The church and the Blood of Christ

"but you said I was the disciple you loved."

A bit of a footnote and follow-on to the earlier post about the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

There are two quotes which, talking about the present situation as well as the celebration of Eucharist, seem prescient.

The first is from 1 Timothy 4. As the greek is important, I shall quote first and then translate.

Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονται τινες τῆς πίστεως προσέχοντες πνεύμασιν πλάνοις καὶ διδασκαλίαις δαιμονίων,  ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυστηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν,  κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσιν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who restrict marriage and require abstinence from those foods that God created to be shared in Eucharist by those who believe and know the truth.  (1 Tim. 4:1-3)

Note that the words are μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας, to be shared in Eucharist. Speaking of the Eucharist...there is that lovely quote by Augustine talking about the Body of Christ.

If you, therefore, are Christ's body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord's table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying "Amen" to what you are­ your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. When you hear "The body of Christ"­you reply "Amen." Be a member of Christ's body, then, so that your "Amen" may ring true!

When we partake of the Eucharist, we are in communion with all of Christ's followers, both visible and invisible and we are all in touch with the Divine.  Anyone who would restrict or forbid one who wishes to feed on the Bread of Live and drink from that Saving Cup, a believer who wishes to be in communion with Christ and all of those who follow him....to me that is a true sin.  That an institution, any institution, would make it a policy to judge believers and hold them as unworthy of salvation and grace is a place which does not, in my opinion, hold true to the spirit or the words of the Master.  They may call themselves Christian, but they are not Christ-like.  They may call themselves Catholic, but they are anything but universal.

I don't like using those sorts of words, but nothing else will do...and that saddens me greatly.