:twocents:
Science seeks to understand what we can perceive.
We use extensions of our senses such as microscopes, scanners, etc to enter into the material we are studying.
Many people believe that when we do that we are getting into the essence of a substance.
As a result some think DNA is the essence of what constitutes a person, at least their body.
However, it is just another molecule, although really, really complex and common to all cells at least at some point in their life span, playing its role in regulating the body’s activity.
Pretty much all the cells of the body and their constituent materials are always changing.
Red blood cells, for example, last about four months so every year they turn over about three times.
Additionally, there isn’t one DNA molecule that carries the genetic code, but billions of individual versions.
The issue then is to define what is the body, and whether this material flux is sufficient.
We are made from dust for sure, and it seems to me that the totality of the person is what organizes those substances into a physical form.
We physically take in what is other to our body and transform it into ourselves.
When the person dies, the process ceases; the remnant of body is left behind
The Eucharist is the body and blood of our Lord.
As the followers of Moses ate the sacrificial umblemished lamb at the Passover, we too participate in the incorporation of the innocent Lamb who has redeemed and saved the world.
We thereby can grow in Christ.
The way I see it, it is not symbolism at all, but a revelation of a greater truth.
I am not sure I can conceptualize it any further than bringing together these mysteries and know they are true although they cannot be fully explained.
My answer to your very though provoking question is that we do not share in His DNA although we do share in His body.
Something that I’ve been wondering about lately (and it may have already been answered here?) is do we in receiving Jesus in Holy Communion share his dna?