True Presence

One of the most difficult ideas to come to terms with in my renewed embrace of the Catholic faith (besides Confession) was the idea of the Eucharist. Growing up, we always had a rather light-hearted approach to the Eucharist: just the “bread and wine” or “juice and crackers.” I grew up in a church and community where there was no real reverence for the Eucharist. The priest just went through the motions during Mass. Everyone I knew received the Eucharist without Confession (I did not know that was a rule, even bound in Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:27 Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.)—there was never a feeling of “being unworthy” to receive Him; it was just another part of the Mass. God forgive them, but I even saw my junior high/high school classmates take the host and put it in their pocket, or drink the entire chalice of wine.

 

Almost nothing truly instilled in me a sense of awe, wonderment, understanding, or love for the Eucharist, which is truly the holy body and blood of Christ Himself. It is not a mere symbol, but His true flesh and true blood.

 

Why do we believe this to be true? Well, it is clearly written in Scripture. Every Catholic should know where to find this: John 6, the Bread of Life Discourse. John chapter 6. It is a bit lengthy, so you can read the whole thing here. I have just included the key verses below:

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (31-33)
 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. (35)
 

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (47-51)
 

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (52-58)
 

Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?  (60-61)
 

As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. (66)

 

Jesus said it Himself, and we certainly do not take Jesus to be a liar. Probably one of the most important things to know here is something that we do not see in English. The original word used for “eat” which I have underlined above, is the Greek word τρώγων (trogon) which literally means to “gnaw” or to “chew.” There’s really no mistaking “gnawing” or “chewing” for something symbolic. Whereas in English we could say something like “I ate up his words” meaning “I listened,” but we don’t say, “I gnawed up his words.” That just doesn’t make sense because gnawing implies something physical.

 

We can further prove from the passage that Jesus used strong and literal words for “eat” and “drink” referring to His own flesh and blood because the Jews that He was speaking to were offended and said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” By Jewish Law, this would be something very “unclean” to do, so it’s no wonder that they didn’t want to hear it. But instead of Jesus saying, “Wait, come back! You misunderstood me. I didn’t mean literally eat my flesh and drink my blood! I meant it symbolically, so that you can just ‘have’ Me, My words, My Spirit, in you, without any eating (gnawing).” Jesus didn’t say that and He did not retract His statement. He just knew that people would find it difficult, and “as a result of this, many [of] His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him.”

 

So are we the disciples who think this is too hard and walk away from it? Or do we believe Jesus and follow the tradition of His Apostles? (If the Apostles and first Christians did not believe this saying to literally mean eating/gnawing/chewing His flesh and blood that give eternal life, they would not have even written it that way.) If you believe Jesus’ words, there is no need to do any “mental gymnastics” to try and justify His words in other, more complicated ways. As St. Augustine said, “If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”

 

I’m being a little harsh, but I will be the first to attest that coming to believe this through my complicated, overly-rational, educated mind was not easy. It is very tempting to be like the unbelieving disciples and walk away, discounting Jesus’ words. But this is because we have made ourselves too complicated. We are indeed overly rational. We are not what we are commanded by Jesus to be: like a child. Jesus told us that we have to have childlike faith. If you tell a child something, he or she does not try to complicate it. They just accept that what you say is true. So, too, should we accept Jesus' words for what He says, because of all the people to ever walk this earth, Jesus is the one person that we should never question.

For me at least, it still took time to try and "unlearn" my mind to become more childlike. I work on it every day in every aspect of my faith, but I could not do it without the help of the Holy Spirit, Who is the only means that we can come to know Jesus. (1 Corinthians 12:3 And no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit). It is that same Spirit that is called upon by the priest to turn the simple bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord: "Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

A woman in the Bible was healed by simply touching the hem of His garment because of her faith. Imagine what kind of effects His body and blood can have on us if we believe with that kind of faith! Holy Communion is a Sacrament, so it is a visible sign of an invisible grace. We might just be able to move mountains with a deep yet simple understanding that what we receive is His flesh and blood, His Spirit, and to be open to His special graces. Don't walk away from Him because it is too hard to accept, but rather pray to understand better, accept it, love it, and be thankful for it!