Eucharist

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aubreyL

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Hey.I have trouble understanding about the Eucharist. I want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ body and blood, but I just find it hard to…I have a few questions about it:
  1. How does the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ?
    2)What would be the purpose for partaking of Christ’s Body?
    Why would God want us to do that?
  2. How could Jesus be present physically in the Eucharist at every mass everywhere if he is seated at the right hand of God 'til the Second Coming?
Thanks
 
  1. Through the power of Christ.
  2. To become one with Him and one another, united in the Eucharist.
  3. Again, through the power of Christ. We each receive the same body of Christ. He is not multiplied. (Nor is he divided, when the Eucharistic bread is broken.) Because we are united with his one body, we are united with his one sacrifice, and with his entire Church.
 
aubreyL said:
Hey.I have trouble understanding about the Eucharist. I want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ body and blood, but I just find it hard to…I have a few questions about it:
  1. How does the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ?
    2)What would be the purpose for partaking of Christ’s Body?
    Why would God want us to do that?
  2. How could Jesus be present physically in the Eucharist at every mass everywhere if he is seated at the right hand of God 'til the Second Coming?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Hi aubrey,

Your questions can’t realistically be answered completely in a bunch of forum posts.

John Martignoni of the Bible Christian Society has a good talk called “The Sacraments and the Bible”, which explains the biblical foundation of the sacraments, including the Eucharist.

biblechristiansociety.com/download

If you would like to read more in depth imformation about the Eucharist itself, here are a couple of talks on the Eucharist by Scott Hahn.

salvationhistory.com/library/apologetics/sacraments.cfm#L3
ewtn.com/faith/teachings/euchc1.htm
ewtn.com/faith/Teachings/euchc2.htm
ewtn.com/faith/teachings/euchc3.htm

God Bless,

Chris
 
All three of your questions are briefly addressed in Pope Paul VI’s Credo of the People of God, which says in part:
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the sacrament of Order, and offered by him in the name of Christ and of the members of His Mystical Body, is indeed the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that, as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were soon to be offered for us on the Cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven; and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under the species which continue to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real and substantial presence (cf. n. 1526).
Thus, in this sacrament Christ cannot become present otherwise than by the change of the whole substance of bread into His body, and the change of the whole substance of wine into His blood, while only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive remain unchanged. This mysterious change is fittingly and properly named by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic faith, maintain firmly that in the order of reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus which from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine (cf. nn. 1519, 1527, 1577), as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to bind us together in the unity of His Mystical Body.
The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glorious in heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where the eucharistic sacrifice is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the celebration of the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is in the tabernacle as the living heart of our churches. Therefore, it is our sweet duty to honour and adore, in the Blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word Himself whom they cannot see and who, yet, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.
 
aubreyL said:
Hey.I have trouble understanding about the Eucharist. I want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ body and blood, but I just find it hard to…I have a few questions about it:
  1. How does the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ?
Click to expand...
Because God wills it to be so.
2)What would be the purpose for partaking of Christ’s Body?
Click to expand...
Because God (in the Second Person, Jesus Christ) is now body, blood, soul and divinity, and we are body, blood and soul. So a spiritual unification of any kind does not join the completeness of God with the completeness of a human being. But in the Eucharist the completeness of God is joined with the completeness of the human being.

The Eucharist is an element of the Incarnation.
Why would God want us to do that?
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Because he is quite serious that he has now joined himself with his creation in a perfect and forever way.
  1. How could Jesus be present physically in the Eucharist at every mass everywhere if he is seated at the right hand of God 'til the Second Coming?
Click to expand...
How could he hear all our prayers? How could he rise from the dead? How could he create the entire universe? He’s God.
 
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
I think it’s actually really pretty natural to feel that way. I did for a long time myself. I finally came to a point where I just said, okay, I don’t understand it, but I accept it.

I highly recommend that you spend some time sitting before the blessed sacrament. Ask God to reveal Himself to you in the Eucharist. I think it’s a prayer He’ll honor. 👍
 
aubreyL said:
I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what it takes — faith.

“Faith is … a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed … It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 150)

We believe because Jesus told us it is so, and Jesus not only ***tells ***the truth, He is Truth.

You say you want to believe, and you think you do. You’re on the right track. Often we have to take things on faith first, and understanding comes later. (Not that we can ever fully understand the Eucharist fully; it is a mystery.) Just try to keep the faith and pray to God to increase your understanding as He sees fit.
 
The Eucharist is one of the most incredible miracles that God has given the human race, but as with all other miracles, sometimes they sound so outrageous, so impossible, that it takes massive faith to believe them. However, look at what we are asked to believe just to be Christian
  1. That there is only one infinite God who created everything we know, nature and human, and He not only created us, he knows us all by name.
  2. This same God sent His son to this speck of terra firma in an unbelievably large Universe to suffer and die because us humans had fallen into sin.
  3. God’s son was born to a human woman who was a virgin!
  4. Jesus not only died for our sins, but after three days rose from the dead! No one made him rise, like he commanded Lazarus, but he simply awoke himself.

