I believe in What I believe  - 

                                                By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J. 

                                                  ---              S A C R A M E N T S             ---

All Creation as an expression of God's Love is a sacrament. It is the outward sign of an inner reality The outward sign is all creation. The inward grace (or reality) is God's love which we cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell. Yet through our senses as the Universe unfolds itself before us, our intellect is capable of leading the soul to affirm the existence of its Creator, God: and for us Christians, (Catholic Christian) of God's love. Through sin, Man/Human Being destroys the basis of existence itself - love. Therefore God, whose infinite love cannot be thwarted, came in a visible form that Human being can understand: Incarnation, God-made-man. The Lord Jesus Christ, came to show us the unconditional or limitlessness of God's love by His life which led to His death, killed by sinful men. "God loves us so much that He sent His Son to us." He taught us love by laying down His life for us - 1 John 3:16 - Therefore the fullest expression of the infinite love of God in visible form that we can see and touch, is the Son of God made Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is, in the fullest sense, the Sacrament.

Before Jesus left this world, He knew that we who come after Him still need a concrete sign of God's love. Hence, He formed around Him a group of Apostles and disciples, the Church, to carry on this message of His Father's love. The Church (Christians who believe in Christ and who live and speak of His love) becomes a continuing sign and agent of God's love for all people ("Dogmatic Constitution of the Church", Vatican Council II). The Church is the continuing sacrament coming from the Chief Sacrament, Jesus Christ. She draws her sacramental life from the Lord who lives in her and promises to be with her till the end of the world so that the "gates of hell shall not prevail against" her - Matthew 16:18; 28:20 - The concrete experience of the Lord's presence in the gathering of the first Christian community was the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit, fear left the Apostles and they went out to preach and to bear witness to the Lord. If we read the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles we will be struck by the constant awareness of the presence of the Lord's Spirit in the Church. In Saint Paul's Epistles the parallel between the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus is a unique feature. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church is the guarantee of the Lord's presence. The experience of the Holy Spirit is an internal reality that breaks forth into the exterior life of Christians. It is a movement from the inward (Spiritual reality) to the outward (life).

But human beings also have and need the other movement - from the outward to the inward. As explained in chapter 1, it is through matter that we get to know about things and move to the Spiritual plane of values and meanings. The Lord Jesus Christ knows that we need some physical expression of His infinite Love for us so that through it our soul will rise up to the spiritual reality of His love. The physical expression through which we can move to the reality of Christ's love are the seven Canonical Sacraments - "Canonical" is used in the sense that they are officially recognized by the teaching of the Catholic Church as such as (Sacraments.) I will not go into the "dispute" on whether or not there can be more than seven sacraments. - They take their existence from the Church, the Sacrament, the Body of Christ - 1 Corinthians 12 - the continuing presence of the Risen Lord Jesus, the CHIEF Sacrament. Hence each Sacrament must have the following elements: (1) the communal aspect (the Church) (2) the physical or tangible aspect, for examples: water in Baptism (3) faith of the Church in which an individual Christian shares and (4) the Spiritual reality of Christ's love.

- A - In fact, all the Seven Canonical Sacraments take their existence from the Sacrament of the Church, the Body of Christ. Hence, the communal aspect of each Sacrament is essential. Like the Eucharist, the other canonical Sacraments express the life of the Church which comes from Christ Jesus and nourish her members. - They all share in the three dimensional relationships - I and myself, I and others (Church) and I and God - in an indivisible unity of love which has its roots in the perfect communion of Love in the Triune God Himself. A Christian is not a person who has only a direct line to God: the "I and God" relationship without other lines of relationship. A Christian does not work out his/her salvation alone. ( This is not Christian ). His/her own salvation is inextricably linked to that of others. At Baptism, it is not only a turning to God alone but also a turning to his people, the Church. This is why at Baptism, a Christian is received into the Church. In the Eucharistic Celebration, when I go to receive the Lord Jesus, I do not assimilate Christ Jesus into me - the "I and Christ" relationship alone - but Christ assimilates me deeper into the mystery of His Body, the Church: - It is Saint Augustine who said this - I, in relationship with others (Body of Christ) in the Lord (Head of the Body). In the Sacrament of reconciliation, I do not go straight to God alone and be reconciled to Him alone. I go and meet Christ (God) in His Body, the Church, and with myself. We cannot separate the Head (Christ Jesus) from His Body. (More of this later).

- B - As explained in chapter 1, I, a human being is spirit rooted in matter in such a way that we cannot know without the mediation of matter and we cannot express ourselves without going through matter. This is how God has made us. Jesus, who is God, knew and knows us for what we are. So He chose human beings, His disciples, to continue His spiritual work. In His life, He also made use of matter to communicate His power. Water was one of the material objects used. After Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit came/descended upon Jesus - Mark 1:9-11 - All Christians use water in baptism as a sign of cleansing and a turning to Christ. Jesus often touched people when He healed them. In Mark 8:22-26 - Jesus spat on the eyes of a blind man, laid his hands upon him and cured him. Jesus breathed upon the Apostles to give them the Holy Spirit - John 20:22 - Under the form of bread and wine, Jesus gave to His disciples his own body and blood. The Church is only following Christ Jesus when she uses material things as signs of God's saving love or power. The immediate disciples of the Lord after Christ's ascension also employed matter. They anointed the sick with oil - James 5:14 - They laid hands on people and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit - Acts 6:3-6 - And of course they made use of bread and wine for the "breaking of bread" - (The Holy Eucharist).

