Communion is a deeper incorporation into the mystical Body of Christ, because the redeemer has left his real Body to his Church, through which he wished to ahve all Christians joined together.
We can and must say that participation in the phyiscal Body of Christ by the reception of this sacrament imparts the grace of Christ to us in so far as this partaking on one bread (1 Cor 10-14;18) is an efficacious sign of the renewed, deeper, and personally ratified participation and incorporation in that Body of Christ in which one can share in his Holy Spirit, that is to say, the Church.
The celebration of the eucharist is an absolutely central event in the Church.
For faith tells us that the mass is always the Church's sacrifice ..... Communion is a deeper incorporation into the mystical Body of Christ, because the redeemer has left his real Body to his Church, through which he wished to have all Christians joined together.
... the participation in the physical Body of Christ by the reception of this sacrament imparts grace of Christ to us in so far as this partaking of one bread (1 Cor 10:14-18) is an efficacious sign of the renewed, deeper, and personally ratified participation and incorporation in that Body of Christ in which one can share in his Holy Spirit, that is to say, the Church.
Karl Rahner, The Church and The Sacraments, New York, Herder and Herder, 1963
[ Sacrifice -
When, therefore, the Apostle had exhorted us to present our bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God - our spiritual service - and not to be conformed to this world but be transformed in the newness of our minds, that we might discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, he went on to remind us that it is we ourselves who constitute the whole sacrifice: ....... For just as in one body we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, so we, the many, are one body in Christ, but severally members one of another. But we have gifts differing according to the grace that has been given us. (Rom 12:3-6 ) Such is the sacrifice of Christians: We, the many, are one body in Christ." This is the Sacrifice, as the faithful understand, which the Church continues to celebrate in the sacrament of the altar, in which it is clear to the church that she herself is offered in the very offering she makes to God.
Augustine, The City of God, Book 10, Chapter 6.
When, therefore, the Apostle had exhorted us to present our bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God - our spiritual service - and not to be conformed to this world but be transformed in the newness of our minds, that we might discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, he went on to remind us that it is we ourselves who constitute the whole sacrifice: ....... For just as in one body we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, so we, the many, are one body in Christ, but severally members one of another. But we have gifts differing according to the grace that has been given us. (Rom 12:3-6 ) Such is the sacrifice of Christians: We, the many, are one body in Christ." This is the Sacrifice, as the faithful understand, which the Church continues to celebrate in the sacrament of the altar, in which it is clear to the church that she herself is offered in the very offering she makes to God.
Augustine, The City of God, Book 10, Chapter 6.
.. didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.
.... we, thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; rendering unto there most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured by the same.
And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; ....
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all others, who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most presence Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ ....
He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.
We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts.
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