    As you can see, we’re asked to swallow some pretty hard beliefs to even confess to be a Christian in the first place. The Eucharist is simply another unfathomable miracle. We’ll never know (at least not in our earthly life) exactly how the miracle works, how bread and wine can become Jesus, body-blood-soul-divinity. But as Catholics we believe that it happens. After all, if Jesus could change water into wine at Cana, he can change bread and wine into His body and blood.
Why does He want us to take the Eucharist? I believe it is because Jesus, in the Eucharist, can unite with us in a way that is not possible if the bread and wine are just a symbol. When we partake of Him, He becomes a part of us also. If the Eucharist were just a remembrance, we wouldn’t feel near as close to Him. It would be simply like, “Remember Jesus?” “Yeah, I do, heck of a guy! For He’s a jolly good fellow…” You remember your friends and family, but Jesus deserves more than a remembrance, and to have Him present inside you in the Eucharist is a much stronger bond, a bond that you cannot have with a mere human relationship. The Eucharist is true spiritual kinship.

There is no doubt that it takes loads of faith to believe in the Eucahrist, but God has also allowed us to have some proofs, actual scientific proofs that the Eucharist is Christ’s body and blood. The most famous case of this is the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano. Read this and see of it doesn’t help you.

God bless you, and like someone else said, spend some time in prayer in front of the blessed sacrament and God will strengthen your faith. 👍
 
Some “food” for thought…

RE: #1) Next time you’re at mass, listen to the prayer during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The priest extends his hands and calls down the Holy Spirit to bless the gifts. That’s generally seen as the time that Jesus becomes the body/blood consumed at mass. Per one of the other posts about this, it might be fulfilling to do some additional research on the matter for a more complete doctrine of this sacrament.

RE: #2) At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “Take and eat; this is My Body” and “Take and drink; This is the cup of My Blood. Do this in memory of Me” Luke 22. As Catholics, we take this literally.

RE: #3) See #1. The same Holy Spirit that created Jesus in Mary’s womb also transubstantiates the bread and wine into Jesus.
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
Perhaps it will help if you consider that with human nutrition, every time we eat, food becomes (is changed into) our body and blood. If our metabolic system can do that, it is not too difficult to accept that Our Lord can do it by the power of His word - with the additional miracle of ordaining that it continue to look and taste like bread and wine, rather than His body and blood.

God bless you as you seek to understand better.
Nita
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
No it’s not wrong that you feel that way. I can promise you that God is most definately pleased that you are searching your heart and the world for Truth.

Simply say to God…“I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF!” 🙂

And bask in the rays of the beautiful mysteries of Christ and His Church!

Peace to you my friend!

~Gina A.
 
Think of it as this…
You are told you have a soul. (because you do) but you believe it without actually seeing it. You feel it.

Now the bread of life is in the physical form to the eye as bread, but in the same sense that a human has a soul. Jesus is in the bread. Invisible but felt. 🙂
 
Don’t try to put human understanding on the Eucharist. Jesus is God and He can do anything. You’ll make yourself crazy! I “believed” because I resigned it to faith and I got by on that for a long time until…

We had a priest at our parish that was an excellent teacher and thought it was very important that we all “understand” the Eucharist better. He began at Easter time with a “re-enactment” of the Seder meal - Passover. Hopefully, there’s parish nearby that you can participate in this each year. It really helped me - ALOT!

Remember that the Mass is called the “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” for a reason. The Mass is the fulfillment of the Seder/Passover in the book of Exodus.

You must first understand that the Mass and the Passover were covenants with God. The first with Adam, then Noah, Abraham, Moses/Israelites, David and then Jesus. The covenant with Adam was with 2 people, Noah-a family, Abrham-a people, Moses/Israelites-bringing a people together as His people, David-a nation and Jesus - all people and all nations. The purpose of these covenants was that God slowly, little by little, revealed Himself to us. Each covenant was made with a larger group of people and became more detailed and God revealed a little more of Himself as each covenant was made.

If you are familiar with the Passover, you’ll know that it was the last plague of the Pharoah to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. The Jewish familes were to procure and slaughter an unblemished, young lamb, spread it’s blood on the doorposts & lintel so the Angel of Death would “passover” them.

It was during the Passover that Jesus instituted the Eucharist - He fulfilled/changed the Passover. The lamb represents Jesus, the blood on the doorposts and lintel represent Jesus’ blood on the cross and the Angel of Death represents our spiritual death that Jesus now spares us from by His sacrifice.

In Jewish sacrifice - sin offerings, the sinner/penitent brings an animal to the priest of the Temple to be sacrificed in reparation for his sins. The sinner confesses his sin to the priest and the priest slaughters the animal and offers the sacrifice to God on the sinners behalf. Half of the sacrifice is burned up to God and the other half is divided between the priest and the sinner. The blood of the animal is sprinkled on the people. The participants must eat of the sacrifice in order for it to be a valid sacrifce.

