Understanding the Eucharist Taking Part at the Table of the Lord Presented by Deacon Jim Murray Christ Our Redeemer Parish Niceville, Florida
Introduction The Lord Jesus, on the night before he died, shared one last meal with his disciples. During this meal he instituted the sacrament of his Body and Blood, the sacrifice of the New Covenant. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages and to entrust to the Church a memorial of his death and resurrection. The Gospel of Matthew tells us: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." (Mt 26:26-28; cf. Mk 14:22-24, Lk 22:17-20, 1 Cor 11:23-25)
Recalling these words of Jesus, the Catholic Church professes that, in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest. Jesus said: "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.... For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (Jn 6:51-55). The whole Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine the glorified Christ who rose from the dead after dying for our sins. This is what the Church means when she speaks of the "Real Presence" of Christ in the Eucharist. This presence of Christ in the Eucharist is called "real" not to exclude other types of his presence as if they could not be understood as real (ccc 1374). The risen Christ is present to his Church in many ways, but most especially through the sacrament of his Body and Blood.
The Eucharist was, for over 1500 years, the unifying factor of the Church in both the East and West prior to the reformation. It is the tradition and duty of the Church to offer the Eucharist until Christ comes again in glory. St. Paul tells us: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26) Christ did not institute the Eucharist in a vacuum. He transformed sacred traditions of the Old Covenant to become the ritual of the New Covenant. To understand why Jesus did this, let s examine the history behind the Eucharist, and then discuss our Catholic tradition of celebrating the Eucharist in community.
Early History of the Eucharist The Eucharist or Thanksgiving as we know it today is steeped in the traditions of the early Christian community. These experiences draw from their earlier faith tradition, Judaism, as well new direction given by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eucharistic celebration we know today as the Mass has significant roots in the spotless sacrifice of Melchizedek the Sabbath Meal and prayers Liturgies of the Temple the Passover Celebration the Manna in the desert Let s examine the history of each
The Sacrifice of Melchizedek The patriarch Abraham encounters Melchizedek, who is said to be a priest of El-Elyon (God most high) and King of Salem Melchizedek and Christ are both a king of righteousness and king of peace. As for Melchizedek, king of righteousness is the translation of his Hebrew name (melchi = my king + zedek = righteousness ) He is king of peace because this is the translation of his title King of Salem (Hebrew shalom = Greek salem). He is thusly named because his throne was situated in Jerusalem, which name is synonymous with Salem (as in Psalm 76:2) (Uru = city of + shalem = peace )
Abraham defeats a rival in battle and is met by Melchizedek Melchizedek offers a spotless sacrifice of bread and wine in thanksgiving to God, prefiguring what Jesus did at the Last Supper This concept of a spotless or pure sacrifice is prophesized before the coming of Christ: For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 1:11) This prophesy tells us that a perpetual, spotless sacrifice (without blood) will be offered to God the Father by the nations (Gentiles) The Eucharistic offering of bread and wine in the Mass is this pure sacrifice once offered by Melchizedek and by Jesus action at the Last Supper. Now this same pure sacrifice is offered by the priest in the person of Christ
The Sabbath Meal and Prayers God commanded the People of Israel set aside one day in seven to rest and to honor Him. The Sabbath is the name given for that day. Giving thanks to God is a primary focus, especially for the bountiful harvest God provides us. The Sabbath is made up of two benedictions: that for the wine (or bread when wine is not used) and that for the day. Blessed are you Lord God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
and Blessed are you Lord God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your commandments and was pleased with us, and has given us for a heritage, in love and favor, Your holy Sabbath, a memorial of the work of creation. For it precedes all the holy convocations in memory of the going forth from Egypt. You have indeed chosen us above all nations, and have given us, in love and favor, Your holy Sabbath for a heritage. Blessed be You, O Lord, who makes holy the Sabbath. When preparing the gifts of bread and wine during the Mass, the priest offers a similar formula in keeping with the ancient tradition: Blessed are you Lord, God of all creation. Through Your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. Let it become for us the bread of life. and Blessed are you Lord, God of all creation. Through Your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. Let it become for us our spiritual drink.
Just as the traditions which are now the Eucharist were transformed, so too is the Sabbath transformed by Christ and the Church. Early Christians began to celebrate the first day of the week (Sunday), traditional day of Christ s Resurrection, as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. This day becomes known as The Lord s Day On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight. (Acts 20:7) I was caught up in spirit on the Lord's day. (Rev 1:10) The Didache, also called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Through The Nations says: But every Lord s Day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: "In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations."
Liturgies of the Temple The people of God honored Him in the place considered His dwelling on earth the Temple of Jerusalem. The liturgies, or work of the people were the rituals of worship in the great covenant between God and His people. The High Priest offered prayers for the nation to God for the forgiveness of sin. Sacrifices were offered to God in thanksgiving for His goodness and mercy, and His many blessings on the people of Israel From the Temple, we retain sacred space, sacred vessels, blessed water and fire, use of incense, and the altar of sacrifice
Animal sacrifice took place year round, the first fruits of the people. During the Passover celebration, hundreds of lambs were slaughtered and the blood poured out on the altar. On Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, the High Priest offered a special sacrifice of a lamb or goat for remission of the sins of Israel Jesus is referred to on numerous occasions as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, whose blood will be shed like a lamb to the slaughter at the same hour that traditionally the Passover lambs were sacrificed.
The Passover God rescues His people from the bondage and tyranny of Egypt. A series of plagues hangs over the land, but Pharaoh's heart remains hard. God gave instruction to Moses to have the people of Israel sacrifice a lamb, and than mark their doors with it s blood. God sends the angel of death to strike the first born of the land, but death will not come to the people of God - because of the mark of the lamb s blood, death passed them over The People of Israel are instructed to eat a special meal made in hast. All leaven was to be removed. The first day of Passover is the Feast of Unleavended Bread. God commended this Passover event be celebrated perpetually by Israel
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: The "cup of blessing" (1 Cor 10:16) at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup. (CCC 1334) Christ makes use of the common elements of unleavened bread and wine as the matter for this sacrament in His New Covenant.
