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Thursday, February 22, 2018

Georgetown Professor explains how the Eucharist is insignificant


In yet another podcast on This Is Catholic, (this name is truly misused, as most of what is being said is anything but Catholic) Professor Joseph Jensen explains how the Eucharist (the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ) is made "insignificant". 


If you haven't seen yesterday's post "Catholic Professor says Jesus was prejudice and broken until he was cured by a woman" I would suggest taking a look as that is podcast 1 from Professor Joseph Jensen. 

In podcast 1.2 Jensen suggests that any man or woman can change the bread and wine into the Eucharist. (He has a very twisted, Protestant actually, view of the Real Presence).
Matthew 18:20 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) 20 "For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
His theology is that "the Real Presence is bigger than just the Eucharist". He twists scripture to say that "where ever two or three are gathered in my name" (Matthew 18:20) is the same "Real Presence" as the Eucharist at any Catholic parish. That there is no difference between the Consecrated Host (the real Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus) and every human being walking the earth because Jesus is with us all. This is what many Protestant communities teach because they reject the Catholic interpretation of John 6 and all the Catholic Church has taught on the subject for over two thousand years. 

He says, "If you worship the bread and wine as the Real Presence of Jesus, but then can't see the real presence of Jesus in the person next to you or the people around you, the bread and wine is totally insignificant." 

Big problem here, Jensen refers to the Consecrated Host as "bread and wine", indicating he has serious issues with Church teaching on the Eucharist. That's a really big problem for any Catholic, but especially for a Permanent Roman Catholic Deacon and professor at Catholic institutions! 

Jensen continues saying, "It [the Real Presence] is ONLY significant in terms of where two or three are gathered in the midst, and only significant in the living word that has been proclaimed- you've heard and then you go out and proclaim..." He's speaking here of the readings at Mass. 

He finishes with his final opinion on when the Eucharist is significant by saying, "...and its only significant in you becoming the real presence of Jesus so that your words are Jesus' words, your actions are Jesus' actions and that begins to mend the brokenness in the same way that Jesus, in the time he was physically present on earth as the human that lived and died and is now resurrected and present in believers continuing to do exactly what Jesus did back then. That is what the Eucharist is about." 

Oh dear, where to begin? 

The Eucharist does not stop being the Real Presence (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) of Christ if we mere humans fail in our words and our actions. The Eucharist is not dependent on us, we are dependent on the Eucharist to nourish our souls and give us the graces we need. 

Jensen says "in the time he [Jesus] was physically present on earth"... For goodness-sake! Jesus IS physically present on earth in the Eucharist, that is basic Catholic teaching! 
"Christ held Himself in His hands when He gave His Body to His disciples saying: 'This is My Body.' No one partakes of this Flesh before he has adored it."- St. Augustine 
Professor Jensen wants open Holy Communion for all people, not just Catholics. He says "closed communion invalidates the whole meaning of Eucharist and it invalidates the whole meaning of communion." 

Again, nothing we do by our words or actions "invalidates" the Sacred Host. 

Yet this [closed communion] is something many Catholics are confused about. I've heard this from many progressive Catholics. My suggestion, read Saint Paul in Scripture...
1 Cor. 27 "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself."  
...and the Saints/Doctors of the Church to get a better understanding of just what you are doing when you receive Christ in the Eucharist.

Jensen is clearly poorly formed in the faith or a heretic who was rightly taught the Faith but rejects it, protesting Her teachings as so many Protestants have done. Either way, he's not teaching the authentic Catholic Faith. 

