© Copyright 2002 Grace D. MacKinnon
Grace MacKinnon is a syndicated columnist and public speaker on Catholic doctrine. Readers are welcome to submit questions about the Catholic faith to: Grace MacKinnon, 1234 Russell Drive #103, Brownsville, Texas 78520. Questions also may be sent by e-mail to: grace@deargrace.com. You may visit Grace online at www.DearGrace.com.
Because the answer to this question will be quite lengthy, I will cover it in two parts, with the second half to follow next week. It is true that many people consider the Catholic Church’s beliefs about the Eucharist to be totally unbelievable and almost outrageous. Catholics actually believe that when a priest during Mass repeats the words of Jesus at the Last Supper over the bread and wine, they become the real Body and Blood of the Lord Himself. How can this be? Where did the Church get this idea? We believe it because Jesus said it, and this Word of His is transmitted to us in various ways.
One of these ways is the Bible. In addition to the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, we also have Sacred Tradition, that which the Apostles handed down to us and which they learned from Christ. We also have the teaching of the Church, given the authority to teach by Jesus in His name. Let us look first, then, at the Bible to see how exactly the Church can so confidently teach what she does about the Real Presence.
It is evident in the Gospel of John that very early in His ministry Jesus gave the first promise of the Eucharist (John 6). A crowd of five thousand had just witnessed one of Christ’s greatest miracles — the multiplication of the loaves — and they were in great awe at what they had experienced. So, they follow Him to Capernaum, wanting Him to perform more signs. When they begin to speak about the manna that God gave to their ancestors to eat in the desert, Jesus uses the opportunity to give a discourse that every Christian should read and reread very carefully.
“I am the bread of life,” he said (John 6:35). “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). The Scripture then says that this shocked the Jews. How could he give them His flesh to eat? He answered by saying, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever 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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:53-59). These were very powerful words, and they are the words of Jesus Christ! He was telling them that the bread that He would give for the life of the world was His flesh!
At this point, many of them left His company, but we notice that Jesus did not call them back saying, “I didn’t mean it the way you think I did.” This is because He did mean it precisely as he spoke it! If Jesus had meant His words to be taken symbolically only, then He would have had to explain this to His disciples. But He does not, which is highly significant. Now, He thought the rest of them would leave also, but then Peter responds by giving one of the most moving answers in all human history. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). At that moment, Peter may not have even realized the full import of what he was declaring, but later it would become clear to him.
In verse 47 of John 6, Jesus states, “he who believes has eternal life.” What was He talking about? It must have been the teaching that He was giving them. Over and over in these passages He repeats and reaffirms that He is the Bread of Life and that “if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever” and the bread He will give for the life of the world “is my flesh.” It takes great faith to accept and believe these words of our Lord, but we should never allow our predispositions or traditions to restrict us from recognizing the truth that Jesus wished to teach us. Our Lord said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29). Part II next week…
