- 46 - 8. 11 The meaning of the Eucharist c. “The third sacrament recognized by the Catholic Church is known as the ‘E u c h a r i s t ’. Other Christian churches call it ‘C o mm u n i o n ’; Paul refers to it as ‘the Lord’s Supper’. This also has been converted in the course of the centuries into something quite different from what Christ intended it to be. Sacrificial feasts were common features in the religious rites of both Jews and pagans and constituted an essential part of their religious services. Animals were slaughtered in consecrated places, their blood was poured out before the deity in whose honour also certain parts of the flesh were burned, while the rest was eaten by the worshippers at a communal feast. Not only animals, but fruit, bread, oil and wine, and the like were offered in sacrifice. A part of these things was destroyed in honour of the deity; the rest was consumed at the sacrificial meal. The portion that was burned or poured out to the deity served, as you know, to prepare the power current required for spirit communication. But even the part that was consumed by the worshippers was regarded as sacred and as sanctified by the deity. Eating and drinking of the sacrificial remains was a symbol of inner communion with the deity itself. Just as the consecrated food and drink became united with the bodies of those who consumed them, so the participants at the feast were supposed to become united with the deity in spirit and belief and to perform its wishes. Such was the significance of the sacrificial feasts held by Jews and heathens alike. The Jewish feast of the Passover on the anniversary of their exodus from Egypt was the symbol of their wish to remain in communion with the God Who had manifested Himself to them through Moses, their rescuer, and to abide by His commandments in the future. The Passover meal of the Israelites was, therefore, the symbol of their redemption from the bondage of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, God’s emissary. Christ was the great emissary of God, foreshadowed and foretold by Moses, and destined to lead mankind out of the bondage of Satan, the pharaoh of hell. On the eve of the day on which he was to consummate the deliverance of mankind by his death and his victory over hell, he celebrated in the company of his disciples the same feast that had once been celebrated by Moses on the eve of the deliverance of the Jewish people. This feast was intended to have a twofold significance: Christ’s impending departure from earth through the death of his body, and his continuing union with his followers in spirit. As symbols he selected bread and wine. Taking the b r e a d, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples with the words: ‘Take it and eat. This is the symbol of my body, which is given into death for you. This do in remembrance of me!’ As he then broke the bread into pieces, so upon the day to follow was his earthly body broken in death and separated from life. Likewise, he took a c u p o f w i n e and let all of them drink from it, saying: ‘This cup is the symbol of the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you. As often as you drink of it, remember
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