In order for the Seder to valid, the people must partake (eat) of the sacrifice or it’s not a valid Seder-the covenant is not valid. God instituted the Seder to be perpetuated for all eternity - just as Jesus said about the Eucharist. At Mass, we partake of that sacrifice that was fulfilled in Jesus - He is the Lamb and the New Covenant that He instituted must be made valid by eating of the sacrificial lamb - Jesus. Listen to the Eucharistic prayers, they are very similar to the ones prayed in the Seder. Our priest stands in the same place as the Jewish priest did in offering sacrifice for the people. Our priests offer the final, once and for all sacrifice, the only sacrifice that bring eternal life. There’s no more need for animal sacrifices. We now have the perfect Lamb forever.

The Passover is fulfilled in the Eucharist. The Passover progressed into the final and complete New Covenant with God for all eternity. God had made His final and complete revelation of Himself to us in the Eucharist. Jesus says that if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood, then we have no life within us…

That’s the purpose and that’s why God would want us to do that.
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
I know exactly how you feel, baptized as a babe, first communion as a young lad, confirmed at 15 and I did not come to understand till I was married with children and in my thirties. Took communion for many years and did not understand. Then I came upon this passage which defines Catholic teaching. I was practicing to become a Catholic even though I did not understand till a late date. Thank you Jesus for not letting me go my own way.
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. 53 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.drbo.org/chapter/50006.htm

Just remember these words came out of the mouth of Jesus and many of those who heard walked away. I think a little difficulty in believing is understandable and certainly forgivable. Peace, you will make it if you repeat the previously quoted “help my unbelief prayer” .Peace again. Gerald PM me if you feel the need.
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
Welcome, Aubrey. Frankly, the Catholic faith is a richer and deeper faith than “others”. If you ask the Lord to reveal His Eucharistic presence to you, He will. Read John 6 and know that Christ’ words were very strong and very direct. If God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, how much easier is it to take something that already exists (bread /wine) and change it to something else (His Body and Blood).

Take your bible and ask your parish when they have Eucharistic Adoration. This is when Christ, in the consecrated host, is exposed. It is Christ standing before you. Read John 6 in Christ’s presence and you will see your doubts falling away. But, it occurs on God’s time, not ours.

It is not so much about gaining faith as it is about losing doubt. Once you lose your doubts, things become crystal clear.

Christ’s peace.
 
aubreyL said:
Thank y’all very much for taking the time to reply to my post.
All your posts were very helpful! I really want to believe that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus’ Body and Blood. I tell myself I believe it and I think I really do, but still my mind kinda finds it hard to comprehend. I guess it takes a lot of faith.
Do y’all know what I mean? Do y’all think it is wrong to feel this way?
Click to expand...
First, Cowpens is in South Carolina.

Second, I remember when and where I was when God made it clear to me that the Eucharist really is the Body and Blood of Christ.

I was lying in bed at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA in 1980. Completely unexpectedly, I just suddenly “knew”. I can’t explain it any more than that.

It does take faith…ask God about this.
 
Hi Aubrey,

They are very nice questions: I hope this would help.

Answer: The bread and wine truly becomes the Body and Blood of Christ during the consecration by the Priest. Only the priests have this authority and power to transform an ordinary bread and wine into real Body and Blood of Our Lord.

This is the will of God himself, because one time while preaching to his disciples, Jesus said : “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:65) Having said this, many of Jesus’ disciples left Him. They thought that they would be cannibals because of these words. Or perhaps, they were really not chosen by God Himself. What they did not know is after they left, in a supper Jesus took bread and said: "“Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26)

I guess the multiplication of bread to feed the 5 thousand people and the showering of the manna from heaven pre-figured the sacrament God has given us. If Jesus can multiply bread to feed five thousand people and do a lot of miracles, why can’t he transform the bread and wine into his own body and blood and feed us?

I could not elaborate more on the what or why or how of this mystery. Since after having read the above passages, there is no question that this is the will of God, that we eat His flesh and drink His blood thru the Eucharist. Do not be like the ‘disciples- with their unbelief and lack of faith to Jesus’ did not believe in this miracle. Be like the rest of the Apostles, who remained with Jesus, trusted His words, even if what they heard (of eating the flesh and body) seems impossible. That is the meaning of faith.
 
I would like to respond to your second question Why would God give Himself to us physically in Holy communion?

The Church is the Bride of Christ. It therefore follows that Christ, the Bridegroom, desires to take His Beloved to Himself in an act of total self-giving. He was not content merely to die for us, He desires to give Himself entirely to us, and thus unite His whole Heart to the heart of His beloved. This lover of our souls ardently desires that we receive Him and reciprocate His love, giving ourselves to Him completely - our bodies, our souls, our hearts, every breath we breathe, especially our last. After receiving communion, spend time with Jesus who is within you, speaking holy affections from the heart,repeating several times some tender affections, as you would with your spouse. After all, He is your Bridegroom. Let me add that you don’t have to wait until you feel something. Just do it. Remember, love is not a feeling, it’s a decision. Decide to love The Lord of the Universe who condescends to give Himself to you. Talk about unfathomable love!

God love and bless you
 
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