Doctrine Part I - The Eucharist

Well I promised that I would outline the doctrinal reasons I had for coming to the Roman Catholic Church, and here it is. Now, please don’t think that this is at all some kind of exhaustive index of Catholic teaching. (If you’re interested in that get the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”. It’s a fantastic resource!) I thought a lot about what order to put these in, and I decided to put them in order that I came across them. In fact, I originally intended to put all the doctrinal items in one post, but just this first one on the Eucharist took me almost a week to type out! Anyway I want to reiterate that I am not opening a dialogue or a debate; I am simply outlining the doctrinal “theological” reasons that I joined the Catholic Church. Most of this is far from formal because I wanted to present it in a more conversational way. My hope is the same with Part II as it was with Part I—that the few minutes that you spend reading this will draw you closer to the Lord Jesus!

THE EUCHARIST

First of all, it might be good to point out that I never struggled with this doctrine. When I came across this concept, I immediately believed it with all my heart. Even if I had never left the Apostolic church, I would have spent the rest of my life believing this! It is so clearly and beautifully true, that I could not deny it! So, what is it? “Eucharist” is a fancy Catholic word for “communion”. It comes from the Greek word “eucharisteo” which is a verb that means “to thank”. Maybe some context would help?

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks (eucharistéo), He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-24, NASB)

The distinctively Catholic belief about this topic is that there is a moment during the Mass while the priest is praying the words from the Gospel narrative of the Last Supper that the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, but actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ himself by a process called “transubstantiation”. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph number 1413 the Church teaches the following:

“By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).”

So basically, the entire substance of the bread and wine is changed by transubstantiation. Some people get confused because the elements still look and taste the same as they did before. I like to think of it this way; when we are converted to Christ, we become new creatures. We are completely and radically changed internally. Our thoughts change. Our self-image changes. Our goals change. Our whole lives change. But we still look the same on the outside (at least initially). In fact, many times, it is only that which is immediately perceptible to the natural senses that seems to remain the same. Similarly, during the Holy Mass, what once was simple bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, and all that remains of the old is what may be perceived by the natural senses. Along those lines, there is a poem that I really like by St Thomas Aquinas that beautifully expresses this idea:

“Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.”

But why do we believe that is it actually the Body and Blood of Christ and not just a symbol or a representation? There are so many supporting passages in the New Testament for this doctrine, but I’d actually like to start in the Old Testament. After all, the practices of the Christ and the New Testament Church are meant to be fulfillments of Old Testament law and practice. (Matthew 5:17, Gal 3:24) Take a look with me at Exodus 12:1-8:

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household…Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat of it.”

This, as you probably know is the story of the Passover. Here’s a little background information just for good measure. The people of Israel had been in slavery for over 400 years. God used Moses to set them free from the oppression of Egypt, and the night described here was the night that they were leaving. The deal was that the God was going to kill the firstborn of every house that didn’t have the blood mentioned above on their doorposts. In effect, it was the proper application of the blood of the lamb that saved them from the wrath of God! THEN, after the blood had been placed on the doorposts, they were commanded to eat the lamb that they had sacrificed. Now flip over to Exodus chapter 16 and Leviticus 11.

Here we find that God has sent the Israelites bread from Heaven. When the dew fell on their camp at night, the manna came with it. They were instructed to go out every day and gather what they needed, and make it into cakes. Thus, they were miraculously fed by God in the wilderness. (Not to mention the quail sent to them for meat!)

Now, forward we go to the New Testament. When Jesus is ready to begin His earthly ministry, he goes to be baptized by John the Baptist. John chapter 1 tells us that John was at the Jordan river baptizing repentant people all the while preaching that there was one coming who was greater than he. When Jesus came to John the Baptist, John’s first recorded words when he saw Him were,

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

I know I’m covering the basics here, but bear with me. A reminder of the foundation of our salvation won’t hurt ya! J Don’t pass over the imagery here. It can be easy to do, since it is somewhat commonplace. The Old Testament Passover Lamb’s blood stayed the wrath of God. The New Testament Passover Lamb, Jesus (I Corinthians 5:7), also rescues us from the wrath of God against our Sin! Praise God!

