I just had a furious argument (not really) with my wife. She was making spinach dip, served in a sourdough bread bowl, and as she was tearing up the pieces of bread she had removed from the loaf for dipping purposes, she muttered “the body of Christ”, to which I responded “the bread of heaven”. She said “Catholics don’t say that.”
Now, I’m not any kind of Catholic (And she is-lapsed), but I’ve been to a few Catholic masses, and I would swear on a stack of bibles(heh) that that’s how the liturgy goes. The priest says “The body of Christ”, and the response is “The bread of heaven”, and when the wine part rolls around, it’s “The blood of Christ-The cup of salvation” How else would I know this, not being Catholic myself, if I hadn’t seen and heard it?
So…which one of us is correct? Can anyone give me the straight dope?
In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, as the priest is consecrating the bread, he says:
The congregation responds: “Blessed be God forever.”
He then turns to the wine and says:
Again the congregation responds: “Blessed be God forever.”
The priest then says, “Pray, brethren, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”
The congregation responds: “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and for the good of all his Church.”
The Eucharistic prayer is then said, during which the congregation kneels. At the conclusion, they rise, and the Communion Rite begins with the congregation saying the Our Father and exchanging the Sign of Peace. They then kneel again.
Immediately prior to the distribution of Communion, the priest says, “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.”
The congregation responds: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
Communion is then distributed. The minister distributing Communion says, as each person approaches, “The Body of Christ.” If Communion is being offered under both species, then the minister says, “The Blood of Christ,” when offering the chalice containing the consecrated wine.
The recipient acknowledges, “Amen,” and receives the sacrament.
That’s it. Not a “bread of heaven” or “cup of salvation” in the mix.
Ahh, I see. I went to an Episcopalian school, that must be where I heard it. This is bad news. You do realize what this means, don’t you? It means my wife was RIGHT.
Hell, I remember once when I was little, and I went up to communion. Now, my father is a Eucharistic minister, and this time, I was in his line. When he handed me the wafer, I replied, “Amen, Daddy.”
My wife’s background is Methodist. At the congregation her family were members of, the communion was taken up front at a kind of railing. You would take the bread and eat it, then take a little tiny cup of wine and drink it, placing the tiny cup back on the railing.
My wife’s brother, at age 13 or 14 or so, once took communion, then placed the tiny cup back on the rail upside down, muttering “Pour me another.”
Mom was not amused at the time. They all still laugh about it to this day, though.
