On the Real Presence

A Message from Bishop David M. O’Connell

One of the most troubling things I read all summer was the finding of a Pew Research Study released August 5 that only 31% or one-third of current, self-identifying Catholics believe that the bread and wine consecrated at Mass BECOME AND ARE the Body and Blood of Christ.  This belief, described and known since the Middle Ages as “transubstantiation” in Catholic doctrine, has been and remains a core conviction of the Catholic faith since the Lord Jesus first spoke the words “This is my Body ... this is my Blood” at the Last Supper (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).  “Do this in memory of me.” 69% of Catholics surveyed, by contrast, believe the consecrated bread and wine only to be “symbols” of the Lord Jesus’ Body and Blood.
 
Where did this error regarding such a fundamental tenet of our Catholic faith come from?
 
The Pew Survey reveals that the Church’s teaching and belief in the Eucharist is stronger among those who attend Mass weekly, especially older Catholics, but even within these groups confusion and error exist to a troubling degree.
 
There is abundant evidence derived from the scriptures, the writings of the earliest Fathers of the Church, the pronouncements of Church Councils and leaders throughout the Church’s long history as well as the firm and constant belief of the Church’s faithful, to support this most important and central conviction of our Catholic faith.  The Eucharist is the “Real Presence” of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether on the altar at Mass, in Holy Communion or reserved as the Blessed Sacrament In the tabernacle.  For the Catholic, this “mystery of faith” is unambiguous and not subject to doubt.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, citing the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church “Lumen Gentium, 11,” states with the deepest and most profound conviction, “The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life ... For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch (CCC, 1324).”
 
How bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Christ at the priest’s words of consecration at Mass is a mystery of faith to be sure but a mystery that respond’s to the Lord Jesus’ own command, “Do this in memory of Me.”  Mysteries defy scientific explanations —- that is why they are called “mysteries” requiring either the belief of faith or disbelief.  In his magnificent Eucharistic hymn, “Tantum Ergo,” one of the Catholic Church’s greatest teachers, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), reflected “what our senses fail to fathom, let us grasp through faith’s consent.”  And, so, the Catholic Church has “grasped” from its very beginning and continues to do so to the present moment and beyond.   
 
“This is my Body.  This is my Blood.  Do this in memory of me.”   “May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.  Amen (Divine Praises).”
 
If the faithful of the Catholic Church get this core belief wrong, what else could they hope to get right?

Excerpts on the Holy Eucharist from The Faith Explained by Leo Trese:

Why do we say the Holy Eucharist is the greatest sacrament?

In saying that the Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the sacraments, we are stating the obvious. Baptism of course is the most necessary sacrament. Yet, despite all the wonderful things that Baptism and the other five sacraments accomplish in the soul, they still are but instruments of God for the giving of grace; while in the Holy Eucharist we have not merely an instrument for the giving of grace—we have the actual Giver of grace himself, Jesus Christ our Lord, truly and personally present. The sacrament of Christ’s body and blood has had many names in the course of Christian history. Such names as Bread of Angels, the Lord’s Supper, the Sacrament of the Altar, are familiar to us. But the name which has endured from the very beginning, the name that the Church officially gives to this sacrament is that of Holy Eucharist. This name is taken from the account of the institution of the Holy Eucharist as it is given in the Bible. All four of the sacred writers, Matthew…Mark…Luke and Paul...tell us that Jesus, as he took the bread and wine into his hands, ‘gave thanks.’ And so from the Greek word, ‘eucharistia,’ which means a ‘giving of thanks’ we have the name of our sacrament: the Holy Eucharist.
~PP 347-348

What does it mean that the Eucharist is both sacrifice and sacrament?

The Catechism points out that the Holy Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a sacrament. As a sacrifice, the Holy Eucharist is the Mass, that divine action in which Jesus through the agency of the priest, changes the bread and wine into his own body and blood and continues through time the offering which he made to God on Calvary—the offering of himself for mankind. It is at the consecration of the Mass that the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist comes into being (or is confected as the theologians say); it is then that Jesus becomes present under the appearances of bread and wine. As long as the appearances of bread and wine remain, Jesus remains present, and the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist continues to exist there. The act by which we receive the Holy Eucharist is called Holy Communion. We might say that the Mass is the ‘making ‘of the Holy Eucharist and Holy Communion is the ‘receiving’ of the Holy Eucharist. In between the two, the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist continues to exist (as in the tabernacle) whether we receive it or not.
~ Pg. 348

What happened at the Last Supper (and at Mass)?

Exactly what did happen when Jesus at the Last Supper (and the priest this morning at Mass) said, “This is my body” over the bread and “This is my blood“ over the wine? We believe that the substance of the bread completely and totally ceased to exist, and that the substance of Christ’s own body replaced the annihilated substance of the bread. We believe that the wine entirely ceased to exist as wine, and that the substance of Christ’s own blood replaced the wine. We also believe that Jesus, by his almighty power as God, preserved the appearances of bread and wine, in spite of the fact that their substances were gone. By appearances of bread and wine we mean all those outward forms and accidentals which can be perceived in any way by our bodily senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smelling. The Holy Eucharist still looks like bread and wine, feels like bread and wine, tastes like bread and wine, smells like bread and wine, and if broken or splashed would sound like bread and wine…This change that takes place, by the words of consecration, is such a special kind of change that the Church has to coin a special word to describe it. The word is “transubstantiation.” It means, literally, a crossing from one substance to another; but in this case, a unique and unparalleled kind of crossing.
~ PP 353-360

How is Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist?

Jesus Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist, whole and entire, under the appearance of bread and wine. He is simultaneously present in every single sacred host on every altar throughout the world, and under the appearance of wine in every single consecrated chalice whenever Mass is being offered. Moreover, Jesus is present, whole, and entire, in every part of every sacred host, and in every drop contained in the consecrated chalice. If a crumb were to drop from the sacred host, or a drop were spilled from the chalice, Jesus would be present in that crumb and in that drop.
~ Pg. 363

How is Jesus present in the sacred host?

Jesus is not present in the sacred host in miniature, a tiny and shrunken Jesus. He is there in the fullness of his glorified Person, but in a spiritualized way, without any extension in space. He has no height nor breadth, nor thickness. Jesus does not multiply himself so that there are many Jesuses; nor does he divide himself up among the many hosts. There is but one Jesus, whole and undivided. His multilocation is not the result of multiplication or division; it is the result of the suspension of the laws of space as far as his sacred body is concerned. It is as though his himself stayed in one place, and all parts of space were brought to him, were pinpointed in him. It is easy to see why the Holy Eucharist is called—and is—the sacrament of unity. When we receive Holy Communion, we are where Jesus is; we and our fellow communicants all over the world. Space has dissolved for us, and we are there together—one in Christ.
~ Pg. 363

 How long does Jesus remain present in the Holy Eucharist?

How long does Jesus remain present in the Holy Eucharist? Only as long as the appearances of bread and wine remain. If a sudden fire were to destroy the sacred hosts in the tabernacle, Jesus would not be burned. The appearance of bread would be changed to the appearance of ashes, and Jesus would be gone. When, after Holy Communion, our digestive processes have destroyed the appearance of bread within us, Jesus no longer is bodily present, only his grace remains.
~ Pp. 363-364

For more information on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, see the Three Homilies on the Eucharist from Msgr. Gervasio and Deacon Joe Jaruszewski.