Keep that concept in mind, and turn to John 6:22-69. Since that’s kind of a long passage I’ll summarize it for blogging purposes, but you really should read it all when you can. The story takes place right after Jesus walks on water in the middle of a storm. When he gets to the other side, the people that he had been teaching come to find him and ask, “What sign will you give us to show that you are a true prophet. Our fathers had bread from heaven so that they would believe.” The reply that Jesus gives is absolutely incredible. Remember that you are reading from a “hindsight” perspective in that you have information about the “end” of the story that the listeners did not have. Jesus says,

“Truly, truly, I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread of from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”

In my modern young adult way of thinking, I can imagine this translating into modern vernacular as something roughly like, “If you thought that bread was something, wait ‘til you see THIS!” To which the Jews naturally replied, “Lord, give us this bread always!” The manna in the wilderness was a pretty significant miracle in the history of the Jewish people so for Jesus to claim that it could be “trumped” was a heavy thing to say! Jesus explained,

“I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall not thirst…For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me…

Keeping in mind that his audience was most likely thinking of Jesus as simply a rabbi or a teacher. Most of them were not yet sold on the idea that he was the Messiah. So for Jesus to say that he was from heaven raised a few eyebrows, and in the grand tradition of humanity, they murmured. But Jesus, in the grand tradition of being Jesus, continued,

“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever…”

And here’s the “kicker”:

“….and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Again, this is not the thing to say to a group of observant Jews if you want the popular vote! Remember all of those dietary laws? And here is a man claiming to be from heaven offering his flesh as the secret to immortality! So again, the Jews respond as one might expect them to, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” And again, Jesus answers not by placating their/our tendency toward endless questions, but by reemphasizing His original point.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

One of my favorite preachers (nope, he’s not even Catholic) has a saying that has stuck with me for a long time. If God repeats something, it must be important! So in these few verses we have Jesus proclaiming to be or referring to Himself as the living bread of heaven six times! He refers to this bread being the necessary means for eternal life SEVEN times! In other words, Jesus isn’t leaving any room for error. He says that He (specifically His flesh) is the bread of heaven which men may eat and be raised up at the last day thereby living forever. To make His point even clearer, he uses the converse—if we refuse to eat his flesh and drink his blood there is no life in us! Talk about covering all the bases! To top it all off, Jesus makes sure that even his word choices preclude any possibility of misunderstanding. In verses 23-52, Jesus uses the word “phago” for eat which means to consume. But when they raise an issue with the idea of eating his flesh, he not only leaves their literal interpretation uncorrected, he himself changes his word usage to drive the point home so to speak. From that point, he begins to use the word “trogo” for eat which means “to chew or gnaw”. This word is never used metaphorically; it is always literal. This was the “clincher” for many of them. “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” Jesus still offers no correction of their literal interpretation of what was said. The only thing he offers them is advice. “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail…This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

These words of our Lord are as applicable today as they were when first spoken. We simply cannot understand supernatural mysteries with the natural mind without the light of the Holy Spirit that gives life to what would otherwise only be words with very little use. But thanks be to God that He has sent His Spirit to us to bring us into all truth! It is that same Holy Spirit that has perfectly preserved this wonderful truth concerning the Body of Christ against corruption, heresy, and error for 2,000 years! What an incredibly awesome God is our God! Hallelujah!!!

Before I get all carried away here, I’ll move on to the next bit of scripture that ensures that the Church’s communion is the real Body and Blood of our Lord. In Matthew chapter 26, Jesus is celebrating the Passover that we discussed earlier with his chosen twelve.

