Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

D. The Lord’s Supper is to be eaten in repentance and faith.

1. One of the reasons that Protestant reformers first broke away from Catholic churches was because they felt that the sacraments were being viewed as a magic action rather than as the grace of God received by faith.

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2. The Lord’s Supper is not like a magic ritual which causes grace to be given just by participating in the action.

The early Protestant reformers objected to the Catholic doctrine which was known as ex opere operato . (This is a Latin phrase that means “by the very fact of the action’s being performed.”) This meant that if the sacrament was given it produced the desired effect whether or not the person offering it or the person receiving it were acting in faith. Reformers objected that this had caused people to view the sacraments as magic: that getting baptized or taking the Lord’s Supper made you into a Christian. Their response was that a person becomes a Christian and grows as a Christian “by faith alone.” Catholics continue to teach ex opere operato but have nuanced their teaching to reemphasize that receiving the sacraments in faith is not just a Protestant idea but is necessary to the Catholic view as well by saying that “[the sacraments] presuppose faith” and that, “celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer grace.”

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~ Catechism of the Catholic Church . Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1994. pp. 291-293.

E. There are four basic Christian views on the Lord’s Supper (see Appendix 17).

1. Transubstantiation is the belief that the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is the view of the Lord’s Supper held by Roman Catholic Christians.

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