Isn’t the physical element merely representative and symbolic, that the spiritual element is what you actually are receiving instantly? You are in a sense, feeding your soul, and not necessarily the body.
First of all, please let me get out of the way that I do not claim in any way to explain what the Church officially teaches on this but, rather, figured that I would share how I would reason it out.
Regardless of the specific interval of time, accepting that there is indeed a moment of time at which this transformation occurs and, hence, an interval of united and disunited does not need imply that it is merely a symbolic act. It implies only that that these two states exist, but do not co-exist.
In fact, I will grant you that, if one assumes that the biological/chemical reactions are causing/driving/defining the state of unity, several questions arise about transubstantiation and the ability of the True Presence (i.e., it’s a symbolic act only).
Yet if one assumes the opposite, that the state of (dis)unity is causing/driving/defining the biological/chemical reactions, then – regardless of what causes the state of unity to become a state of disunity – it is still the changing of this state that would then cause what we physically sense to be bread/wine are then processed, as it were. Thus, there is no logical implication of symbolism over achieving a state of true physical and spiritual unity. It can be that we are actually receiving a true physical manifestation and that its state of manifestation causes the physical, though this state is not necessarily entirely the same as the physical.
It seems similar to the priest’s actions bringing about the consecration in that his actions are clearly insufficient to BE the consecration. That is, what we recognize as Eucharist is substantially more than bread and the priest’s actions. It would follow that that if there can be substantially more than just bread and spiritual intent/state of the priest (and possibly believer/communicant during communion) in the state of unity, then there can be, and indeed must be, substantially less than just bread and spiritual intent/state of the believer. But, as we do not demand that merely because a spiritual mystery occurs, the physical cease to exist and are not still a part of what is happening. Clearly they are; it is only that there is an added spiritual element that begins as the moment of consecration.
As to when that interval of time ends, I suppose that it’s theoretically possible that, provided one could correctly identify the exact moment such a shift occurs, one could also quantify in some way exactly what physical process was occurring. As it would probably be impossible to identify that moment quantitatively, I’ll leave it at being theoretically possible to identify such a moment and leave the logistics of the process to the biologists.
winks
Please let me know if there is a logic flaw in my argument. As I said, this is just how I would reason it out. I’d be very interested to see what the official answer is.
Also, this was a very good question. I seriously had to stop and think for a little bit on this. If you follow it through, it clearly begs questions regarding transubstantiation. As one planning on RCIA this fall, I seriously had a moment of “OK, I have faith that this does happen, start with that being true and then figure out how what’s happening is possible.” Those are challenging moments. But with each one of them, I’m even a little more certain that RCIA is the right next step. Thank you for raising the question.
God bless!
sat on, stood on, vacuumed up or dusted off.