What does communion mean to someone?

Answer 1

The typical communion for a Christian is a service where they take a cup of wine and cracker to remember the death and resurection of Jesus Christ. This was initiated by Jesus when he held a Passover service, which the Church call "the Last Supper". Jesus said "do this in remembrance of me". He said the cup of wine represented the blood he shed for each Christian and the bread represnted his body. In doing this, the Christian is sacrificing themselves to Jesus. "Take and eat, this is my body." And Jesus then said "I am the bread of life."

Answer 2

I am a Protestant Christian, and I'm not sure of what the specific beliefs of Catholicism are on this subject, so I will speak only of myself.

Communion is done differently in many different Churches, but this gist of it is this: The wine (or Grape Juice depending on where you go) signifies the new covenant between God and the people on earth. the specific cup Jesus used was the covenant cup of the Jewish passover, which represents the the covenant between God and Abraham. The new covenant was in Jesus blood, so that we could be saved. Jesus was effectively making a new promise to his creation. The Bread is Jesus' body signifying his death on the cross. contrary to Cartoons, this was not a loaf of bread as no leaven (yeast) was used during the passover celebration.

Roman Catholic AnswerCommunion refers to several different things in the Church, the word is usually modified. Most often, we speak of Holy Communion, which is an actual partaking and participating in Our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian Life. We also refer to the Communion of Saints, as we are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ in the Church.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Communion. In Christian parlance the most sacred expression for any one of different forms of togetherness. As communion between God and the human soul in the divine indwelling; between Christ and the recipient of the Eucharist in Holy Communion; among all who belong to the Mystical Body in heaven, purgatory, and on earth in the Communion of Saints; and among those who belong to the Catholic Church as a communion of the faithful. (Etym. Latin communio, sharing unity, association, participation)

Answer 3

Communion is not the same for all Christian religions. Some believe the communion to be symbolic as an order given by Jesus to "Do this in remembrance of me." For some this practice is not even utilized depending on the flavor of Christianity the faithful belong to, and in others this is the main bread and butter of the faith.

for the Catholics who brought this faith from the first century through the 16 century, the only meaning was that the bread and wine are literally the body and blood of our Lord (Spiritually called the Eucharist) and this was taught for 1500 years.

The Eucharist in turn is a spiritual encounter with Jesus in body and soul that brings heaven and earth together in that communion. This is one of the Seven original Sacraments taught through out the ages handed down to the original 12 apostles.

Over time these sacraments have been lost over the 33,000 different splits of the church and Christian faiths and teachings.

The Seven Sacraments

Baptism ~

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Gospel of John 3:5

Confirmation ~

"Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit."

Acts of the Apostles 8:14-17

The Eucharist ~

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."

Gospel of John 6:51-58

Confession ~

"Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father who sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them,"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. "

Gospel of John 20:21-23

Holy Matrimony ~

He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Gospel of Matthew 19:4-6

Holy Orders ~

"for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Anointing of the Sick ~

"Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

James 5:14

Answer 4

There are two basic meanings of communion in The Bible.

In I Corinthians 10:16 we see "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" - this refers to the Lord's Supper.

We also see in II Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" - this refers to the principle of not having close associations with, such as business partner or marriage partner, with an unbeliever.

Answer 5

The bread represents the body of Jesus who is the "Word of God", so to eat the Word of God means to consume, digest and internalise His words (study the Bible). This is what gives life, not literally eating bread, but symbolically eating the bread from heaven (Christs words). "The words [bread] I have spoken to you are spirit [wine] and they are life." (John 6:63)

Wine is symbolic of blood and the blood is symbolic of life "For the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Gen 9:4, Lev 17:4). In the New Testament the apostles translate this spiritually in accordance with Isaiah 53:12, "because he poured out his life in death". So "blood" signfies "life" and to partake of the symbolic wine means we are participating in Christs life which "he poured out unto death". Jesus said: "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate (physical bread), and died (physically), he who eats this(spiritual) bread shall live (spiritually) forever." And the words of Jesus are called that bread of heaven.

Jesus is "the Word of God" (John 1:1,14). So to eat Jesus means to consume, digest and internalise the Bible/Word of God and to drink wine means to participate in the example of his life, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you." (Jn. 6:53).

Wine signifies blood, and blood signifies life "the life is in the blood" (Lev 17:14) and Jesus "poured out His life unto death", which means He surrendered His natural human spirit/life, to do the will of the Father (to be led by His Spirit) which was "in Him in all fullness", as a cup full of wine. So likewise, when we partake of His cup, it symbolically means we are partaking of His life (walking as He walked), living as He lived (to be led by the Spirit of Christ) "if any man will follow Me he must walk as I walked", "if any man will follow Me he must deny himself". The same will be granted with a crown of immortality, which is what these words symbolically mean "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you." (Jn. 6:53).

In the Christian ritual the bread represents spiritual food, "I am the bread from heaven" (John 6:51), or the body of Christ. Jesus said and He is "the Word of God" (John 1:1,14). So to eat Jesus means we are to eat spiritual bread which we are told are his (words). Eating words was a common Biblical idea (Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 3:1). So to consume bread represents eating and internalising the Words of God (studying the Bible). "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63). So the bread represents spiritual food (His Words) and the wine represents the example of His life. To partake of the cup; "they are spirit[bread], and they are life [wine]" and "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."

