Q & A -- The Eucharist
"The Blessed Eucharist is THE Sacrament. Baptism exists for it, all the others are enriched by it. The whole being is nourished by it. It is precisely food, which explains why it is one sacrament meant to be received daily. Without it, one petition in the Our Father -- "Give us this day our daily bread" -- lacks the fullness of its meaning." The preceding is a quote from the book acclaimed as one of the most outstanding modern introductions to theology. "Theology For Beginners" by Frank J. Sheed. In the Eucharist we receive Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. So we will begin our apologetic writings, focusing on the mystery of the Eucharist, answering many of the common questions and objections surrounding this Most Wonderful Sacrament.
Q. What is the Holy Eucharist? ("Radio Replies")
A. It is a Sacrament instituted by Christ. It is one in which He Himself is really, truly, and substantially present so that He may be offered in the Holy Mass as the Sacrifice of the New Law. He is also received in Holy Communion as nourishment for our souls.
Q. What proof does the Catholic Church have that early Christians believed in the Real Presence? I read it was an imitation of an ancient pagan ritual reinstituted by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century!
A. There is a multitude of proof text that exists in the historic writings of the first seven centuries. The Catholic Church calls them the Patristic Texts or the Writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The following are just a few quotes, from the many available, showing the accepted belief of the Real Presence:
St. Ignatius, "Letter to the Romans", ca. 110 AD
"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God (1), which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood, which is love incorruptible! "
(1) John 6:33
St. Ignatius, "Letter to the Philadelphians", ca. 110 AD
"Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there is one Flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons."
St. Justin the Martyr, "First Apology", ca. 148 AD
"We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration, and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic Prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the Flesh and the Blood of that incarnated Jesus."
St. Irenaeus, " Against Heresies ", ca. 180 AD
" But what consistency is there in those who hold that the bread over which thanks have been given is the Body of their Lord, and the cup His Blood, if they do not acknowledge that He is the Son of the Creator of the world, that is, His Word, through whom the wood bears fruit, and the fountains gush forth, and the earth gives first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain on the ear (2)? ....For as the bread from the earth, receiving the invocation of God, is no longer common bread but the Eucharist, consisting of two elements, earthly and heavenly, so also are our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible but have the hope of resurrection into eternity."
..........." He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be His own Blood, from which He causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body, from which He gives increase to our bodies."
(2) Mark 4:28
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "Catechetical Lectures", ca. 350 AD
"Let us, then, with full confidence, partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. For in the figure of bread His Body is given to you, and in the figure of wine His Blood is given to you, so that by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, you might become united in body and blood with Him. For thus do we become Christ-bearers. His Body and Blood being distributed through our members. And thus it is that we become, according to the blessed Peter, sharers of the divine nature (3). ....Do not, therefore, regard the Bread and the Wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master's declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm..... Having learned these things, and being fully convinced that the apparent Bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the apparent Wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so,.... "
(3) 2 Pet. 1:4
St. Gregory of Nyssa, "Sermon on the Resurrection of Christ", ca. 382 AD
"He offered Himself for us, Victim and Sacrifice, and Priest as well, and "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (4) When did He do this? When He made His own Body food and His own Blood drink for His disciples; for this much is clear enough to anyone, that a sheep cannot be eaten by a man unless its being eaten be preceded by its being slaughtered. This giving of His own Body to His disciples for eating clearly indicates that the sacrifice of the Lamb has now been completed."
(4) John 1:29
St. John Chrysostom, " Homilies on the First Epistle to the Corinthians", ca. 392 AD
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not communion of the Blood of Christ? (5) Very trustworthily and awesomely does he say it. For what he is saying is this: "What is in the cup is that which flowed from His side, and we partake of it." ........"Because the bread is one, we, the many, are in one Body." (6) "Why do I say communion?" he says; "for we are that very Body." What is the Bread? The Body of Christ! What do they become who are partakers therein? The Body of Christ! Not many bodies, but one Body. "
(5) 1 Cor. 10:16
(6) 1 Cor. 10:17
St. Ambrose, "The Sacraments", ca. 390 AD
"You may perhaps say: "My bread is ordinary." But that bread is bread before the words of the Sacraments; where the consecration has entered in the bread becomes the flesh of Christ....... Before it be consecrated it is bread; but where the words of Christ come in, it is the Body of Christ. Finally, hear Him saying: "All of you take and eat of this; for this is My Body." (7)
(7) Luke 22:19
Q. Is Christ's Body subject to the process of digestion? ("Radio Replies")
A. The substance of Christ's Body is not subject to processes of digestion or to any chemical reactions. The qualities of bread of course behave in there normal way, undergoing a change as they are affected by digestion. Our Lord's substantial presence ceases as these qualities cease to retain those characteristics proper to bread."
Q. If poison were present before consecration would it be safe to consume the Eucharist? ("Radio Replies")
A. No. People would be poisoned. The Church has never taught that poison could be converted into Christ's Body, and in any case you are dealing with chemical activities proper to qualities, and not proper to substance as such. All such objections are based upon notions excluded by Catholic teaching. And it is of little use to refute what the Catholic Church does not teach.
