*EUCHARIST (means "thanksgiving" in Gk?) - see THANKSGIVING, INCARNATION
Jesus' actual death and resurrection are symbolically acted out
each time a Christian participates in the Eucharist. (Transcend, p218)
The bread represents the earth element associated with the Great
Mother while the wine speaks of masculinity. The breaking of the bread
signifies the death of Christ and as one partakes of both bread and wine,
the union of the masculine and feminine gives birth to the Christ within,
who secured victory over darkness through his resurretion. (Transcend, p79)
Eucharist means thannksgiving for God having sent the Savior
to them and for making such means of grace available to us. Secondly,
one communes with the higher life by experiencing it. (Jung, p132)
The miracle of the Eucharist is that we eat and drink in mindfulness. If we allow ourselves to touch our bread deeply, we become reborn, because our bread is life itself. The body of Christ is the body of God, the body of ultimate reality, the ground of all existence. The Eucharist rite encourages us to be fully aware so that we can touch the body of reality in us. (Buddha, Christ, p30-1)
Bread and wine are the Sacrifice of the Mass. (Lost Years, p96)
Eucharist consists of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving.
The tree of life in the Garden of Eden & in paradise regained. (ReadingNT2, p87)
The Eucharist is the celebration of life: the coming together of all the material elements of the cosmos, their emergence to consciousness in human persons and the transformation of human consciousness into Divine consciousness. It is the manifestation of the Divine in and through the Christian community. We receive the Eucharist in order to become the Eucharist. (Open Mind, p128)
Everything is the body of Christ. What happens at the consecration? A transformation of matter into something which already was at every point? Or is there rather a rendering present to ourselves, a making ourselves CONSCIOUS, of reality and truth, namely, the already real presence of God? (Contemplation, p131)
The consecration: continuation of the incarnation of God. - "This is my flesh; this is my blood." - He wants to take form in us. He wants to continue his incarnation. (Contemplation, p133)
The Bread that I give is My flesh for the life of the world. Whoever eats this Bread shall live forever. It is not enough to provide our family with their "daily bread." Providing the things of this world is not sufficient. We must lead our children to Jesus, who is "the living bread" so that they "will have eternal life." The Sacrament of the Eucharist celebrates the PRESENCE of Christ whether physically [via transsubstantion - Catholicism] or spiritually [via remembrance - Protestism]. St. Thomas Aguinas argued that we know Christ is fully yet mysteriously present in the Eucharist by faith, not by our senses or by human understanding alone. (Feast of Corpus Christi now Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, Bulletin June 9, 1996)
Just as bread was broken and distributed to feed the 5,000 and at the last supper, Christ (bread) died (broken) for us (distribued - see Pantheism) to nourish (feed) us spiritually. (Randy)
Eucharist is thanksgiving, unity (communion), strength/nourishment.
In eucharist, the bread/wine take on new meaning/significance - ie. communion with Christ and others. (Bishop Costello, 12/10/96)