Is Jesus Christ Truly Present in the Eucharist at Roman Catholic Masses?

What is one of the biggest problems in the Catholic Church?  Is it not wanting to go to Confession? (Why do I have to go to a priest to confess my sins?) NO it isn't.  Maybe not being able to eat meat on Fridays during Lent?  Nope, that is not it either.  Nor is it having to go to Mass EVERY Sunday, though there are many  Chreasters out there, (a portmanteau of Christmas and Easter). The BIGGEST problem is that ~70% of Catholics do not believe that the Holy Eucharist is truly the Living Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!  I hope you find that as shocking as I did...but with that great of  a number  who do not believe one of the most important tenets of our Faith, YOU may be one of them.  

From the very beginnings of the Catholic Church, which is traced back to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the number one and most important tenet of the Faith was just that.... Jesus is truly in the Eucharist.  The Bread and Wine is not merely a symbol of Jesus' body and blood... it is His Body and Blood.  And Jesus proclaimed that himself, many times throughout his ministry, before he would die for us on the cross. 

In the Bread of Life discourse of John's Gospel, (John 6:48-64) Jesus tells his disciples:

  "I AM  the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."  "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."  

Many of his disciples, when they heard this, grumbled and were shocked by what he said as no Jew would ever eat meat and blood together never mind eat the body and blood of a man.  

Did Jesus stop them and say, "No I was just kidding!" or did Jesus say "I meant that as symbolic? "  No, Jesus never soften his teaching  on this.  And to further explain what he was saying when Jesus said "eat" my flesh he used the word that meant "gnaw" on it to further stress the act of eating.  The Jews at that time were very familiar with symbolic language and knew Jesus was not talking symbolically when he said this.  They understood exactly what he was saying, but could not accept it, they lacked faith in Jesus and they left him.  Jesus did not compromise,  He turned to his Apostles his closest followers and asked them if they would leave him too?

(Interesting side note to this part of John's Gospel: John 6:66 is the verse: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."  The number 666 is symbolically the number of the devil, the antichrist, or evil in general.)  However, in the time when John wrote his gospel, he did not put in chapter numbers or verse numbers, they were only added much later.  I find this an interesting connection, possibly more than a mere coincidence. Perhaps something to take note of.)

To further show the importance of the Eucharist there are many foreshadowings of the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist throughout the Old Testament and even the New Testament. I will show you just a few. 

In Exodus, the Hebrews were protected from the final plague when they followed the instructions Moses gave them for the Passover Meal.  At the first Passover Meal, a lamb was sacrificed. Its blood was painted on the lintels of the houses so that the angel of death would pass over those houses; saving them from death.  And then the lamb was totally consumed.  It was in following these instructions that they were saved.  The Passover Meal is one of the most important traditions of the Jewish faith, practiced for thousands of years even up to this day.  It was a lamb that saved the Israelites.  Jesus often called himself the lamb of God.  He is the TRUE Lamb  and his blood was shed for the salvation of the World. It was the Passover Meal that Jesus was celebrating when He gave us the gift of the Eucharist fulfilling the Old Testament foreshadowing of the life saving meal.

At the Wedding Feast at Cana, Jesus performs his first miracle.  He  had the servants fill the water containers that were used to wash the feet of the guest, not the empty wine containers.  These were huge water containers, much larger than the containers that held the wine. And Jesus had the servants fill them to the brim.  After blessing the water (a sacramental act) the water turned into wine. And not ordinary wine but the best wine according to the wine steward. This first miracle foreshadows his last miracle that Jesus performs at the Passover feast with his disciples.  There he takes ordinary bread and wine and blesses it and turns it into his body and blood--eternal food and drink.

In the story where Jesus fed the vast number of people with the loaves of Bread and Fish that story is a foreshadowing of the Mass.  Jesus sits down with the crowd seated at his feet. (the posture of a teacher and his students)  That foreshadows the Liturgy of the Word  at our Mass where we hear the readings of the Old Testament and the New Testament and the significance each has in the story of our salvation. 

In this Bible story, Jesus wants to care for the crowd that followed Him  into the deserted place by feeding them. He performs a miracle of turning a few loaves of Bread and a few fish into enough food so that thousands of people may be satisfied of their hunger.  Just as in the story of Exodus, where God showered the Israelites with Manna from Heaven for them to eat.  Both of these incidents foreshadow the Breaking of the Bread at the Last Supper, where Jesus institutes the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Just before Jesus is put to death, He desires to leave his disciples an everlasting gift.  Jesus performs his final miracle.  He turns ordinary bread and wine into his Body and Blood and then commands his Apostles to "Do THIS in Memory of Me." He did not say let this be a symbol of my Body and Blood... but rather said, "This IS my body which will be given up for you. This IS my blood which will be shed for you."  Jesus did not speak of symbols but of truth.  I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Why do so many Catholics not believe this as Truth?  Is it because it still looks and tastes like bread and wine?  Is it because they don't understand? Do they lack the knowledge?  Did you know that throughout all the history of the Catholic church the Eucharist was always proclaimed as the REAL presence of Jesus Christ.?   How many of the early Christian martyrs  died for this belief?  Every one of them! That in itself is a remarkable testament of their faith.  The First century writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Justin the Martyr proclaimed it was truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.  Third century Origen of Alexandria so strongly believed it to be the body of Christ that he was so careful handling it that not even a crumb should be dropped to the ground.  

