Food, Spiritual

Food, Spiritual "an expression found in two places in the 'Order for the Holy Communion in the English Church service, to signify the sustenance which the soul receives from the sacrifice of the flesh and blood, that is, the offering up of the life of the Son of man ('for the blood,' says Moses, 'is the life') to atone for the sins of the world, and to redeem us form everlasting death. Some have maintained from those words of our Lord, 'This is my body,' that the literal, material flesh and blood of Christ are, in some sense received in the communion; while others see clearly that the Church of England at least, has taken special pains to guard against and exclude such a notion, both in the above passages, and by the language of the 38th. Article of Religion. The opponents of the 'material' view contend also that literal flesh and blood 'cannot be spiritually received,' or 'refresh the' soul." SEE TRANSUBSTANTIATION.