Eucharist

In our previous article we talked about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist as the true and ancient teaching of the Church. What was affirmed at the Council of Trent, was just that - an affirmation of what was held from the beginning of the Church. The teaching and belief of the Real Presence has been consistent, but language has not as we talked about in our previous post that centered on the difficulties of using the word “real” in modern conversation and catechesis. The previous...

In our previous article we talked about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist as the true and ancient teaching of the Church. What was affirmed at the Council of Trent, was just that - an affirmation of what was held from the beginning of the Church. The teaching and belief of the Real Presence has been consistent, but language has not. Even in the same language words and their meaning change over time. As time moves ahead, patterns of thinking change. The Ancient Near East (ANE) thought...

In our previous article we addressed how “transubstantiation” was an apt description of “how” the bread and wine become the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus – and noted along with the 13th Session of the Council of Trent, that the real “ancient and true” teaching was that of the Real Presence. So… what do we mean by the Real Presence? As the Gospel of Matthew tells us: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat;...

Recently a parishioner asked me, given all the current news coverage of what Catholics believe about the Eucharist, he noticed that sometimes the question is framed as “Do Catholic believe in Transubstantiation?” but other times as “Do Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?” While he certainly had heard both terms, he wondered if they were the same question. And the answer is a qualified “yes.”  Why “qualified?” Because the “Real Presence” is a theological term to...