| Response |
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also have the opportunity each Sunday to partake of the sacrament, but unlike the Catholic
church, we do not believe that we are "literally" partaking of the actual body and actual blood of Jesus Christ. The reason is when Christ said to his
disciples in Matthew 26:26 to take and eat the bread because "this is my body" and take the cup for "this is my blood of the new testament . . . ", we can
see just from the circumstance that it was not literal. That is, Christ stood before them as a mortal being. They were not literally eating his mortal
flesh, nor drinking his mortal blood.
What we can see, therefore, is that it is a symbolic remembrance. As we take the sacramental bread and drink the
sacramental wine (or water), we are always remembering the great sacrifice that he made for us. The great and important issue with the sacrament is not
that it is literally Christ's physical body, but that we are actually taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.
In our sacramental prayers, the words are: "Oh God, the Eternal Father, we ask the in the name of thy Son,
Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son and
witness unto thee, oh God ,the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son and always remember him and keep his
commandments which he has given them. That they my have his spirit to be with them."
By living our lives in such a way that we renew our baptismal covenants every Sunday by partaking of the sacrament and by agreeing each Sunday to take upon
ourselves his name and to keep his commandments and always remember him, he will then bless us that we may always have his spirit to be with us which will
act as our personal guide and director throughout our lives if we will continue to live righteously.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Donny Osmond
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