Our Lord Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharistic celebration in many ways: in the assembly, in the person of the priest celebrant, in the reading of the Word, and most especially under the Eucharistic species of bread and wine.
But what does it mean when we say that the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ? We know that the bread and wine still looks, tastes, and smells like bread and wine. Do the bread and wine merely symbolize the body and blood of Christ (as non Catholic Christians believe), and that we should imagine that these are now Christ’s body and blood? The answer is no; the bread and wine do become the body and blood of Christ. If so, then does it mean that we are like cannibals that eat flesh and blood?
I hope this article will help you understand what happens during consecration, and be able to explain it to others.
The different ways that things change
First, let’s open our minds to the different ways that things change. We know that water can change from solid (ice) to liquid to gas. But it is still H2O. In other words, the outside form changes, but the invisible components of hydrogen and oxygen remain the same.
Another kind of change is when the outside form remains the same, but the inside (or invisible) changes. In philosophical terms, this is referred to as trans-substantiation, which is the term that our Church uses to explain the change that happens in consecration. In philosophical terms, the outside form is referred to as the “accidents” and the internal elements as “essence” or “substance.” In this way of explaining, the accidents (externals) of bread and wine do not change but the essence of its reality is no longer just bread and wine, but the body and blood of Christ.
What do we mean by the “body and blood of Christ”?
The “body and blood” of Christ is our way of saying the total person of Christ. Thus, we do not refer to the bread being “just the body” and the wine as “just the blood” of Christ. Both species, that is the bread and wine, contain the whole personal presence of our Lord.
However, the “body and blood” of Christ present in the bread and wine is NOT the physical body of Christ, but his glorified and Resurrected body. This points us to yet another kind of change.
The third kind is that of total transformation, where everything (both the inside and outside) changes. This is how we look at what happened to Jesus in his Resurrection.
What happened in the Resurrection?
An understanding of the Resurrection will help us understand what happens during consecration.
We regard the Resurrection of Jesus as not just resuscitation (as in the case of Lazarus, who eventually died), but that of transformation (Jesus lives forever). Resurrection refers not just to a physically risen Jesus, but to a spiritually Risen Jesus.
Our Risen Lord was no longer bound by time and space. He could walk through walls. In the account of the “doubting Thomas” in John 20:19-29, the evangelist emphasizes by saying twice that “the doors were locked,” and yet Jesus suddenly appeared to them.
In the story of the two men on the way to Emmaus in Luke 24:1-53, we learn other aspects about our Risen Lord. We know that the tomb was empty and so his body rose and changed (24:12). His body changed because when Jesus appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus, he was not readily recognizable (24:32), and yet he could be seen and touched, and he ate bread and fish. We also know that he was recognized when he started to talk about the Scriptures and when they broke bread (24:35), and that this encounter with him brought about much excitement and joy (24:33 and 41).
I’m afraid that is as much as we can know about Jesus Resurrected presence. (The disciples did not have a video camera then, so they could not be any more helpful). But one thing we do know, Jesus was not just resuscitated; he was transformed to a glorious presence.
The close analogy I can think of is that of a caterpillar that is transformed to a butterfly. It changes to something totally new.
The Resurrection and Consecration
During the consecration, we believe that the bread and wine changes into the “body and blood” of Christ, but NOT his physical body/blood but to his glorified, resurrected, and spiritually risen body/blood. (Again, think of body/blood as “total person”)
This is the same glorified, resurrection, and spiritually risen Jesus that is present “whenever we pray and there are two or three gathered in his name.” But we regard his presence in a very special way in the blessed Sacrament.
The different ways one or something can be present
Finally, I’d like you to be aware of how one or something can be present. There is the physical kind of presence, just as a computer is proximately near me as I type this article. Someone can also be next to me and be just physically present but his or her mind is somewhere else.
There is also the personal kind of presence where a person is present to another through sharing of knowledge, affection and love. It is this kind of presence that we refer to when we say that Jesus is present in the bread and wine.
The Church wants us to avoid two extremes in explaining the presence of Jesus in the eucharist:
- a crude, materialistic understanding of the change of bread and wine into Christ’s earthly “flesh and blood” which would make communicants equivalent to cannibals, and
- the opposite extreme of a merely symbolic interpretation of the change, which would reject the real eating and drinking of the Lord.
Implications in our daily life
We believe that Jesus (in his glorified, Resurrected and spiritual presence) is everywhere. Jesus is present when “two or three are gathered in his name,” when we perform works of mercy, when we preach the Word of God, and most effectively, when we celebrate the Eucharist.
We become intimately united with him when we receive him in communion. Christ is in us. We know we will share in this glorified, Resurrected and spiritual presence one day.
But we need not wait until that day. We live the way we live because Jesus himself is already in us.
In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” (John 14:19-21)
Sources:
- Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Patambang, Myra A., Salibay, Esteban T., Jr., and Valera, Felinore Angelica H. Sacraments, Marriage And Family Life. Manila: Navotas Press, 2001.