“…Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, “Drink of it all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

This passage is where the two Old Testament passages that we discussed earlier and their corresponding fulfillment come together. How is Jesus to fulfill the type of the Passover Lamb? How is Jesus going show himself the bread of heaven that brings eternal life? The answers are right here. It is this narrative that relates to us the beginning of the climax of the Salvation story! Jesus is the Passover Lamb because His body is offered as a sacrifice for our sin, and precisely because Jesus is the sacrificed Passover Lamb, we are commanded to eat His flesh just as the Israelites were commanded to eat the flesh of that sacrificed lamb. At the risk of sounding “preachy”, note the lack of option here. God commanded the Jews to eat the flesh of the Lamb. Similarly, Jesus says that if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood we have no life in us. And now we know how we can obey that command: by observing the Lord’s Supper. Jesus, the Mighty God who eternally lives outside of time and space, presented His body miraculously to the Apostles even before His crucifixion! (Again, I emphasize the fact that God is miracle-working God, a feat like this requires no effort on his part! Keep in mind that He was “slain from the foundation of the world”.) He then instructed them to continue the practice when he told them,

“Do this in memory of me”

Jesus has now given them an order (or ordination) to go forth and do what he has shown them. Later in Matthew 28 Jesus again tells them to go and teach and baptize the nations teaching them observe all that He commanded them. And so from that time on, the Apostle’s did just that. They, with the authority of Christ, went forth to teach, preach, heal, cast out demons, baptize, forgive sin, and offer the Body and Blood of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, John 20:21-23, Luke 22:19). Even today, those ordained in the lineage of the apostles (the Pope, Bishops, and Priests) still carry out the mission of Christ – reconciling the world to God by being ambassadors of His reconciliation! (II Corinthians 5:18) Praise God for sustaining His Holy Church throughout the ages!

It is clear that Jesus Christ intended to be truly and actually present in the Eucharist! He was not speaking metaphorically as some would have us believe. He even said in John 6, “My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” Surely an honest look at the scriptures will show us that Christ left no room for a figurative or metaphorical interpretation of this precious truth! If Jesus the Lord of Glory Himself declares that His flesh is REALLY food that we can and should eat, then who are we to degrade His words to metaphors and figures of speech?

A secondary fantastic proof that the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the fact that this was the teaching of the Church. As early as the time of the writing of the epistles even! Consider St Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter to them (chapter 10 verses 15 and16 for us modern readers J)

“I speak as to sensible men. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

Paul refers to this doctrine in a way that lets us know that it is already believed in the Corinthian church! He isn’t presenting a new doctrine at all, but asking them to recall what they already believed! Then in the very next chapter (although we remember that the original letter was not divided into chapters) verses 27-29, St. Paul makes a second very direct reference to the reality of communion and this time it is a warning that he gives.

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” [emphasis mine]

First, let me ask this question. If communion was only a symbol meant to bring to mind the sacrifice of the cross, how would eating and drinking it unworthily profane the actual body, which would in that case only be symbolized by the bread and wine? Conversely, if in fact the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus, as Christ Himself and His apostles taught, and as His Holy Church has taught unceasingly ever since, then it is easy to see how one could profane His Body and Blood. The apostle then goes on to warn for the second time in the same passage that if we take the Lord’s Supper without discerning His body, we bring judgment on ourselves! May God have mercy on us and help us to always remember that in communion we truly receive the Body and Blood of Christ!

Church history also stands as a witness to this ancient belief. Consider the following statements:

“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again." Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Smyrnaeans, 7,1 (c. A.D. 110).
"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." Justin Martyr, First Apology, 66 (c. A.D. 110-165).


Just to add a little perspective to these quotes and their timeline, note that the Apostle John was the last to die, and he went to his reward in the year 100. The date on that first statement is from the year 110! Ten years after the apostle died, Ignatius who is widely believed to have been a student of St. John’s, teaches very clearly that the Eucharist was believed to be the Body and Blood of Christ! Justin Martyr also taught this doctrine, as you can see, very early on in the Church’s history. The references in Church History to this precious belief are almost innumerable, but I only listed the earliest two that I could find quickly to make a point. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to look into it further.

The Old Testament foreshadowed His presence in the Eucharist. Christ and His apostles taught it clearly. Their successors did and continue to hold the same doctrine. And here in the year 2009, I gladly and gratefully take my place in the “communion line” along with the millions that have gone before and the millions that remain and the millions that are to come! And as the Sacred Host is raised before me, and the minister declares, “The Body of Christ!”, I whole-heartedly add my agreement with a hearty “Amen” and receive my Savior’s Body and with it the promise of eternal life!