How do you know?

There follows a brief personalised Question and Answer blog series about the Eucharist. Today I consider the following question:

Question: How do you know that the bread and wine after the consecration are not 'substantially' bread and wine but the Body and Blood of Jesus?

Answer: I ‘know’ this because I am convinced that this is the consistent teaching of the catholic church since the earliest times and is consistent with the scriptures. 

Strictly speaking, I do not ‘know’ this in the same way that I know that 2+2=4 or that Australia exists as a place.  I ‘know’ it based on trust, understanding and – above all – gift.  At baptism, confession, communion and confirmation we are, each of us, given particular gifts compatible with our age, development and experience.  Like when I switch on a computer in the morning I do not understand the internal workings, codes and complicated interactions that occur. I trust that the machine will boot up and give me a view of windows and whatever programme or application I run. 

The understanding of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist has undergone very significant development (in the ‘Newman’ sense of that word) and deepening over the centuries. However, the essential truth that this is no ordinary bread and wine but the real and living body and blood of Jesus remains throughout.  The words and terminology we use can vary depending on which traditions we have been brought up in but the reality is the same. It may be that some branches of the Body of Christ that is the Catholic Church broke away from communion with the rest of the church that the very validity of its sacraments including the eucharist is, at best, doubtful.  I do not know enough about each case especially in relation to those churches lacking holy orders and episcopal succession.  

What I do know is that countless martyrs and saints completed their life journey believing what the Catholic Church has taught and lived through the ages. That is enough for me.