Christ is present to us in a number of important ways:
- in the person next to me here and now;
- in the poor;
- in his Word;
- where two or three are gathered in his name;
- in the minister sent by him;
- and in his Body and Blood, offered in the Eucharist and
received in Holy Communion.
It is in this last sense that Catholics speak of the “Real
Presence” – a very special presence that is regarded as unique, substantial,
and enduring.
Some other Christians, including Anglicans, also speak of
the Real Presence in the specific sacramental context of the Eucharist.
Rather than descend into acrimonious historical controversies or disputes over
terminology, it is more fruitful to note what Roman Catholics and Anglicans
actually say—and, indeed, what they agree upon—concerning the Real Presence.
To that end, here is an extended extract from the 1971 Agreed
Statement on eucharistic doctrine (paragraphs 6-11):
Communion with Christ in the eucharist presupposes his
true presence, effectually signified by the bread and wine which, in this
mystery, become his body and blood. The real presence of his body and blood
can, however, only be understood within the context of the redemptive activity
whereby he gives himself, and in himself reconciliation, peace and life, to his
own. On the one hand, the eucharistic gift springs out of the paschal mystery
of Christ's death and resurrection, in which God's saving purpose has already
been definitively realized. On the other hand, its purpose is to transmit the
life of the crucified and risen Christ to his body, the Church, so that its members
may be more fully united with Christ and with one another. Christ is present and active, in various ways,
in the entire eucharistic celebration. It is the same Lord who through the
proclaimed word invites his people to his table, who through his minister
presides at that table, and who gives himself sacramentally in the body and
blood of his paschal sacrifice. It is the Lord present at the right hand of the
Father, and therefore transcending the sacramental order, who thus offers to
his Church, in the eucharistic signs, the special gift of himself.
The sacramental body and blood of the Saviour are present
as an offering to the believer awaiting his welcome. When this offering is met
by faith, a lifegiving encounter results. Through faith Christ's presence -
which does not depend on the individual's faith in order to be the Lord's real
gift of himself to his Church - becomes no longer just a presence for the
believer, but also a presence with him. Thus, in considering the mystery of the
eucharistic presence, we must recognize both the sacramental sign of Christ's
presence and the personal relationship between Christ and the faithful which
arises from that presence.
The Lord's words at the last supper, ‘Take and eat; this
is my body’, do not allow us to dissociate the gift of the presence and the act
of sacramental eating. The elements are not mere signs; Christ's body and blood
become really present and are really given. But they are really present and
given in order that, receiving them, believers may be united in communion with
Christ the Lord.
According to the traditional order of the liturgy the
consecratory prayer (anaphora) leads to the communion of the faithful. Through
this prayer of thanksgiving, a word of faith addressed to the Father, the bread
and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit,
so that in communion we eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood. The Lord
who thus comes to his people in the power of the Holy Spirit is the Lord of
glory. In the eucharistic celebration we anticipate the joys of the age to
come. By the transforming action of the Spirit of God, earthly bread and wine
become the heavenly manna and the new wine, the eschatological banquet for the
new man: elements of the first creation become pledges and first fruits of the
new heaven and the new earth.
End of extract, above
The Agreed Statement does not resolve all doctrinal
differences regarding the Eucharist. Nevertheless, it establishes a significant
measure of agreement on key essentials concerning both the nature of the
eucharistic sacrifice and the real sacramental presence of the Lord in the
consecrated bread and wine. It is important to note that the Statement is
concerned primarily with what is affirmed about Christ’s presence and the
transformation of the elements, rather than how that transformation is to be
explained.
A fully systematic philosophical explanation of the how does
not emerge until the second millennium, and then in response to particular
heretical or overly literal and superstitious interpretations of eucharistic
change. In this context, St Thomas Aquinas developed the doctrine of transubstantiation,
drawing on concepts informed by classical Greek philosophy in order to counter
mechanistic or crudely physical accounts of what occurs in the Eucharist. These
latter approaches claimed that Jesus’s body replaced the bread in a measurable
and biological way or that Christ was ‘cut up’ or multiplied like ordinary
matter. In other words, we are dealing,
here, with mystery and not magic; with faith and not physics.
The term transubstantiation itself was already in
theological use by the early eleventh century and was employed dogmatically by
the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215; Aquinas did not invent the term but gave it
its most influential philosophical exposition.
In this way, Catholic teaching developed as a faithful
articulation of firmly held apostolic and patristic beliefs regarding the
presence of Christ, using the language of transubstantiation from the Middle
Ages onwards and drawing especially on the systematic theology of St Thomas
Aquinas. For Catholics, this sacramental presence is uniquely substantial and
enduring beyond the moment of reception, a reality the Church has solemnly
defined using that terminology.
All this said, what Catholics—both East and West—believe
about the Real Presence and about the change in the “eucharistised” bread and
wine is consistent with what has been believed since the earliest apostolic
times, as explored in other reflections in this Bread for the Journey series.
The Church is bound to the reality of transubstantiation, not to Aquinas’s
particular philosophical system.
The rupture in doctrine, ministry, and authority that
occurred at the time of the Reformation - including its English
expression - remains a real difficulty for Roman Catholics. Much work remains to
be done. More love is required, that we may learn again to see and to walk
together in the Eucharist. Greater conformity to the values of the Gospel is
needed if full communion is to be attained.
In the meantime, it is worth asking whether a greater
generosity in eucharistic hospitality, attentive to local and personal
circumstances and without breaking universal communion, might not be considered as we strive for ever deeper mutual
understanding and agreement.
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