- C - The Sacrament is no magic. It is not a recitation of a magic formula and a performing of a ritual. It depends on the faith of the Universal Church and of those who partake of the sacrament. Without faith, the ritual is meaningless.

- D - This faith should lead one to meet Christ Jesus and of those who partake of the sacrament. It is after all the spiritual reality of Christ's saving love that is most essential. Without "experiencing in one way or other" the saving power of Christ, there is no sacrament.

- Objection - The word "Sacrament", say some Christians, is not found in the Sacred Scripture / Holy Bible. Hence the Catholic Christian Sacraments are man-made. It is not from Christ, they say.

- Response - It is a wild and stupid objection that does not really deserve an answer. What is a word? It is a human symbol pointing to some reality. The word "tree" as I have said in chapter 1, points to a reality that is communicated to me through my senses. What is important is not the word but the reality as such. I can use another symbol "arbre" to mean the same reality as "tree". Besides, if we take the objection seriously, we should be using the Greek language of the original New Testament, not English since none of the English words are found in the original Greek New Testament.

Can any Christian deny the reality of Christ as the fullest expression of God's love through matter - God made man? This is what we mean by Sacrament: the spiritual reality behind the material symbol. And it is this that is important. To confuse the reality with the symbol that signifies it, is a fault of thinking. It is to confuse the accidentals with the essentials. The accidentals are, so to say, the trimmings. There are many types, shapes and colours of human beings, yet they are all human beings. It is the "humanness" in all of us that makes us human beings, not our different colours or shapes. It is a failure to think clearly that has led a number of people into superficial objections.

                                                            -   The Holy Eucharist   - 

People accuse us Catholics of being cannibals, eating the "body" and drinking the "blood" of the Lord Jesus Christ. - The Holy Eucharist is so rich that one can write volumes on it. Here I am only dealing with one aspect of it that has been attacked by non-Catholics: the "REAL PRESENCE" of Christ Jesus under the form of bread and wine. Fearing that they might be accused of cannibalism, they believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols or signs. A rose representing my love is not my love; it is only a symbol of my love.

We, Catholics do not believe that we eat the "body" and drink the "blood" of Christ, as we eat the roasted flesh of an animal or drink its blood (as some people do.) The wine still tastes of wine and the bread of bread. We do believe, however, that, after consecration, when we take the bread and the wine, we partake of something if that something is not actually there? Hence, Christ Jesus is truly present under the form of bread and wine. He is not symbolically present as my love is symbolically represented in the rose. He is not there in physical flesh and blood as an animal that has just been killed. He, as the resurrected Lord, is there in a spiritual way.

Our belief in the "Real Presence" of Christ under the form of bread and wine goes right back in the faith of the Church into the Apostolic Tradition of the early Universal Church to the New Testament. The change in belief that Christ Jesus is truly present in the bread and wine came about in the 16th Century with the Protestant Reformation. Martin Lurther himself believed in the real presence and argued against Calvinist and Zwingli who taught that Christ Jesus was only nominally present. He condemned them saying, "You are of the devil." Do you think the Lord Jesus who promised to be with His Church till the end of the world would allow His Church to go wrong on such a crucial point of faith? If so, the Lord Jesus would have told a lie; or rather, we would be accusing the Lord Jesus of being a liar.

It was this belief in the true presence of the Lord Jesus that made many Christians risk their lives carrying the "Consecrated bread" in their bosom to distribute the "Lord" to other Christians. This was during the time of great persecution under the Roman Empire when Christians live in catacombs to hide from persecution. In fact, a young boy called Saint Tarcisius was stoned to death by his peers because he refused to give up to them the "Lord" whom he was carrying in his bosom.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch (c.110 A.D), who came immediately after the Apostles, believed in the "real presence" of the Lord Jesus. He attacked the Docetists - Docetists believed that matter is evil. How could God who was all good came through evil (matter)? Therefore, to them, Christ Jesus who was God, came not in matter (human body) but in an illusion of a human body - who "hold aloof from the Eucharist and prayers because they do not believe that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour, Jesus Christ", (Letter to the Smyrneans 7:1; Quasten Mon E336). Saint Cyrill of Jerusalem (d.c. 386) said, "Since He (Christ) has said and asserted 'this is my body,' who dares doubt that it is His blood? Christ Jesus once changed water into wine which is akin to blood. Shall we not therefore believe, when He changes wine into blood?

....... And so we continue these with perfect certainty that they are the body and blood of Christ Jesus, since under the appearance of bread the body is given to us, and the blood under the appearance of wine; so that when you have taken the body and blood of Christ, you become participants in His very Body and Blood." (Mystagogical Catechesis 401-3;F.L. Cross, St. Cyril of Jerusalem's lectures on the Christian Sacraments, London 1951.) - Taken from New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1967 Ed., p. 604 - 

This belief of Saint Cyril's sounds like a paraphrase of Saint John's and Saint Paul's teaching on the Eucharist. Saint John's chapter 6 is also a refutation of the docetists' denial of the reality of Christ's human body. It starts with the multiplication of the loaves which has two meanings: (a) nothing is impossible for God to do and (b) symbolic reference to Christ feeding a multitude with His own body and blood.  ---  P A G E   O N E  ---

  - WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 -

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -