1405 "There is no surer pledge or clearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth 'in which righteousness dwells,' than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, 'the work of our redemption is carried on' and we 'break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ'" (p.354).
994 ... Jesus links faith in the resurrection to his own person: "I am the resurrection and the life." It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up those who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood.
2837 "...Taken literally (epi-ousios: 'super-essential'), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the 'medicine of immortality,' without which we have no life within us" (p.681).
1384 "The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: 'Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you' " (p.349).
1524 "In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of 'passing over' to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day' " (p.381).
1392 Holy Communion ... preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism.
1411 Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord.The deduction is clear: One must receive the Catholic Eucharist to receive Christ and have spiritual life, which is only made possible through Catholic (and Orthodox) priests. Remember also that various popes taught one must be subject to Roman Pontiffs to have salvation. In Catholicism, the Catholic Eucharist is the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ and called:
1517 ...the Eucharist should always be the last sacrament of the earthly journey, the "viaticum" for "passing over" to eternal life.They teach receiving the Eucharist is fulfilling John 6:53,54, which is needed for eternal life. Only Catholics can have salvation with their Eucharist teaching, which includes worshiping the Eucharist as God. Moreover, to disagree with the Catholic Eucharist dogmas is to be anathematized by the Council of Trent. Those are the facts, though not redily known.
Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. (John 16:25)
"These [the miraculous signs Jesus performed] are written that you may [or may continue to] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have LIFE in his name." (Jn. 20:30,31)
In this two-verse synopsis of his entire gospel, the Apostle John writes on the subject of spiritual life as included within it, and with absolute clarity it is shown that there is no connection whatsoever with communion! This could hardly be the case if Jn. 6:53, also written about spiritual life and just 14 chapters earlier, referred to communion! Clearly then, John associated spiritual life with believing (trusting) on Jesus without any connection whatsoever to communion.
"We believe that the Mass which is celebrated by the priest in the person of Christ in virtue of the power he receives in the Sacrament of Order, and which is offered by him in the name of Christ and of the members of his Mystical Body, is indeed the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally realized on our altars. We believe that, as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into his Body and Blood which were to be offered for us on the Cross, so likewise are the bread and wine consecrated by the priest changed into the Body and Blood of Christ now enthroned in glory in heaven" (Vol. 2, p.393).
1378 "Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. 'The Catholic church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated host with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.347)By misapplying Jn 6:53-56, not only are hundreds of millions misled about spiritual life, but faulty worship in the form of idolatry has been instituted because of such. See Jn. 4:23, 24 to see how important our worship is to God.
In reality, Jn. 6:53-56 can only refer to something that one can accomplish entirely without any connection whatsoever with communion based on the aforementioned observations. As other times when the Lord spoke referring to Himself as "the true vine" (Jn. 15:1) and "the gate" (Jn. 10:9), we must not take these descriptions or Jn. 6:53 in any way but in a figurative sense! This is the only possible consistent interpretation that can be correctly rendered from Holy Writ.
What then is the actual meaning of Jn. 6:53-56? According to Scripture, when that passage in question was first given, just a few verses prior to it, in verse 47, Jesus taught "I tell you the truth, he who believes [continuous tense] has everlasting life." Therefore, from the immediate context and all other data related to one receiving salvation contained in the entire New Testament, the only possible consistent meaning of Jn. 6:53 is a continuous eating and drinking of the Lord's body and blood in a figurative sense by continuously believing on Him, that is, trusting Him to the point of submitting to Him. Regarding submitting to Christ, Gal. 5:24 says:
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.See also Eph. 5:24a.
The Council of Trent took place during the time of the Reformation. Hundreds of anathemas were pronounced on non-Catholics because of doctrinal differences, including the following ones related to the holy Eucharist:
If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema. (Thirteenth Session, Canon I)
If anyone says that in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denies that wonderful and singular change of the whole substance of the bread into the body and the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the appearances only of bread and wine remaining, which change the Catholic Church most aptly calls transubstantiation, let him be anathema. (Thirteenth Session, Canon 2)
If anyone says that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with the worship of latria, also outwardly manifested, and is consequently neither to be venerated with a special festive solemnity, nor to be solemnly borne about in procession according to the laudable and universal rite and custom of holy Church, or is not to be set publicly before the people to be adored and that the adorers thereof are idolaters, let him be anathema. (Thirteenth Session, Canon 6)
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus" (Acts 20: 21).The Lord Himself defined the saved in Lk. 8:21:
My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.(Please note: The Lord did not say, My mother and brothers are those who at one time in their lives believed on Me but now might be living ungodly lives, as Charles Stanley, Robert Thieme, Adrian Rogers, Tony Evans, June Hunt and many other eternal security teachers understand salvation!) A continuous submission to Jesus -- an unashamed following after Him is implied in believing on Him (Lk. 9:23-26). In Rev. 17:14 those who actually enter the kingdom are described as "... his called, chosen and faithful followers." Finally, as the Lord clearly stated to those already saved (His "disciples," not Israel):
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Mt. 10:22).So those with eternal life, according to Jesus, are not merely those who swallowed the holy eucharist into their stomach as Catholics think! Instead, they are present tense followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the Bible does not support the Catholic dogma of the holy eucharist and especially the worship of it! Finally, scripture states communion is to be done in remembrance of Jesus (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:25,26), not to get spiritual life.
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