Why is a priest necessary to consecrate the host?

[MotherSuperior]

I understand the scriptural basis for the Real Presence in the Eucharist. But why must an ordained priest consecrate it?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Because that’s his job. Christ entrusted the Eucharist to the apostles and their successors at the Last Supper, as surely as he consecrated the first Eucharist with the words, “This is my body… This is my blood.”