Q. Ancient Egyptian pagan religions, along with other pagan cults, had ceremonial rites that involved bread and water, Mithraism being one of them!
A. Other than the use of bread by many of these pagan cults, no other aspect of their ceremonial rites ever remotely resembled the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist. St. Justin the Martyr wrote in 148 AD, " The Apostles, in the Memoirs which they produced, which are called Gospels, have thus passed on that which was enjoined upon them: that Jesus took bread and, having given thanks, said, "Do this in remembrance of Me; this is My Body."(8) And in like manner, taking the cup, and having given thanks, He said, "This is My Blood."(9) And He imparted this to them only. The evil demons, however, have passed on its imitation in the mysteries of Mithra. For, as you know or are able to learn, bread and a cup of water together with certain incantations are used in the initiation to the mystic rites."
(8) Luke 22:19; Matt 26:26; Mark 14:22; 1 Cor. 11:23-24
(9) Luke 22:20; Matt 26:27-28; Mark 14:24; 1 Cor. 11:25
Q. I read in a Jack Chick tract that the letters IHS used on the large host stand for the ancient Egyptian pagan Gods Isis, Horus, and Seb. What does the Catholic Church say the letters stand for?
A. Let’s be clear about the Jack Chick comic book style tracts. They are extremely anti-Catholic and prejudiced. Most of what is contained in them about the Catholic faith are falsifications. It is recommended and wise to read the Catholic Catechism or a good Catholic dictionary to find answers to your questions. The letters IHS form the monogram of Jesus' Holy name, and are derived from the Greek six-letter word for Jesus. The first three letters being; Iota, Eta, Sigma. So the monogram should not be used with periods after each of the letters. Any other interpretations of these characters are incorrect and in the above case a malicious distortion of the truth. The same may be said of the Chi-Rho. It is a monogram or a Christogram, as it were, formed of the Greek letters Ch and R which are an abbreviation of the Greek word for Christ. They resemble the Roman letters X and P and are usually represented as one imposed upon the other.
Q. Is it not idolatry to "worship the host", just as it is to worship statues of wood and stone?
A. Roman Catholic Christians do not "worship the host", but rather, they worship Jesus Christ whom they discern by faith to be truly present in the consecrated host.
Q. If the Apostles suddenly came back to earth, would they be appalled or amazed at the teaching of the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Eucharist?
A. No. Not at all. They preached it and wrote about it in the New Testament. Read the following scripture verses: Matt. 26: 26-28, Mark 14: 22-24, Luke 22: 19-20, John 6: 22-66, 1 Cor. 10: 16, 11: 23-29
Q. Is the Trinity received in Communion, or the Second Person only? ("Radio Replies")
A. Since we receive Christ in Holy Communion, and since Christ is God, we receive God. And in receiving God, we receive all three Divine Persons. But where we receive the Second Person directly by reason of His immediate union with the Body of Christ, we receive the Father and Holy Spirit indirectly by reason of Their association with the Second Person in the Divine Nature.
Q. The Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian, and the Nicene do not mention transubstantiation. There is no record of such a doctrine until 1564 when Pius IV put it into his creed. Are we to believe the early Christians, or the doctrine of a thousand years later? ("Radio Replies")
A. The doctrine is not in the three Creeds you mention. But they do not contain the whole of Christian doctrine. They are partial statements insisting upon certain doctrines against special errors of those times. It is true that Pius IV included the doctrine in his profession of faith, but you are wrong when you say that there was no mention of the doctrine until then. In 1551, 13 years earlier, the Council of Trent taught the doctrine explicitly. In 1274, 290 years earlier, the 2nd Council of Lyons insisted upon the admission of transubstantiation by the Greeks as a condition of return to the Catholic Church. In 1215, 349 years earlier, the 4th Lateran Council consecrated the word Transubstantiation as expressing correctly the Christian doctrine of Christ's real presence by conversion of the substance of bread into the substance of His Body. In 1079, 500 years earlier, Berengarius declared in his retraction, "I acknowledge that the bread is substantially changed into the substance of Christ's Body." Everybody who possessed the true Christian faith, until this year, 1079, believed in the substantial change, and there was no need to insist upon the word, since no one denied the nature of the change. In the 4th century all the great Fathers and writers admitted that by consecration bread was changed into Our Lord's very Body. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who died about 110 AD, wrote, "Heretics abstain from the Eucharist because they do not confess the Eucharist to be that very Flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered for us." And that doctrine is all that is expressed by transubstantiation. At the Last Supper Christ said,"This is My Body which is given for you." (10) Now He either gave them His Body or He did not. But He gave them His Body, for we dare not say, "Lord although you say, 'This is My Body,' it is certainly not Your Body." However it was not His Body according to appearances and visible qualities, and it could have been His Body only according to substance. Therefore Our Lord first taught this doctrine of substantial change at least implicitly.
