The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist #1

 

The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (Raphael 1509-1510) depicts theologians debating, with Pope Gregory I and Jerome on the left, and Augustine and Ambrose on the right, Pope Julius II, Pope Sixtus IV, Savonarola and Dante Alighieri. Source: here

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.