@Alex A"Do you not receive Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at Communion?":D I
knew you were going to try this line of reasoning. And so?
The Mystical Body Of Christ is present. The Physical Body Of Christ ascended into Heaven. No contradiction there.
That which is
of us may be shared -by- us, i.e. us as the sentient composite individual. In fact, this happens every day all over the world with organ donors and Red Cross Blood Drives.
What we share is -of- us. It may even contain our some aspect of our soul which harkens back to the prohibition in Leviticus 17:14. Yet what we share is not the same as
being us in our entirety as a physical person.
Jesus also makes a separation between the two in John 6:51, 54, 56
"he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me, and I in him"Notice: He said "eats my flesh and drinks my blood." Those components are -of- Him.
Again, using the entirely prosaic parallel, when we donate our own body and blood, that living tissue literally and materially lives (abides) in the person receiving it. Meanwhile, the conscious, physical person remains separate from it. My blood is circulating through a good many people and the Red Cross loves sending me freebie gift-cards afterwards. Meanwhile the physical conscious person himself (i.e., me) is is currently seated in front of his keyboard.
See how easy that was?
:D It gets worse from here.
:p There are also several other sources contradicting you.
I've already quoted the passage in John where Jesus explicitly states He was
going to leave the world. Later, in Acts 1, that moment of His physical departure is recorded. It's called the Ascension, by the way... where "the most powerful man in the world" physically LEFT the world
en.wikisource.org/…/ActsApparently you're going to tip-toe away from Church's corroboration in the Apostle's Creed. No surprises there, since it directly contradicts your opinion
Unfortunately for you, The Church has more to say on the subject in the Catechism. Let's scoot over to Part Two, Section Two, Chapter One, Article Three, Subsection 1323: "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages
until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"
Did you catch that part?
"until he should come again." That's because He (the man Himself) has already materially
gone and is not here anymore as a physical man.
This point is further reiterated in Subsection 1341 and 1344.
So as things stand now -oh dear, oh dear- your position is directly contradicted by the Gospel of John, the Acts in the New Testament, The Nicene Creed, The Apostles Creed, and no less than three or four separate points in the Catechism Of The Catholic Church.
...and I'm just getting warmed up here.
:DThe Church also cites St. Thomas in subsection 1381 "That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,'.
However, the conscious, sentient, physical man who walked the earth could and
was apprehended by the senses. It was so apprehended -by His friends, by His enemies, by believers and unbelievers alike.
That guy ain't here no' mo', sugar.
"As for miracles, one's mind goes firstly to Lourdes,"Maybe
your mind "goes firstly to Lourdes", please don't assume such limitations (intellectual or academic) are universal. Remember what I asked. (here I quote) "Have you seen Him preaching lately? Doing miracles?"
Jesus didn't perform any miracles at Lourdes!
:D :D :D He didn't even
appear there. Not when He was physically walking the earth and not afterwards.
Vague (safely and deliberately vague) rhetoric about "faith hope and charity" aside, Our Lord does not need to being physically there to inspire such virtues.
"Is this not so?"No, it isn't and no supernatural Grace is required for an obvious counter-example. It's readily available and sold right now on Amazon... a drone or any other radio-controlled vehicle. A person does not need to be physically "there" to influence and motivate the chassis of, say, a toy plane or a car. We're NOT there, even if we DO influence its direction.
The really expensive models even have their own primitive version of "free will" in the form of a sophisticated onboard auto-piloting software to keep inept pilots from influencing the devices incorrectly.
"Oh dear, Oh dear! By now, I bet you regret having posted your most recent comments to me."Your "bet" as faulty as your theology.
:D Why, oh, why would have any regets? All you've done is provide me ample opportunity to push you around online and make you look silly.