Robert, I’m sure you meant to express what the Church believes, but lest anyone get confused, we should be careful how we explain the Blessed Sacrament. I hope I don’t sound condemning or too much of a stickler, but I think this is important.
The physical elements are part of the substance of the bread, and the bread is what changes. The accidental characteristics like color, shape, texture, taste do not change. [Perhaps this is what you meant by ‘physical elements’.] What had been the substance of bread ceases to exist and in its place Our Lord becomes present, under the appearance of bread. He sustains the accidental characteristics of bread while He is Himself present.
As for the canibalism charge, it was well said above: Cannibalism is the eating of dead flesh, while Jesus is the living bread. This is why the Church includes “soul” in the description of the Blessed Sacrament: the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ is present whole and entire under both species and in each portion of them. Because His soul is present, his body and blood are living in his glorified life.
