What IS the Eucharist?

[CrispSnowflake]

I know, and I believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ.
However, what does the Church mean by ‘Body’?
Do they mean a physical body, so when we receive the Eucharist we are eating Jesus’ arms, legs, wounds, etc?
Or a spiritual body, since Jesus is the Son of God?
Or a mystical body, since, as Catholics, we share the meal of the Eucharist?
Or is the Eucharist the Word of Christ- since it is Jesus?
Or is the Eucharist like a lamb sacrifice- since Jesus is the sacrificial lamb (Lamb of God)?
Or is it a (wedding) feast in Heaven sent down to Earth?

What is the Eucharist? What did Jesus mean when He said “This is my body”?

I really like the Eucharist, but I cannot comprehend it’s mystery. What does the Catechism say about the Eucharist?

Thank you in advance!

 

[MindNight]

Well if you ask me (others may give you a better answer), the eucharist becomes fully jesus at the consecration, meaning that the eucharist before the consecration has all the physical qualities (vitamins, carbohydrates, etc…), but after that, the eucharist loses its physical properties and becomes JESUS at the deepest reality. The eucharist may still look like a piece of bread, but it is not. It is fundamentally speaking Jesus, in the sense that every single piece (atom) of the eucharist becomes FULLY the second person of the trinity. I have read that the eucharist is supposed to be a mystery, so I guess one is not neccesarily supposed to understand the quantum physics of it (since God is like pursuing infinity), but one has to believe in the host which becomes 100% Jesus at the deepest level of existence.

Oh dear that answer was quite nerdy . But I am not an expert theologian, just a fallible human being.

 

[Elizium23]

The Eucharist never loses its physical attributes. Those are called accidents. The substance changes. It is not a transformation, it is transubstantiation.

Even analyzed by quantum physics, the host would not show a change before or after consecration. It is not a physical reality, it is a sacramental reality.

 

[OneHolyCathAp]

JESUS is fully present in the Eucharist; body, blood, soul and divinity. All of Jesus. In every crumb of the body, in every drop of the blood. This is the cornerstone of our Mass, our worship, our Catholic faith.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, refer to 1373-1378 for a more detailed explanation of the above. Thank God we have the true presence.

 

[Glacies]

Ludvig Ott in his* Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma*, while stating the Real Presence is essentially a mystery of Faith, compares the way Christ is in the Holy Eucharist to that of a soul being in a body.

Human reason can neither know the existence of a divinely revealed truth beforehand nor positively demonstrate its intrinsic possibility afterwards. But reason enlightened by Faith is able to show the appropriateness of the doctrine of the Real Presence and its consonance with the body of supernatural truths, and to reject the objections from reason. The dogma of the Eucharist is suprarational, but not irrational.

The Eucharist cannot be estimated according to the laws of experience. Facts from the life of Jesus …] attest that the ordinary, empirical mode of existence and action of the human body can be changed by a miraculous intervention of the Divine omnipotence, without its ceasing to be a true human body.

The mode of being of the Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is the mode of being of a created spirit. For example, it is similar to that of the soul in the body. But while the created spirit is limited to a single space (definite presence), for example, the to one single body, Chirst’s Body is at one and the same time, present in many places. Thus He is in His natural mode of being in Heaven, and His sacramental mode of existence in many places. Cf. S. th. III, 76, 5 ad 1.

 

[JimG]

If you mean, is Jesus complete body present in the Eucharist–yes it is. He is entirely present, his body and blood, soul and divinity. You don’t see the accidents / appearances of his body because all you see are the accidents / appearances of the bread and wine.

But in eating the Eucharist, we do not do any physical damage to Jesus; he is wholly and completely present under the appearances of the least particle of the Eucharist. We cannot subdivide Him by breaking apart the host into pieces.

 

[Remember_Me]

We took communion at church today, but we believe it’s symbolic according to Luke 22:19-20. Though, when I was a child, I attended an apostolic church that taught Jesus was bodily present in the bread, and we took communion once every 2 or 3 months.

 

[Elizium23]

We took communion at church today, but we believe it’s symbolic according to Luke 22:19-20. Though, when I was a child, I attended an apostolic church that taught Jesus was bodily present in the bread, and we took communion once every 2 or 3 months.

Luke 22 meshes neatly with John 6, which I believe is also part of your Bible. It is reproduced here for your convenience.

[BIBLEDRB]John 6:22-59[/BIBLEDRB]

But keep reading, Protestants should also be aware of verse 66.