The most important aspect of the Eucharist and its reality is to consider who gave it to us.  Jesus is the Son of God or as John called him in his gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word  was with God and the Word was GOD!  Jesus, before he took on human form through his incarnation, was the Word of God.  The significance of that is God spoke the Word, Let there be light and there was light.... what God says has great significance. His Word results in change, in creation.  Jesus spoke the words: "This IS my BODY, This IS my BLOOD,"  he did not say, this is a symbol of my body and blood he says this IS.  If you believe in God and his Word made Flesh then there is no logical reason to not believe that when he said those words and also said "Do THIS in memory of ME" that he was telling the truth!

St Thomas Aquinas said this about the Eucharist: 

"Material food first changes into the one who eats it, and then, as a consequence, restores to him lost strength and increases his vitality. Spiritual food, on the other hand, changes the person who eats it into itself. Thus the effect proper to this Sacrament is the conversion of a man into Christ, so that he may no longer live, but Christ lives in him; consequently, it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual strength he had lost by his sins and defects, and of increasing the strength of his virtues.” (St. Thomas, Commentary on Book IV of the Sentences, d.12, q.2, a.11)

Another important aspect of the Eucharist and its reality is to consider when did Jesus give us this gift.  It was the last act he performed before his death.  Jesus knew he was to sacrifice his life for us and when it was to happen.  So he left us, whom he loved in this world, the most significant gift he could give all of us...  Himself, his very presence, for all time, while we, his creation, lived on this Earth.  So after the Passover meal, at the creation of His new church, He gave us his body and blood for all eternity.  He gave the Apostles, the leaders of His church, the power to change common bread and wine into his body and blood, soul and divinity, and gave them the order to DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.  Would you or could you ever deny this wondrous life-given gift which once consumed we have Jesus living within us and HE becomes the inner strength within us? Would you be one of those follower who find this too hard to believe?

And let me ask you to consider the following.  If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for you, and you believe that he rose from the dead, and you believe he ascended into heaven...why is it you can't believe that the Holy Eucharist is truly his body and blood, a final gift of food from God to strengthen you through your life's journey on earth?  If you believe in God and all that Jesus Christ taught and all he did to save you from sin, why can't you believe he can change ordinary bread and wine into his own body and blood?  Maybe because some of us lack understanding?  Maybe because some of us need to strengthen our Faith?  

Might I suggest that you read the Bible and pay special attention to the stories about food: the forbidden fruit, the manna in the desert, the significance of the "Bread of Presence"-- (Showbread in the Jewish Tabernacle which was lifted up at the Jewish festivals and proclaimed as "God's love for you!"), the Last Supper, the followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and the many other stories throughout the entire Bible that deal with food and bread and wine.  They all have significance to open up your hearts to believe that Jesus is with us always, until the end of time in the Body and Blood that we receive every Sunday in the Holy Eucharist.  

The ultimate means by which we understand Jesus Christ is not the Scriptures, but the Eucharist, for the Eucharist is Christ himself, personally and actively present.  The embodiment of the Paschal Mystery, the Eucharist, is Jesus' love for the world unto death, his journey into god forsakenness in order to save the most desperate of sinners, his heart broken open in compassion.
--Bishop Robert Barron

Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,
 which the Son of Man will give you.
John 6:27

"and do not be unbelieving, but believing."

John 20:27

The Road to Emmaus, the First Celebration of the Mass in the New Testament (Luke 24:13-35)

 ^{By Robert Zünd - joyfulheart; upload Dezember 2008;}

 ^{upload by Adrian Michael,}

 ^{Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5537171}

It is the Sunday after the death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth. Two of his disciples are walking away from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus seven miles away.  In Luke, one of the disciples is named Cleopas.  Some biblical experts think Cleophas was a brother to St. Joseph, the deceased husband of the Virgin Mary; but according to John 19:25, he was the husband of Mary, the sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the father of the Apostle, St. James the Less.  Either way, he would have been an uncle to Jesus.  The logic that the "other disciple" on the road to Emmaus was his wife Mary and not some other disciple makes the most sense; however, Luke may have had a reason not to name the "other disciple" using it as a technique for the reader to insert himself into the story.

On the way to Emmaus, the two disciples are talking and trying to understand and console each other about all that had happened in the past two days.  They had just witnessed the horrifying death of Jesus and feel they have lost everything.  They had come to believe that this man Jesus was the hoped for Messiah, but now that all seemed to be fading away quickly with his death.  Surely, Mary had told her husband what she experienced early that morning.  Before leaving for Emmaus with her husband, Mary had been to the tomb with the other women to bring the spices for the burial.  She had seen the empty tomb, but did not understand what that meant.  On the way, they may have even talked about the possibility of the claim that Mary Magdalene actually saw the Lord that day, but it was more than they could comprehend.  Even Peter and John had seen the empty tomb, but still it was too much to hope for.

