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The Holy Eucharist is a shocking teaching of the Catholic Church. Indeed, the Lord’s teaching on the Eucharist has been shocking from the beginning. Today, followers of Christ still have trouble believing in this unwavering teaching from Jesus and His Church: that He is truly present—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—in the Holy Communion elements of bread and wine.
In 2020, a Pew Research Center poll revealed that only 31% of U.S. Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The remaining 69% of U.S. Catholics believed the Eucharist to be merely symbolic. These findings are both heartbreaking and shocking. However, I would propose that these proportions of believers have been constant since Jesus first preached about the subject.
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, Jesus preaches about the Eucharist to a large crowd of people. He directs His preaching to three important groups: (1) the Jews, (2) the Disciples, and (3) the Apostles. The reaction of each group is very telling as it pertains to the teaching of the True Presence in the Holy Eucharist.
The Jews
First, Jesus preaches to the Jews:
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh. (Jn. 6:48-51)
How did the Jews react?
The Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (Jn. 6:52)
The Jews could not believe what He was saying. Indeed, many walked away and left Him on that day because of His stance on the Eucharist.
The Disciples
Next, Jesus preaches to the disciples:
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. (Jn. 6:53-55)
How did the disciples react?
Many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”; Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Does this shock you?” […] As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. (Jn. 6:60-61;66)
At this point, many people are walking away from Jesus—even the disciples, many of whom had followed Him for as much as two years. And He doesn’t stop them. Jesus could have said, “Wait! Wait! It’s just a symbol! Come back!” But He doesn’t. Jesus only presses further about the His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist and even inquires of them: Does this shock you?
The Apostles
As many followers are walking away from Jesus, He then turns to the Apostles:
Jesus said to the twelve: “Do you also want to leave?”
This is a pivotal moment in the life of the Church. If the Apostles would have left at that moment, everything would have been over. Jesus could have go on to suffer, die, and be resurrected, but there would have been no one to spread His message. There would have been no Apostles (apóstolos meaning “to be sent”) to spread the Gospel to the world. Thankfully, the Apostles don’t leave Him:
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” (Jn. 6:67)
Peter responds with faith and trust, even without fully understanding. This could be the posture of many Catholics today. Perhaps we don’t fully understand the miracle of the Holy Eucharist, but we trust in Jesus and His teaching. We trust that He can do all things; even to feed us with Himself in this great Sacrament.
A Similar Proportion
Upon preaching to these three groups, the Lord Jesus looks upon a similar number that is still observed today. Roughly a third believed. And here is where the parallel with the Pew study is both intriguing: around 31% of Jesus’ audience stayed with Him after this teaching—just as 31% of Catholics today continue to believe in the Real Presence.
The Lord’s question still remains: Does this shock you? Jesus invites us to surrender our feeble, human understanding and trust in His Divine Word.
In a world that constantly sees everything as symbolic, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist stands as a sacred scandal. It is the heart of Catholic worship. It is the source and summit of our Faith. And it is the test of discipleship.
Today, Jesus turns again to each one of us and asks: Do you also want to leave?
Let us, with St. Peter, respond the words of faith and love: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. Let us stay with Him, believe in Him, and adore Him—truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
