My first memory with communion was during a tour of our church in first grade. We were each given an unblessed host to try. I broke off a small piece of it and put the rest in my folder to take home to give to my mom. I can still picture her going through my folder at the kitchen table, finding this random, broken host and popping it into her mouth like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Critics of Catholicism will call us cannibals because we believe we are literally eating the body and blood of Christ. Although I’m not even sure if most Catholics understand transubstantiation, let alone believe in it. In fact, to think about how indifferent most of us are about receiving communion in comparison to what a phenomenal miracle the eucharist really is, it is beyond ironic.
So since today is Holy Thursday, which commemorates when Jesus established the sacrament of Holy Communion, let’s review some facts to help us better appreciate just what Jesus gave us.
If you are unfamiliar with the term transubstantiation, it is a Scholastic term that attempts to explain how bread and wine can become the body and blood of the Lord without losing their exterior appearance. If you are confused, don’t be too hard on yourself, so were the apostles.
“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
John 6:60
Apparently during the Middle Ages, terms were established to explain this phenomenon such as “accidents” and “substance.” You’d think a 1,000 plus years later we would have come up with some terminology that better insinuates these meanings but whatever, here we go.
Accidents = Our physical attributes which grow, change, age over time.
Substance = Our eternal invisible essence which always stays the same.
With transubstantiation, it is the reserve. The physical attributes (accidents) of the bread and wine remain the same, but the essence (substance) has changed.
“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.”
John 6: 53
Tim Staples explains reasons why the Eucharist and cannibalism are different. Essentially what we are eating does not take on the physical taste/ texture of flesh and blood. We consume the entirety (body, blood, soul, divinity of Jesus), not just His body. Our nourishment is everlasting. We can consume the eucharist every day, again and again.
“This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”
Luke 22:19
In researching this topic I have found that the church has recognized over a hundred Eucharistic miracles, thus proving evidence of Jesus’ presence. They have been seen in bloodstained cloths, bright lights, and even the face of the Christ. These miracles have mostly occurred during times of weakened faith in transubstantiation.
Ultimately Father Mike Schmitz says the Eucharist is what Jesus says the Eucharist is: the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus himself. In fact, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, Jesus says this again and again. In fact, this is one of the few instances in the Bible in which Jesus LOSES followers for His teaching. That is how radical yet essential the true meaning of the eucharist is.
“As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
John 6:66
“As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” John 6:66
Did anyone else gets chills noticing the numbers of that bible verse are 666? That can’t be a coincidence.
Who would have thought a meager wafer could carry such important work? I don’t know about you, but I am now a little more excited about receiving communion Easter Sunday.