Receiving the Eucharist Fruitfully
My nephew asked a question about the Eucharist—whether sincerely or sarcastically, I’m not quite sure. He was curious about why the Eucharist isn’t considered cannibalism. It might seem like a funny question at first. Still, as Catholic Answers—an apologetics magazine—explains, this was a point of contention between early Christians and their pagan Roman neighbors.
When Jesus first mentioned the Eucharist, many of his listeners misunderstood: “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52). Not only did the Jews question Jesus about this, but also many of his own disciples: They “when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” (John 6:60) and “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him.” (John 6:66).
I am reminded of the current situation in the Church, where many do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Perhaps many of these, like my nephew, question whether the Eucharist is cannibalism or not. The answer is, of course, that it is not!
While both the Eucharist and cannibalism involve the eating of human flesh, some important distinctions must be made between the two:
Cannibalism involves consuming the dead flesh from a dismembered and diminished human body. By diminished, I mean that the eating destroys the body of the victim. While it provides physical nourishment, it is done without the victim’s consent, usually in a violent and irreligious act. The flesh is consumed in its raw form. Conversely, in the Eucharist, we receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Living Christ. His body is not a corpse, and it is not diminished or harmed in any way by Communion. He still sits at the right hand of the Father! His flesh is consumed in the form of bread and wine. He offers himself freely as spiritual nourishment. It is a sacrament of love, not violence.
Some will undoubtedly say that it is then only bread and wine that we consume and not body and blood. The Church has a term for this: transubstantiation, a philosophical concept that essentially means the form of the Eucharist remains bread and wine, but the veiled reality is that the words of the priest change the substance of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This is what the Church teaches and expects its members to accept on the basis of faith. However, in the age of science, many find it difficult to believe and fall back on the protestant view that the Eucharist is only a symbol.
A few points need to be noted here. First, the Church does not invent the idea of the Real Presence out of thin air. The scriptures are scattered with Jesus’ Eucharistic sayings, making it clear that He is not speaking symbolically. For example, after his “Bread from Heaven” discourse, he says, “But there are some of you who do not believe.” (John 6:64). When these people walk away, he does not shout after them, “I meant it only as a symbol!” No, he lets them go and instead turns to the Twelve and asks, “Will you also go away?” (John 6:67).
Second, the doctrine of the Real Presence dates back to the earliest years of the Church. For 2000 years, the saints have believed in and dedicated themselves to it. Many have been martyred because of this belief. As St. Peter Eymard, the Apostle of the Eucharist, wrote, “Are all the saints who believe, adore, and love Jesus in His divine Sacrament, mistaken and illusioned?” The Real Presence is central to the Catholic Faith, as the Catechism states, quoting Vatican II, that it is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324).
Third, the Eucharist must ultimately be accepted based on faith and in trust in the Teaching Authority of the Church. Remember how God tested the faith of Abraham in the Old Testament and how he tested the faith of Mary at the Annunciation to begin the New Testament. What a test of faith the Eucharist is proving for the Modern man and woman! Pope Saint John Paul II put faith this way: “To believe means ‘to abandon oneself’ to the truth of the word of the living God, knowing and humbly recognizing ‘how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways’” (Rom. 11:33).
I am not lying; I am telling the truth. The Church cannot officially teach a falsehood regarding faith or morals. “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.” That’s a promise from Jesus himself. And that goes for its teaching on the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
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