The doctrine of the Holy Eucharist

If you knew you were to die the next day, of what or whom would you be thinking? It is likely, among conflicting emotions, you would be grieving the imminent loss of those people who were closest to you.

Jesus Christ faced this exact situation over two thousand years ago in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem, on Holy Thursday evening. Being God, He was fully aware that He would be crucified the next day, Good Friday.

As was customary among Jews, Jesus had gathered with His friends to observe the feast of Passover, an annual celebration commemorating the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery by the Egyptians, about 1300 B.C. The event was celebrated by a ritual meal every year.

At this meal, Jesus revealed the divine plan which would enable Him to remain with His friends on earth until the end of time. He knew that humans would always possess the staple nutrients of bread and wine so He chose these elements to use.

The first writer of the New Testament was the apostle Paul. His Letter to the Corinthians was written about 56 AD, earlier than Mark's Gospel; thus Paul was the first to recount the events that happened at the Last Supper.

"...the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me' ".

In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'" 1 Cor 11: 23-25.

Roman Catholics take Jesus' words literally. The doctrine of the Holy Eucharist simply means that, at the consecration of every Mass, when the priest repeats Jesus' words over bread and wine, Jesus Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, becomes present on the altar under the appearances of bread of wine.

Jesus did not say the elements represented His body and blood, nor were they symbols of them. Jesus used the word "is", the present tense of the verb "to be", meaning that something actually exists.

Jesus was familiar with the use of similes and metaphors. In the parable of the sower (Mat 13:3-23), He explained to the Apostles that the seed represented the word of God. In another parable He said that the kingdom of heaven was like a mustard seed. (Mark 4:31) Had He intended words of consecration to be a metaphor or simile, He would have made that clear. He did not.

Moreover, similar accounts of the institution of the Holy Eucharist are repeated in each of the four Gospels. In addition, John reports that Jesus had prepared His followers earlier in His ministry for the institution of the Holy Eucharist when He said:

"Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is real food and my blood is true drink." John 6:53-55.

It's hard to see how Jesus could have spoken more plainly.

This is why Catholics believe in the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. Moreover, we are truly thankful that Jesus devised a strategy whereby He could remain as closely united with his friends today, as He was with His followers in Jerusalem that Holy Thursday evening over two thousand years ago.