Contents

1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 The Biblical Foundation of the Real Presence.................................................................................................2
1.2 Development of Theological Arguments on The Real Presence.....................................................................4
1.3 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................................6
1.4 Bibliography........................................................................................................................................................8

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 1. Introduction
In this short essay I will try to explain what the Church means when it says that Christ is

really present in the Eucharist in reference with the Church’s tradition and explanation of

prominent theologians.

“The Eucharist is a very great mystery, properly speaking and in the words of the Sacred

Liturgy, (is) the mystery of faith”1. Pope Paul VI advised to “approach this mystery … with

humility and reverence, not relying on human reasoning, but rather adhering firmly to Divine

Revelation”2.

Nonetheless, that does not mean we cannot say anything about this mystery. We can

understand the basics about the mysteries of God because God wants to reveal himself to

us. But we can’t understand the mysteries of God fully until we share with him full

communion on the last day. The Lord Jesus, on the night before he suffered on the cross,

shared one last meal with his disciples. During this meal our Savior instituted the

sacrament of his Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the

Cross throughout the ages and to entrust to the Church his Spouse a memorial of his death

and resurrection.

1.1 The Biblical Foundation of the Real Presence

Christ’s followers have struggled with this mystery since the beginning. We can read that in

the Gospel of John 6: 48-69.

(Jesus said) “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes 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.” The Jews quarreled among
themselves, saying “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” …Then many of this
disciple who were listening said, “This is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his
disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, does this shock you? What if you were
to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? …As a result of this many [of] his

1
Paul VI, Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, No 15, at http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-
vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_03091965_mysterium.html, consulted on 11-22-17.
2
Ibid, No 16.
2
 disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said
to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him “Master, to whom
shall we go? You have words of eternal life…”3
First, we must start with the biblical sources. From the writings of Paul and John

there is no doubt that the first Christians believed that Christ was present in the

Eucharist.

Christ gave himself completely. From this self-giving of Jesus, Paul developed the concept

of koinonia when he refers to the fellowship with Christ that happens during the

Eucharist.4 “Saint Paul compares what happens in Holy Communion with the physical

union between man and woman. He refers us to the creation story ‘The two shall become

one’ and he adds that he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Cor 6:

17)” When we eat something our body transforms what we have eaten into nutrients for

our body, when we receive Christ the process is inversed; “we are assimilated into him, we

become one with him and through him”5 He transforms us into new persons and calls us to

a deeper conversion and intimacy with him.

When John uses the word Sarx (flesh) in the passage of John 6:53 it needs to be

understood in relationship with John 1:14 (The Word became flesh). It was not enough the

communication of God through the knowledge(gnosis), only a manifestation of God

through the flesh will reveal who God is6. When the believer receives the Eucharist, he

eats his flesh, this was in clear opposition to the Gnostic understanding of the world 7.

Gnostics rejected the material world. At this point Christians did not worry or theologize

about the details and the meaning of receiving the flesh of Jesus.

3
Donald Senior, John J Collins, May Ann Getty, The Catholic Study Bible NAB revised edition, Third edition
(Korea,Oxford University Press), 2015.
4
José Aldazábal, The Eucharist (Barcelona: Biblioteca litúrgica), 1999, 302.
5
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God is near us: The Eucharist the heart of life, edited by Stephan Otto Horn and
Vizenz Pfnur translated by Henry Taylor (San Francisco, Ignatius), 2003, 78.
6
Horst Seebass, “Carne-Sárx,” in Diccionario teológico del Nuevo Testamento, eds. Coenen, Beyreuther and
Bietenhard, (Salamanca: Sígueme, 2012),232.
7
Ibid.
3
1.2 Development of Theological Arguments on The Real Presence
Also, we need to consider the development of the understanding of the Eucharist.

During the patristic era when the debates against the Gnostic intensified, the Greek Fathers

like Ignatius of Antioch, Justin, Hippolytus, Cyprian and Cyril of Jerusalem affirmed that

when we receive the consecrated bread and wine, we receive the Body and Blood of our

Lord8. At that time, this explanation was satisfactory. But it was not for a long time.

