Preaching the Eucharist, Fr Rolheiser (N Z Catholic, November 27)
says what’s missing in our understanding of the presence of Christ is "the fact
that there are three real presences: the Word, the consecrated bread and
wine and a saving event’, and "Christ is really present in the Word ... the
preaching and the music." (!)
These ‘facts’ are likewise missing from the Catechism of the Catholic
Church which states, "Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is
unique.” (Emphasis added.) The Council of Trent calls the consecrated bread and wine "Christ himself, living and glorious, present in a true, real, and substantial manner; his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity".
Our understanding of the presence of Christ has been dulled by preaching
like Rolheiser’s which has led to abuses such as non-Catholics routinely
receiving Communion, and ignorance of the grave dangers of this practice (1 Cor
11, 27-29).
The Protestant
Churches celebrate the word of God as Christ being present. If there’s no
difference between Word and Eucharist, why don't we just toddle along to their
services? To gloss over the difference between Christ in Word and in Sacrament
(signficantly, Rolheiser never uses the word ‘Sacrament’) is to miss the crucial
difference between Catholic and Protestant, a difference which will not and cannot go
away.
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