The Catholic Eucharist: The mystery of the real presence.

The teaching of the Catholic church that is probably the hardest to swallow is the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (excuse the pun). According to this teaching, bread and wine become the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How? Transubstantiation. I admit it took me quite some time to reach my current level of understanding of this doctrine. Even now my understanding stops at me telling myself that because the priest prays it, it's true (not to say that that's a poor level of understanding).

But it still looks, feels and tastes like bread and wine...

I know it does. It's supposed to. I said that the miracle was transubstantiation, not transformation.

What's the difference?

Transubstantiation is different from transformation because the object in question changes only in substance but not in form. The bread and wine change into the substance of the body and blood of Christ but their form remains bread and wine.

I don't get it!

You're not alone in that. That's why there has been the occasional Eucharistic miracle, hosts have bled or turned to flesh, wine has become real blood, none of which has perished even after hundreds of years. The above link will take you to the Eucharistic miracle page of The Real Presence Association website they have documented several examples of Eucharistic miracles online.

How does this real presence teaching apply to adoration?

Slow down, first know that real presence only applies to hosts and wine that have been consecrated.

consecrate:: a) To produce the ritual [transubstantiation] of (the elements of the Eucharist) into the body and blood of Jesus.; b) To sanctify (bread and wine) for use in Communion.

A host that has not been consecrated by a priest is a lot like the bread sitting on your kitchen table. Fortunately the host used for adoration is always a consecrated one. This means that spending time at a Eucharistic adoration is the equivalent to spending time with Jesus face to face.

Some churches use white wine instead of red, if the wine is supposed to represent Jesus' blood shouldn't red wine be used?

First of all, The wine does not represent Jesus' blood it is his blood. Now this doesn't mean that Jesus' was the worst kind of alcoholic and had wine for blood remember that during transubstantiation the wine changes in substance but not in form. Second, God gave Moses the power to part the red sea, so he can give his priests the power to turn any type of wine into his son's blood with ease.

If the bread and wine are truly the body and blood of Jesus, aren't Catholics guilty of cannibalism?

Of course not! Remember that the bread and wine do not change in form, if they did then we would be guilty of cannibalism.

Now I'm really confused, are they the body and blood of Christ or not?

I'm afraid there isn't really a simple answer to this. In substance, yes but in form, no. It is very difficult to understand, even for some priests. But Jesus never asked us to understand, only to believe.

[....]You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine...the Blood of Christ. I shall tell you: The Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought...Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh.²⁴ (CCC 1106)

²⁴St John Damascene, De fide orth. 4,13:
PG 94, 1145A

The Eucharist replaces passover, so shouldn't it be celebrated once a year, not once a week?

If a church teaches that the Eucharist replaces passover, then technically they should celebrate it only once a year. I will not say that churches who believe this are wrong, it is not my place to judge. I will, however, say that this is not what the Catholic church believes. As we see it, the Eucharist does not replace passover, it fulfills it. Ergo, we are free to celebrate it whenever we need to be reminded of the perfect paschal sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. If that means once a year, month, week or day, so be it.

Who celebrates daily Eucharist?

Catholics, if they want to and their church offers it.

Matthew Bohrn
Senior Web Disciple

Home