As they continued on their way, a stranger came up behind them and asked what they were talking about.  They were surprised that this stranger had not heard of everything that had happened in Jerusalem for the past few days.  How could he be unaware of how the great prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, who had healed so many people and preached in a way that no one else has ever preached, had been arrested and put to death.  They told this stranger, who they thought this Jesus was.  He was the hoped for Messiah that they expected would save Judea from the Romans and the one who would become their king.  "Save" them, odd that they should have used that word as that was precisely what Christ's death on the cross did for them.  Jesus Christ saved them from sin.

They were unaware that this person they were talking with was Jesus, as their unbelief blinded them.  They could not see what their hearts were trying to tell them.  After they told this stranger all that had happened, Jesus felt such compassion for their lack of faith that he began to tell them of all the scriptures that came before that would explain what they had just witnessed.  As they walked on to Emmaus, Jesus opened up the Scriptures to them and a spark of faith and hope began to ignite in their hearts, it was what they would need to recognize Jesus who was walking with them.

Upon reaching Emmaus, it appeared that the stranger was going to continue on with his journey, but they implored him to stay with them and to continue to open up the truth behind the Scriptures. Jesus agreed as he wanted to elevate their feelings of hopelessness to true acceptance of his salvation.  The disciples were beginning to rise from the deep darkness of their sorrow as the Light of the Word of God became brighter to them. But it was not fully comprehended until they sat down to supper when Jesus took the bread, broke it, and blessed it.  At that moment, at that first Eucharist celebration after the Resurrection, their eyes opened and shone brightly as the reality of the living Jesus Christ before them became ever so clear in his glorified presence now so tangible in front of them.  They immediately felt the joy of the Easter Miracle and with that, Jesus smiled at them and vanished from their sight.  Their joy was so great they exclaimed; how did we not see this?  How did we not believe as we listened to every word he spoke?  Weren't our hearts burning within us?

Pope St. John Paul II said that when the two disciples urged Jesus to stay with them, Jesus responded by giving them a way to stay in Him, by entering into "a profound communion with Jesus" through the "Sacrament of the Eucharist".  This presence remained in them as they immediately returned to Jerusalem on a mission to spread the Good News that they had just experienced and to tell the other Disciples of Christ's appearance to them!

The Road to Emmaus is often seen as the first celebration of the Mass in the New Covenant.  The formula for the Mass can be seen throughout the Gospel story.  The explanation by Jesus of the scriptures is our Liturgy of the Word, which begins every Mass. The breaking of the bread, where the real true presence of Our Lord is made known to those two disciples is our Liturgy of the Eucharist where the true presence of Jesus is given to all of us and Christ physically dwells in us.  And finally, the Blessing and Dismissal "Ite Missa Est" ("Go forth the Mass is ended"), the Latin word "Missa", the derivative of the English word "Mass" carries the sense of mission.  Just as Cleopas and Mary immediately set out in the darkness of the growing night to return to Jerusalem on a mission to tell their story.  They could not wait to tell the other disciples that they had truly seen the risen Lord. They desperately needed to tell them what they had learned about the Book of Genesis.  How the "seed" of the woman who would bruise the serpent's head, was Jesus.  How they now understood the sacrifice of Isaac, the son of Abraham, as a foreshadowing of the sacrificial death of Jesus, and how God brought forth the nation of Israel as the light to the world that would bring blessings to the nations of the world.  From Exodus, Cleopas and Mary now understood how Jesus would be perceived as the Passover Lamb. From the Book of Numbers, he was the rock in the wilderness from whom we receive the life-giving water.  In the Book of Joshua, he was the captain of the Lord's hosts.  In the Psalms and in the Prophets they saw His suffering, death, and resurrection. And in Ezekiel, Daniel and other books they now saw His second coming in great power and glory.  And finally, in the very last book of the Old Testament, Malachi describes Jesus as the Son of Righteousness raised with healing in His wings.  "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings..."  (Malachi 4:2 New American Standard Bible)

These great gifts--the opening and understanding of the Scriptures and the recognition of the risen Jesus, are the desire of all who believe.  Because when we read and study the Bible and its meaning is opened to us, we see the Lord Jesus Christ as HE is. Through the Holy Spirit, we are opened to an understanding that will forever change us.  The Word of God will no longer be misunderstood.  It will have meaning.  It will make sense.  And, it will bring us comfort, for within its covers we will see Jesus, who died for us so that we would live eternally with him.  And finally, our hearts will burn as Cleopas and Mary's as we hurry out to spread what we have learned on our own Road to Emmaus.

By Abraham Bloemaert - web, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6236988

In future posts, I will bring forth some of the Scriptures that reveal the coming and the mission of Jesus Christ.  Stay tuned for more insights in the series of posts entitled:

"ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS"

Thanks to Malcolm Muggeridge and his book, Jesus Rediscovered (Fontana, 1969) for this inspiration