A Very Catholic Belief; Why I Believe in The Eucharist

Last Sunday was the Feast of Corpus Christi, as it used to be called.  Now it is referred to as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and celebrates the very Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Bread and Wine.  Anyone who believes in the inerrancy of scripture must consider this seriously after reading chapter six of John’s gospel.  I’d be the first to admit that scripture is not always meant to be read literally in a scientific or historical sense.  After all, the bible is a compendium of books written by inspired writers, revealing the nature and wisdom of God over a period of centuries.  They were not writing about science, but rather, about the Truths revealed by God about the nature of our existence and the existence of God.  Some books are historical, others allegorical, but all contain the Truth of God’s revelation about Himself, salvation history, and they reveal a great deal about our nature as human beings.  The high point of scripture is of course the gospels, because they contain the very words of Jesus Himself who fulfills all of the scripture and prophecy that preceded Him.  Jesus takes revelation to another level, personifying the nature of God in His words and actions.  He not only explains salvation, His life and death is the culmination of salvation history in that He is our salvation.

Chapter six of John’s gospel contains an explanation of the Eucharist in Jesus own words.  When He said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world,"  (John 6:51), He wasn’t speaking metaphorically.  We know this because His detractors, and even His disciples, questioned this and were repulsed by it.  Never the less, Jesus did not recant or soften His words.    In fact, He repeated it solemnly, even preceding is with “Amen, Amen.”

 "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  (John 6:53)

Scripture tells us that some of His disciples left Him over this, but Jesus never waivered.  At the Last Supper, celebrating the Seder meal, which commemorates the Passover, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to the Apostles, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) During the Seder, there are three ceremonial cups of wine shared, each having a specific meaning.  When it came to the time for the cup of salvation, Jesus distributed the wine, saying, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24)   Jesus issued very few direct commands, but this one, “Do this in memory of me,” Is crucial because He was establishing a new and eternal covenant on behalf of all people, with God, The father.  All the previous covenants had been broken by God’s people, but Jesus, acting on behalf of all humanity established a new covenant in His own Body and Blood.   By instituting the Eucharist, Jesus established the fact that He would be present for all time, and in fact this Eucharistic meal would be the physical expression of the “New and eternal covenant” which was sealed in His Body and Blood, made available to all His disciples for all eternity.  All the blood sacrifices offered by the Jews who preceded Jesus, were anticipatory of this culmination of salvation history and the creation of an unbreakable, new and eternal covenant.

The Apostles and early disciples understood this quite well.  Even Paul, who was not present at the last supper wrote,

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”   (1 Cor 10:16)

The Eucharistic was celebrated solemnly and continuously by the apostles, and passed on for generations, who referred to it from the very beginning  as “The Lord’s Supper,” or “The Breaking of the Bread.” (Acts 2:42)  By the end of the first century, the guidelines for celebrating the Eucharist were well-documented, and the rite was an established fact.  The Rite of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in homes, despite persecution from the Romans, but when the emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians in 313 AD, he began building great churches for the celebration of the Lords Supper.   Even now, 2000 years later, the Catholic Mass still follows that same format set down by St. Justin Martyr in 150 AD:  Gathering in prayer of praise and thanksgiving, reading scripture, breaking of the bread and sharing the wine, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, a kiss of peace, and a final blessing. 

The Catholic Mass revolves about the Eucharist which is the sum and summit of our faith.  Going to mass is not about “getting something” from the experience.  It is about worshiping God and being privileged to be in His presence and receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord.  Reception of the Eucharist is more than just a commemoration of Jesus.  In the Eucharist, Jesus re-Presents Himself to us.  We receive not just a token of his memory, but His actual, physical, Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine.  If God is so powerful and almighty as to have created the universe and humanity, He can certainly take the form of Bread and Wine in the continuous fulfillment of the covenant He Himself established for our benefit.   This is our Catholic belief, based on the  words of Jesus Himself, as understood and passed on by the apostles and the successors of those first witnesses who received the Body and Blood in the form of Bread and Wine from Jesus Himself.

I am saddened by the fact that so many Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Fewer than 25 percent of baptized Catholics attend mass regularly, and the percentage is even lower in Europe where society his become predominantly secular.  The consequences seem obvious to me.  People calling themselves Catholic rationalize support for abortion, gay marriage and a host of other activities that are now referred to as “civil rights.”  Could it be that this ‘falling away’ is due in part to disbelief in the Eucharist?   Without the Presence of Jesus in our lives, we are easily lured away by the temptations of the world and our selfish nature.  Without the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are readily duped by the deceits and lies that are the currency of evil.

Receiving the Eucharist is by far the most sacred thing we can do as humans to be close to God Himself.  It is the greatest privilege of my life, knowing that I can receive my God, and that He nourishes me with His very Body and Blood, so that I can become what I eat: part of the Body of Christ.