The idea of a ritual is to transfer the meaning to what the symbols are spiritually telling us to do. So instead of eating literal bread and drinking literal wine are supposed to...

1. Eat the (words) of Jesus who is "the Word of God" Jn1.1 (study, internalize and digest the Bible)

2. Drink the wine or participate in the example of His life.

In the Bible natural things are used to represent spiritual things. So just as we need natural bread to live naturally, so we need spiritual bread to sustain us spiritually (the words/teachings of Jesus).

Jesus commanded his followers to remember Him by eating bread (His body) and drinking wine (His blood) until He returned. How can we remember Jesus by eating literal bread? We remember Jesus when we eat spiritual bread (His words) and when we share his bread/words with each other and participate in His cup/life.

The symbolic meaning of turning water into wine

Jesus had to fill the jars with water first before He changed the water into wine. As He teaches in John 2 "man is first born of water and then spirit" signified by the wine to become "vessels acceptable to God"; "full of the Spirit" of His life and truth (represented by the wine). This is why John 2 says the jars were "keimenai" = lying down. meaning a dead man (a man being asleep - spiritually) - being raised from the dead to be taught by God.

Wine and Bread in Christian symbolism

Jesus said: "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate (physical bread), and died(physically), he who eats this (spiritual) bread shall live (spiritually) forever." The words of Jesus are called the bread of heaven.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven." John 6:51

"Whoever eats this bread will live forever" John 6:52

"The words I have spoken to you they are Spirit and they are life."John 6:63

The Bible often uses the idea of eating Gods words, "and I took the little book out of the Angels hand, AND ATE IT UP: and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it." (Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 3:1; Psalm 19; Rev. 10:10). Learning great truths is like eating. One must digest that which is eaten.

To eat Jesus means we are to eat spiritual bread which we are told are his (words/Gospels).

So it is the (words) of Jesus that give life not literal bread, but symbolic bread (words).

Jesus said: "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate (physical bread), and died(physically), he who eats this (spiritual) bread shall live (spiritually) forever." And the words of Jesus are called that bread of heaven, it is the symbollic meaning of the Lords prayer "give us this day our daily bread". Not natural bread, but spiritual bread (the words of Jesus), the Words of the Gospel; "my words are Spirit and they are life". To consume the Word of God to internalise the spiritual sense of the Word.

"unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you." (Jn. 6:53)

Interestingly in John 6:66 the reason why the followers of Jesus walked away after hearing this is because they could not understand it was symbolic, not literal "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him" (Jn 6:66). This is the reason most people walk away from the Bible today.

In ancient times the style of writing was to try and cause offense in the literal sense in order to (force) the reader to interpret the meaning symbolically (this is the style of a riddle) and the Bible is a book of symbolic riddles, we call this an intentional paradox, "Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?" John 6:61 (it was intended to in the literal sense to force its abandonment for the metaphoric in which the meaning is completely transfered).

The Bible often parodies paganism in the literal sense to subvert it in the metaphorical. The most obvious example is blood or animal sacrifice which God transfered metaphorically (i.e represents sacrificing our own animal nature within). All rituals have their meaning metaphorically or allegorically and are intended to be internalised (applied spiritually to us). One of the best ways to change someones world view is to accomodate their existing beliefs. The style of the Bible is to accomodate pagan ideas only to subvert them to what God wants to say (metaphorically). Therefore interpretting rituals literally not spiritually is paganism and a gross misunderstanding of the Bible style. Same applies with the Creation account which is a parody of the Babylonian myth in the literal sense only to change its theology and decode a prophecy of mans spiritual creation in the metaphoric.

Answer 6

When Christians speak of Communion, what they are usually referencing is The Lord's Supper. This is where the members of a church follow Jesus' command in Matthew 26:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matthew 26:26-29)

This is also known as the Eucharist.

Other times, albeit less frequently, Christians use the word communion in an ordinary way, to simply mean "association" or "fellowship".

Answer 7

Communion is a tradition in the Catholic religion. It is when a child, usually 8-10 years old, goes through 'classes' or the like, become an official member of the church, and be recognized by the older members of the church. On the day of communion, children must dress in their best clothes, white dresses for girls and very formal suits for the boys. During the mass, when it time to receive the 'body' and 'blood' of Christ, this is when the child can have their first taste of the 'blood' (which is a very light wine). This entire process can take a half to a full year to achieve.

- This was from a converted girl, who was once a catholic, but after she received her communion, she dropped Catholicism down the drain for good!

Answer 8

Catholic Answer

In the Catholic Church, you usually think of Holy Communion, which is the most intimate participation in reception of Christ's Body and Blood, but there are other forms of Communion. In other words, Communion, when referring to the Eucharist means that we are talking about Our Blessed Lord, really and actually present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - God Incarnate ENTIRE, really and truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. Communion, thus, refers to the participation of a human being in taking God, entire, into their own body.

Answer 9

In receiving Communion, Catholics receive the body and blood of Christ under the forms of bread and wine.

Answer 10

To 'take communion' is a Protestant term. Catholics 'receive' communion. Communion is a gift from Christ and to be received and not taken.