blood

Sometimes, this discussion of offering Holy Communion under both forms turns into a contentious issue. Some feel that when the Precious Blood isn't offered, they don't fully participate in Holy Communion or their rights as Catholics have been infringed upon. Far from feeling united in communion, individuals feel divided.

This view might be motivated by the underlying belief that clergy exclusively possess the Eucharist. Others participate only to the extent that this group allows. However, this view isn't wholly correct.

Jesus tells Nicodemus at the beginning of St. John's Gospel, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (John 3:5).

The poet John Ciardi once said, "I love to hang around words and listen to what they mean." Catholics might aptly paraphrase that by saying, "We Catholics love to hang around Christ's words as He reveals to us the meaning of the Holy Eucharist."

In the Gospel for the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Jesus says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."