Posted by Ray Kidder on 11/29/2008, 7:53 am, in reply to "Re: Comparing Consubstantiation to Prayer"
71.178.28.132
Jim,
Thanks for your comments. From reading your post, I am under the impression that you sense a kind of mysteriousness about prayer. Sometimes people feel really connected to God as they pray, while there are people who feel disconnected to God as they pray. I suppose the same sorts of things occur with respect to Holy Communion as well. Sometimes Holy Communion seems to make no difference, while it makes quite a big difference (for example) to the people at Corinth that St. Paul wrote I Corinthians to.
Holy Communion is related to the events of Holy Week. During Holy Week Jesus suffered physical execution, but He also felt alienated from people such as St. Peter, and cried out to God "Why have You forsaken Me?" Yet St. Peter felt remorse, was converted (as promised by Jesus), and had to strengthen his bretheren. Jesus rose from the dead, and the Christian religion is the largest one in the world today.
My curent pastor said that one of the things that happens through prayer is a change that occurs to the person who does the praying. This is a gradual process, and the words of the person's prayers evolve over time as he is changed. I suspect that this may have happened with your Jesuit friend.
The scriptures point to the possibility of bringing judgement onto one's self through Holy Communion, as stated in I Corinthians 11 (NKJV):
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
With prayer, it seems that there is a greater emphasis on the ability to serve others through the power of God. With your Jesuit friend, his prayer was answer through his ability to administer Holy Communion and provide the other benefits of his pastoral service.
Ray Kidder
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