(10) Luke 22:19
Q. Did not the Jews think that they were asked to eat the very body of Christ? Yet He refuted them by saying that His Body would ascend to Heaven and that the flesh profits nothing. John 6:63-64 ("Radio Replies")
A. When Christ promised that He would give His Flesh to eat, the Jews protested because they imagined a natural and cannibalistic eating of Christ's Body. Christ refuted this notion of the manner in which His Flesh was to be received by saying that He would ascend into Heaven, not leaving His body in its human form upon earth. But He did not say that they were not to eat His actual Body. He would thus contradict Himself, for a little earlier He had said, "My Flesh is meat indeed and My Blood is drink indeed." (11) He meant, therefore, "You will not be asked to eat My Flesh in the horrible and natural way you think, for My Body as you see it with your eyes will be gone from this earth. Yet I shall leave My Flesh and Blood in another and supernatural way which your natural and carnal minds cannot understand. The carnal or fleshly judgment profits nothing. I ask you therefore to have faith in Me and to trust Me. It is the spirit of faith which will enable you to believe, not your natural judgment." Then the Gospel goes on to say that many would not believe, and walked no more with Him; just as many today will not believe, and walk no more with the Catholic Church. According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church Christ's Body is ascended into Heaven. But by its substance, independently of all the laws of space which affect substance through accidental qualities, this Body is present in every consecrated Host.Q. Could a Priest be in mortal sin yet give the true Body of Christ? ("Radio Replies") A. A Priest commits a grave sin of sacrilege if he celebrates Mass whilst he himself is in a state of mortal sin. But that would not render the consecration invalid. The words of consecration have their effect quite apart from the state of the celebrant's soul. He consecrates in virtue of his priesthood, not in virtue of his being in a state of grace or of sin. It is his loss if he be not in God's grace, but the communicant suffers no loss in receiving Communion from his hands. It is the Priesthood of Christ in him that consecrates, and that is not less efficacious because a Priest sins personally.(11) John 6:56
Q. Is it less reverent to receive Holy Communion in the hands rather than on the tongue?
A. No! The Vatican Council II Post Conciliar documents state, "In some countries the practice of receiving communion in the hands has been introduced. This practice has been requested by individual Episcopal Conferences and has received approval from the Apostolic See." Irreverence for the Holy Eucharist is more attributable to one's weak spiritual posture rather than one's receptive form. In the ancient church, St Cyril of Jerusalem wrote in the 'Catechetical Lectures', ca. 350 AD, the following; "In approaching, therefore, do not come up with your wrists apart or with your fingers spread, but make of your left hand a throne for the right, since you are about to receive into it a King. And having hollowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it the AMEN." So even in the early Church we see the custom of using hands to receive the Holy Eucharist. At the Last Supper Our Lord handed the bread and the cup to His Apostles. But keep in mind, whether one uses his hands or receives on the tongue we must always remember Who we are receiving and the warning St. Paul gave us in the first letter to the Corinthians, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the Body and Blood of the Lord."
" The communicants approach, make the proper reverence, and stand in front of the priest. Showing the host he says: <The body of Christ>. The communicant answers: <Amen> and receives the body of Christ from the priest." The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, #244c
Q. Is Christ’s body anatomically and physiologically present?
Christ’s real body is present. Anatomical structure and physiological modifications belong to qualities possessed by substance. After the consecration we have the substance of Christ’s body present without any external manifestation of His anatomical or physiological appearances, and the qualities of the bread remaining as the object of sense perception without any substance of bread. That substance of bread has been converted into the substance of Christ’s body. And as substance is the basic reality, we rightly say the Blessed Sacrament is the very body of Christ.
Q. I won't receive Holy Communion from Eucharistic Ministers because they are not Priests!
A. This statement, upon questioning, eventually reads as follows; "I consider ordained priests the only people worthy of distributing communion, so therefore ..........". The Church, as we know from Matt 16:19, was given authority to bind and loose by Jesus Christ. And in Matt 28:20 He proclaims He will be with us "until the end of the age", guiding His Church through the Power of the Holy Spirit. Understanding this authority and the inerrant teachings of Christ's Church, which come by and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, one should, for the love of Christ, submit to its declarations, especially on morals and faith. The following statements will help us to understand more clearly the Church's stand on the use and validity of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.
Acceptance of the following liturgical practice can be better appreciated if we remember by Whom we are made worthy. For it is certainly not our own righteousness, whether clergy or laity, that makes us worthy to handle and distribute the Holy of Holies, but rather the Lord Himself and His command to "Do this in remembrance of Me".
Q. Should I reverence the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle at all times?
" The venerable practice of genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament, whether enclosed in the tabernacle or publicly exposed, as a sign of adoration, is to be maintained.[37] This act requires that it be performed in a recollected way. In order that the heart may bow before God in profound reverence, the genuflection must be neither hurried nor careless. If anything has been introduced that is at variance with these indications, it is to be corrected." Inaestimabile Donum, #26-27
( "Radio Replies" is a compendium of over 4300 questions and answers compiled by the famous radio priests Fathers Rumble and Carty. Father Leslie Rumble broadcast from Sydney, Australia, and Father Charles Carty from St. Paul, Minnesota. )