I am very embarrassed to ask this question. I have been a catholic all of my life and when I was young we were told that the Eucherest is the body and blood of Christ. Now that I’m older and my daughter left the catholic church (this was one of the reasons for leaving) I am trying to find out how to get my “mind around” the whole concept of this being the actual body and blood of Christ after concetration. Can someone explain it in simple terms. Is it a symbol, or one of the things you just shouldn’t question and just accept. How is this explained to non - catholics converting to the catholic faith or like my daughter, leaving this faith for this reason? I would go to my priest but I’m too embarrassed.
Here is what the Bible says:
[BIBLEDRB]1 Corinthians 11:24-30[/BIBLEDRB]
If the Eucharist was a symbol, this warning would make absolutely no sense. If there is a statue of some politician that I don’t like, and I behead the statue, I am not going to get arrested for murder. Public nuisance, yes; vandalism, yes; but not murder. I’m not going to get the death penalty, and yet St. Paul is clear that this is what happens when someone profanes the Eucharist.
You cannot be guilty for the body and blood of Christ unless the body and blood of Christ are actually there!
Now, how can the Eucharist be the Body and Blood (and Soul, and Divinity) of Christ if the Host looks, tastes, feels and seems like bread? Let’s say that there is a man who goes to the dry cleaners to pick up his suit. He accidentally brings home a police uniform. So when he’s at home and he takes out the uniform, he decides to live out his childhood fantasy of being a cop and puts on the uniform, and poses in front of the mirror.
Is he now a police officer? NO. He has the appearance of being a police officer (what is called the “accidents” of being a cop) but, in substance, what he really is–he is still just a guy. He could act like a cop but he would be lying to everyone and would be promptly arrested for impersonating an officer.
Same scenario but this time the person who picks up the uniform is a police cadet, and it’s his uniform which was a gift from his dad who is a cop. But he has not yet been sworn in as an officer. So it’s the same result: he has the accidents of a cop, but is not substantially a cop.
But when the cadet goes up on the stage in front of the commissioner and mayor and takes the oath of office, that is when he substantially becomes a cop. The mayor pronounces some words along the line of “by the authority vested in me I commission you as an officer of the City X police department”
and it is those words that cause the change in substance from civilian to police officer. Notice that it makes no difference whatsoever whether or not the cadet is in his uniform when he is sworn in. If he wears a tuxedo to the swearing-in, he still becomes a cop once the mayor has sworn him in. If he’s wearing his uniform when he’s sworn in, and then he takes it off backstage, he does not cease to be a police officer in substance simply because he does not have the appearance of one (good news for the undercover department).
This exercise demonstrates the difference between the accidents and substance of the Host. The Eucharist is substantially the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, even though It does not have the accidents of the Body or Blood of Christ. By means of a failing example, the Eucharist is analogous to the police cadet in the tux. The mayor “consecrates” him, so to speak, as a police officer by swearing him in. Even though he has his former appearance, he is no longer a civilian but is now an officer.
Here are five reasons why you should absolutely believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.
