Contrast: The Eucharist

The Christian faith views death and disease as byproducts of sin and are a part of life due to sinful human nature. Jesus was a healer of people and the followers have followed in His footsteps. The early health care system was started by nuns and other followers in the church (Preston, 2000). By following the teachings of their religion they sought to address health and suffering by taking a holistic approach to healing. By taking into consideration the mental and spiritual, along side the physical, they believe a deeper level of healing can be given. Health is not just addressing the physical symptoms but, helping achieve a peaceful state of mind and having meaningful relationships with those

Hays’s The Burdens of Disease first chapter “Western Inheritance” discusses how different religions reacted to diseases and sickness. Hays discusses four main religions: the Aclepsian, Hippocratic, Galen, and Christianity. The Cult of Aclepios had the most notable healing traditions of the early Greeks according to Hays. According to Hays those who were sick would go to Aclepios’s temple and have ritual sacrifices, ritual bathing’s, and an “incubation sleep” (pg.9). This slumber would allow them to receive messages on what to do or automatic healing from the god himself.

"You're really sick. What are you going to do? There's no Baptist or Methodist Hospital. There are some doctors available, but you're not sure you trust them. You could go down to the temple… and have the priest call on his god to heal you.

The Church of Christ, founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879, preached that the true practice of Christianity heals sickness; she establishes her views in the book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”.

As a Catholic nurse living in California, the author encounters patients with different religion, but the author promptly sets aside her own beliefs, placing the patient as number one priority. The

God sacrificed his son, Jesus, for the good of all people and so that they too would depart from the slavery and the submission to sins and wrongdoings, in order to enter into a pure state of forgiveness and freedom. This is the key reason why Christians, of all branches, hold a great importance to Holy Communion, which remembers Christ’s sacrifice to them, which frees them of their sins up till this day. Even though, most, if not all Christian denominations agree about the origins of such a ritual, they now have different opinions about how the service is conducted. The Roman Catholic Church believes in the idea of transubstantiation, which is the belief that the bread and wine that they consume at the Eucharist meal, has over the years, mystically transformed into Jesus’ real body and blood.

Dr. Montgomery and I made rounds on the cardiovascular unit, and I was able to observe him interact with several patients of different faith background. He offered prayer to some, however, one declined prayer, and most requested prayer. Dr. Montgomery allowed me to pray with him and the patient. He also washed his hands between each patient.

For many years now the state of Texas has been said by many to be the land of opportunity where everyone can reach their aspirations. According to the Texas tribune, “More than 1 million undocumented immigrants live in Texas, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Because of its proximity to Mexico, Texas is second only to California in the number of undocumented immigrants who live in the state. Since the U.S. Congress in 2006 sparked national debate about illegal immigration, the state's immigration policies have become a matter of controversy in the Texas Legislature.”

What makes up a pyramid? 12 lines, 5 faces, 4 triangles, 1 base, and 5 vertexes and in the case of the Great Pyramids of Giza about 2.3 million stone blocks that weigh an average of 2.5 to 15 tons. That according to the time it took to build them they would have had to place and set a stone every 2 to 2 and a half minutes. To put that in perspective some weigh as much or more than an armed military cargo truck. So, imagine dragging a cargo truck with nothing but some strong rope and some other people. Now if you're like most people you can lift maybe 100 pounds. However, the average powerlifter can lift 350 to 400 pounds and that's just lift not pack around or drag across acres of land. Now how did the Egyptians build the Great Pyramid of Giza with blocks that weigh up to 15 tons with the technology they had then? It’s clearly very obtuse to think the pyramids were built by the Egyptians and the Egyptians alone. The question is, who helped them?

By accepting and ingesting the Eucharist Catholics are promising to live as persons of Jesus and love everyone. This description demonstrates the irony present because the narrator does not live as a person of Jesus and does not love the blind man for who he is. Just like the bread is transformed in mass however, the main character’s heart is transformed by the end of the story.

Christians have been celebrating the Lord’s Supper for almost two thousand years. In this paper I will refer to the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance of the church. “An ordinance is an outward rite prescribed by Christ to be performed by His Church.” There are quite a few varying interpretations among the different churches on how the Lord’s Supper is to be practiced. I Corinthians 11:23-34 provides Christians with the scriptural meaning and reasons for observing the Lord’s Supper, also known as communion. Many consider the Lord’s Supper of little or no value and some consider the ordinance as more of a ritual. In some modern churches, preaching the Word is emphasized the most and communion is only observed once a month or

The spiritual significance of illness and suffering is a topic Christians continue to grapple with, as Larchet points out in The Theology of Illness. Scripture offers a wealth of wisdom and cues for understanding illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. Larchet analyzes the various and often contradictory Christian positions on health and illness, revealing how attitudes have shifted over time and with changes in medical technology, practice, and ethics. For example, St. Barsanuphius presents a comprehensive analysis of the spiritual significance of illness and suffering. One view holds that illness signifies a lack of faith; another presents illness in terms of a person who is offered the opportunity to develop a stronger faith, or whose faith is being put to a test like the story of Job. Ultimately, the latter remains the most helpful way to approach illness and healing from a Christian perspective. The essence of Christian health care is that, "Healing itself, while resulting from natural processes, actually comes from God," (Larchet 116).

Health is not limited to a physical illness that can be cured or alleviated but must encompass the entire individual. It includes spiritual, emotional, social, mental and physical aspects of the individual. All of these areas must be assessed and evaluated when caring or a patient and their families (Chitty, 2007, p. 303).

Two practices important to Christian worship usually take place in churches. These practices are (1) baptism and (2) the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. The ceremony of baptism celebrates an individual's entrance into Christianity. The Eucharist represents the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus shared with His disciples. Worshipers share bread and wine in the Eucharist as a sign of their unity with each other and with Jesus.

Receiving the Eucharist is one of the most important things we can do as a catholic. Holy Communion is the most important of all the sacraments. It completes the Sacraments of Initiation. The bread and wine we receive at communion is the body and blood of Jesus. It becomes the bread and body of Jesus through Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remain. We participate in the sacrament of communion to commemorate all that Jesus did for us and getting nailed to a cross so we can be free from sin and have eternal life in heaven.