Manna - What Is It? During the Exodus from Egypt, the People of Israel began to grumble and complain about a lack of food. God rained down manna from heaven which fed the People of Israel for 40 years. The word manna literally means what is it? in Hebrew. Another explanation is the Egyptian word mennu meaning food, which our word menu is derived from It descended at night in the form of coriander-seed, but white in color, and tasted like wafers made with honey Jesus describes himself as the living bread come down from heaven, the new manna, but many did not believe him. 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." (John 6:48-51)
How the Mass Developed The Mass at first was a simple service that took place after a meal as at the last supper The meal was called the agape or love-feast and the eucharistic service was called the breaking of the bread or the Lord s Supper In some places, Christians continued to attend the synagogue or the Temple, but then broke bread together in their homes Abuses began to creep into the Eucharistic service, so eventually it was separated from the agape. When the Christians were forced out of the synagogues, readings from the Word of God and instruction became part of the service in the home Justin Martyr gives some detail of a Mass in Rome in 150 A.D. :
And this food is called among us Eukaristia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. (Justin Martyr, First Apology, chapter 67)
Not only a Meal, but a Sacrifice While our sins would have made it impossible for us to share in the life of God, Jesus Christ was sent to remove this obstacle His death was a sacrifice for our sins. Christ is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world Through his death and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and reconciled us to God. The Eucharist is the memorial of this sacrifice. In the eucharistic representation of Christ's eternal sacrifice before the Father, we are not simply spectators. The priest and the worshiping community are in different ways active in the eucharistic sacrifice. As Christ's sacrifice is made sacramentally present, united with Christ, we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to the Father. The whole Church exercises the role of priest and victim along with Christ, offering the Sacrifice of the Mass and itself completely offered in it" (Mysterium Fidei, no. 31; cf. Lumen Gentium, no. 11).
Transubstantiation In the celebration of the Eucharist, the glorified Christ becomes present under the appearances of bread and wine In the act of consecration during the Eucharist the "substance" of the bread and wine is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the "substance" of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. At the same time, the "accidents" or physical appearances of bread and wine remain. This change at the level of substance from bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is called "transubstantiation." According to Catholic faith, we can speak of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist because this transubstantiation has occurred. This is a great mystery of our faith we can only know it from Christ's teaching given us in the Scriptures and in the Tradition of the Church. In order for the whole Christ to be present body, blood, soul, and divinity the bread and wine cannot remain, but must give way so that his glorified Body and Blood may be present. Thus in the Eucharist the bread ceases to be bread in substance, and becomes the Body of Christ, while the wine ceases to be wine in substance, and becomes the Blood of Christ.
Not Merely a Symbol We call a "symbol" something that points beyond itself to something else, often to several other realities at once. The transformed bread and wine that are the Body and Blood of Christ are not merely symbols because they truly are the Body and Blood of Christ. St. John Damascene wrote: "The bread and wine are not a foreshadowing of the body and blood of Christ By no means! but the actual deified body of the Lord, because the Lord Himself said: This is my body'; not a foreshadowing of my body' but my body,' and not a foreshadowing of my blood' but my blood'" (The Orthodox Faith, IV [PG 94, 1148-49]) At the same time, however, it is important to recognize that the Body and Blood of Christ come to us in the Eucharist in a sacramental form. In other words, Christ is present under the appearances of bread and wine, not in his own proper form.
The Consecrated Matter Remains Christ During the celebration of the Eucharist, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, and this they remain. They cannot turn back into bread and wine, for they are no longer bread and wine at all. There is thus no reason for them to change back to their "normal" state after the special circumstances of the Mass are past. Once the substance has really changed, the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ "endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist" (Catechism, no. 1377). Against those who maintained that the bread that is consecrated during the Eucharist has no sanctifying power if it is left over until the next day, St. Cyril of Alexandria replied: "Christ is not altered, nor is his holy body changed, but the power of the consecration and his life-giving grace is perpetual in it" (Letter 83, to Calosyrius, Bishop of Arsinoe [PG 76, 1076]).
Reserving the Eucharist While it would be possible to eat all of the bread that is consecrated during the Mass, some is usually kept in the tabernacle. Tabernacle is a word used to describe a booth or tent Emmanuel God with us gets translated as God has pitched his tent among us. The Body of Christ under the appearance of bread that is kept or "reserved" after the Mass is commonly referred to as the "Blessed Sacrament. First of all, it is used for distribution to the dying (Viaticum), the sick, and those who legitimately cannot be present for the celebration of the Eucharist. Secondly, the Body of Christ in the form of bread is to be adored when it is exposed, as in the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, when it is carried in eucharistic processions, or when it is simply placed in the tabernacle, before which people pray privately.
With this gift of Christ's presence in our midst, the Church is truly blessed. As Jesus told his disciples, referring to his presence among them, "Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it" (Mt 13:17). In the Eucharist the Church both receives the gift of Jesus Christ and gives grateful thanks to God for such a blessing. This thanksgiving is the only proper response, for through this gift of himself in the celebration of the Eucharist under the appearances of bread and wine Christ gives us the gift of eternal life. 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.... 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. (Jn 6:53-57)
Questions?
Credits UCCB: The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers The New American Bible The Didache The Catechism of the Catholic Church Christ Among Us, by Anthony Wilhelm The inspiration and words of Father Kenneth Roberts Jewish Encyclopedia Catholic Encyclopedia