Here is the authentic teaching of the Eucharist...
"Holy Eucharist is a sacrament instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, and contains our adorable Saviour Himself, under the appearance of bread and wine. The day before His Passion, Jesus Christ took bread into His sacred hands, blessed it, and changed it by His almighty power into His own Body and Blood. 'Take,' said He to His Apostles, 'take and eat ye of this; FOR THIS IS MY BODY.' And when they had communicated, He took a chalice of wine, blessed it, saying, 'Take and drink ye all of this; FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD, the blood of the new and eternal testament, which shall be shed for you and for many, to the remission of sins.' Then He gave to His Apostles, who thus became the first priests, the command and the power to do what He Himself had done, to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. 'And you,' he added, 'as often as ye do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of Me.' Ever since that time, the Apostles, and their legitimate successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, have every day, when celebrating Mass, consecrated bread and wine; and it is this bread and wine, miraculously changed into the Body and Blood of our Lord, that we call the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, or the Blessed Sacrament. To communicate is to receive the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, or, in other words, it is to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, really present, though hidden beneath the veils of the sacred Host. This Body is verily the same Body that was once upon this earth, but is not under the same conditions. In the Holy Eucharist it is in a glorified condition, and is thus immeasurably removed from the grossness of the natural and earthly body. To make a good communion is to receive Jesus Christ with right dispositions; to make a bad communion is to receive Him with evil dispositions. The first, the noblest, holiest, and most sublime action of which a creature is capable, for it is to unite one's self to God. The last is a terrible sacrilege, by which we betray Jesus Christ, like Judas, with a kiss." [Source: The Fountain of Catholic Knowledge: A Comprehensive Statement of All the Truths of the Holy Religion, Published by Office of Catholic Publications, copyright 1900]
That teaching is not what Professor Jensen is teaching. Jensen tells engaged couples that he councils before marriage, "to have one meal a week where they talk about scripture and life and have a Eucharist meal - cause Jesus can show up anywhere, don't worry about not being ordained - and treat this meal as you would the Eucharist." Jensen promises that this homemade Eucharist meal "can be more effective than what you find at Mass." 

"more effective"??? 😕

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."- St. Maximilian Kolbe

The stuff Jensen is peddling is pure Protestantism. This is NOT Catholic teaching. You cannot find the Real Presence of Christ in your cheese burger and french fries! 

I am floored this man is teaching in any Catholic institute. This is scandalous and so sad. How many well meaning Catholics have looked to him for answers because of his position at these institutes or because he is a Deacon only to be fed heretical nonsense! How many of Christ's flock has he lead away from the authentic Faith into heresy? 

This is truly disturbing. 

Please people, if you hear something that sounds new or different from what you've always been taught, let that be alarm bells for you. Seek out the authentic Faith NOT IN MEN, but in the official documents and teachings of Christ's Holy Catholic Church where Christ Himself has promised the gates of Hell would never prevail. 


In Christ, 

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner 

**A reminder for Deacon Joseph Jensen...you don't get to change authentic teaching of the Faith. 

Catholic Catechism #939 Helped by the priests, their co-workers, and by the deacons, the bishops have the duty of authentically teaching the faith, celebrating divine worship, above all the Eucharist, and guiding their Churches as true pastors. Their responsibility also includes concern for all the Churches, with and under the Pope.




Sources: 

https://soundcloud.com/thisiscatholic/reallypresent

https://scs.georgetown.edu/programs/4/bachelor-of-arts-in-liberal-studies/faculty-bio/3627/joseph-e-jensen 

http://connecticutcatholiccorner.blogspot.com/2018/02/catholic-professor-says-jesus-was.html



3 comments:

  1. Here ya go, Julie!

    "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his Church: in his word, in his Church's prayer, "where two or three are gathered in my name," in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, in the sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "he is present . . . *most especially* in the Eucharistic species." (CCC 1373, stars added)

    The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which is *not intended to exclude the other types of presence* as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is *presence in the fullest sense*: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." (CCC 1374, stars added)

    Catechist Kev

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greetings in Christ Kev!

    Thank you for adding those to the discussion- much needed!

    :)

    God bless you and keep you.

    In Christ,

    Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

    ReplyDelete
  3. A little birdie tells me that Jensen doesn't take such a loosey-goosey position on the Catholic Church's dogma that voting for Trump makes Jesus cry.

    ReplyDelete

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