Pleading the Blood

Mark Shea on the Eucharist: http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=27698&sec_id=#section53086.

Comments

[Eric Giunta]

Great piece!

But how do I counter the Protestant assetion that *they* can "Plead the Blood" wherever and whenever they want, whereas we Catholics can only do it while we're at Mass?

In other words, if we can unite ourselves to Calvary at any time and/or place, even when not at Mass, what advantage do we have over actually being at Mass, if we don't Communion?

[grateful_catholic]

Eric, I know you weren't asking me, but let me offer one thought if I may. At every point at the heart of Catholic life - Sacramental life - we encounter God in embodied, material, yet intensely spiritual ways. Obviously God created us, not as pure spirits, but as embodied spirits, and in that light it makes sense to me 1) that God would relate to us in an embodied or material way, and 2) that our experience of our encounter with God is the richer for being an embodied, sacramental encounter, rather than a purely spiritualized one. So I would say, without wishing to deny that the Protestant does indeed encounter the grace of God, that I would like him to consider the possibility of encountering that grace more richly.

[Eric Giunta]

That didn't answer my question at all . . .