September 2019

In the Catholic Mass, the bread and wine on the altar actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is such a basic teaching of our faith that one might presume that all Catholics understand it and accept it. However, a recent Pew Research survey published on Aug. 5, 2019, suggests otherwise.

The Pew Research online study, conducted Feb. 4– 19, 2019, among 10,971 respondents, was designed to measure people’s knowledge about a wide range of religious subjects. What they discovered was a low level of awareness about the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist. They calculate that only 34% of all U.S. adults know that the Catholic Church teaches that, during the Mass, the bread and wine used for Communion are not symbolic, but actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The study reveals that, even among Catholics, there is a substantial amount of confusion about the Catholic teaching on transubstantiation. They reported that half of all Catholics (50%) in the U.S. correctly answered a question about official Catholic teaching on transubstantiation, while 45% of Catholics surveyed said that the Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion are just symbols of the body and blood of Jesus. Another 4% said they were unsure.

According to Pew Research, about 63% of those Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week accept the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. They state that, among Catholics who do not attend Mass weekly, large majorities say they believe the bread and wine are merely symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus, and do not actually become the body and blood of Jesus.

If this Pew Research study is accurate, then we certainly have our work cut out for us. All of us, including bishops, priests, deacons, catechists, youth ministers, and parents, need to do a better job of teaching the truth about the precious treasure that is the Eucharist.

The truth is that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is not just a symbol. It is not just a remembrance. The word we use to describe the change that happens is “transubstantiation.” It is a change of substance. They continue to have the observable properties of bread and wine (taste, feel, smell, size, shape), but their substance, their true identity, is transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

Where do we get this belief? It comes from what Jesus Christ did and said. On the night before he died on the cross, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his apostles. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Mt 26:26–28). Jesus commanded them to keep doing this action, and that is why we have continued to celebrate the Eucharist, from that time forward, for almost 2,000 years.

The real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist has been a consistent Christian teaching, from the time of Jesus himself until today. For example, in John 6:53–54, Jesus says, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, “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?” Through these rhetorical questions, St. Paul is emphasizing the fact that we participate in the body and blood of Christ when we celebrate the Mass.

The early Church writers of the first few Christian centuries, also known as the Patristic writers, were very clear in their teaching about the reality of the Eucharist. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote in A.D. 110, “Heretics abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ” (Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, chapter 6).

St. Justin Martyr wrote in A.D. 150, “not as common bread nor as common drink do we receive these, but … as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the Flesh and Blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology, 66). There are many other similar examples in the writings of the various Patristic authors.

Thus, we see clearly in the Bible and in the Patristic writers that the ancient and original Christian understanding of what happens in the Catholic Eucharist is that the elements of bread and wine become the body and blood of Our Lord. Do you want to be a Christian like the original Christians? Then embrace the reality of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist.

Throughout Christian history, the teachings of the great saints, in both the Orthodox East and the Catholic West, echo the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. For example, St. John Vianney said, “Upon receiving Holy Communion, the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ really flows in our veins, and his Flesh is really blended with ours.” St. Cyril of Alexandria offers a helpful way to visualize what happens when we receive Christ in the Eucharist. He uses the image of melting together two pieces of wax. He writes, “As two pieces of wax fused together make one, so he who receives Holy Communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ.”

There are many common Catholic practices that express the reality of the Eucharist. For example, when we genuflect in our churches, it is not just a habit. It is an expression of adoration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is present in the consecrated Eucharist. This gesture recalls Psalm 95, which says, “O come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.” Also, when we keep a sanctuary lamp burning next to the tabernacle, it to remind us that Jesus Christ is present there in the reserved Blessed Sacrament.

Another Catholic practice that acknowledges the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the fact that we fast from food or liquids (except water and medicines) for at least one hour before receiving Holy Communion. The purpose of this eucharistic fast is to help us prepare spiritually and mentally to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist. It reminds us that there is no earthly food that can satisfy our soul like the spiritual food of the body and blood of Christ.

At the moment of the reception of Communion, there is a dialogue of faith that takes place between the minister and the communicant. These are not just empty words. The minister proclaims the truth of what we are about to receive: “The body of Christ/The blood of Christ,” and we respond by saying “Amen.” The word “Amen” is a Hebrew expression that means “truly” or “certainly.” Thus, our “Amen” is a faith statement. It affirms our personal belief in the truth of what the minister has just declared — that I am actually receiving the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Another Catholic practice that points to the reality of the Eucharist is the fact that not everyone receives Communion in every Mass. Children and adults who have not yet been instructed on what the Eucharist is, or those who have not observed the eucharistic fast, or those whose serious sin has not yet been absolved in the sacrament of penance, refrain from receiving Communion. If it were just a symbol, we would not make these distinctions.

When St. Francis of Assisi used to pass in front of a Catholic church that had the Blessed Sacrament reserved in its tabernacle, he would make a profound bow toward the church and say, “I adore you, O Christ, in this tabernacle and in all the tabernacles of the world.” Today, when we pass in front of a Catholic church and make the sign of the cross, we are expressing this same ancient truth.

A mystery so profound as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not always easy to grasp. When we have doubts about the reality of the Eucharist, or any truth of our faith, it is good to pray like the father of the epileptic boy in Mark 9:24: “Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.”

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the entire Christian life. Our daily activity in the world leads up to the Eucharist and then flows from it. There is a dynamic interchange in the life of a Catholic Christian, going from life to liturgy and from liturgy to life. Each one feeds into the other.

There is an intimate connection between receiving Jesus Christ in the eucharistic liturgy and serving our fellow human beings in love. The Eucharist should spill over into the rest of our life. After recognizing Our Lord in Holy Communion, we must also be willing to recognize him in our neighbor in need.

From the Mass, we are sent forth into the world as disciples on a mission, filled with new life in the Spirit. Holy Communion equips us to express in our lives the mystery of Christ, and to show it to others by the way we live and work.

Jesus Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar in a more powerful way than in anything else we do. We come to the liturgy to receive his presence, and then we are commissioned to carry his presence with us as we walk out the door into our world that is so much in need of him.