During the IX and XI centuries another controversy about the meaning of the real presence

of Christ in the Eucharist arose. This controversy made the Church think about the

meaning of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the physical presence of Christ

in the Eucharist. The key to properly understand the real presence of Christ in the

Eucharist is in the resurrection9. In this epoch, there were many misinterpretations about

the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

“Paschasius’ concern was to affirm the fact or the truth of the presence (of Jesus in the Eucharist).
Ratramnus on the other hand was conscious both of the glorified state of Christ’s body, which made
it different from the way in which he had lived and suffered on earth, and of the figural or
sacramental manner of his presence in the sacrament…The question of the body’s presence in truth
rather than of the passion’s presence generated most debate and discussion. The debate came to its
highest point in the Berengarian controversy of the eleventh century10.

Ratzinger explains that both groups that were debating were not successful in understanding

the real meaning of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist11. The first group interpreted the real

presence of Christ in a simplistic way and deformed its real meaning. “Reality, for them was

simply physical, bodily. Consequently, they arrived at the conclusion: In the Eucharist we

chew on the flesh of the Lord; but therein they were under the sway of a serious

misapprehension. For Jesus has risen. We do not eat flesh as cannibals would do…this was a

8
José Aldazábal, The Eucharist, 302.
9
Ibid., 303.
10
David Power OMI, The Eucharisth mystery: Revitalizing the tradition (New York, The Crossroad
publishing company), 1992, 210.
11
20 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God is near us, 84.

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primitive realism”12 The other group took a contrary position, but also missed the point and

again oversimplified it. Ratzinger explains that: “They, too, had fallen into the same

fundamental error regarding only what is material, tangible, visible as reality. They said: Since

Christ cannot be there in a body we can bite on, the Eucharist can only be a symbol of Christ:

the bread can only signify the body, but not be the body. A dispute such as that has helped the

Church to develop a more profound understanding of reality”13.

Aquinas gave some light and helped to clarify this controversy. First it is important to

understand what Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist is not. Aquinas explained that the real

presence of Christ is not a “movement from place to place, taking presence in a place

alongside bread and wine, coming to be present through corruption and generation”14.

Through the consecration the substance of the bread and wine are transformed in the

fundamental basis of its being. Christ is really present in the bread and the wine15. A

transformation take place here. There is something new that was not before16.

It is important to clarify something about this real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Today

few people are familiar with the Aristotelian philosophy and concepts of substance and

accidents. There has been much progress since that theory came up; today microscopes allow

us to see small cells, telescopes allow us to see the deeper part of the universe, electromagnetic

waves and X- Rays allow us to see inside the human body. Can any of this help us to verify the

real presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Scientific methods help us to discern what is real and

what is mythical belief. It is important to consider that when we talk about the real presence of

Christ in the Eucharist, we cannot judge its presence using these same criteria of the scientific

12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
David Power OMI, The Eucharisth mystery: Revitalizing the tradition, 222.
15
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God is near us, 85.
16
Ibid.
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method. “Reality is not just what we can measure. It is not only quantifiable entities, that are

real…But here, where Christ meets us, we have to do with this true being. This is what was

being expressed with the word substance. This does not refer to the quantums, but to the

profound and fundamental basis of being…Jesus is not there like a piece of meat, not in the

realm that can be measured or quantified 17. It is not a thing (to be examined). What is present

in the Eucharist is a person, Jesus who gives himself for us. It is the presence of the risen Christ

among his disciples like on the road to Emmaus18. “The risen Christ exists beyond the limits of

place and time…we will never understand what is happening in the sphere of the

resurrection”19

Ratzinger says that the dispute about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist should not be

a heartless and scholarly dispute, but something that affects the way we relate with this new

reality. This question should challenge us and lead us to ponder our relationship with Christ

who is present in the Eucharist20. Receiving communion is not just a ritual, it is a personal act.

Receiving sacramental communion also implies having a spiritual communion. By spiritual

communion Ratzinger means initiating a dialogue of friendship with the Risen Lord. A

consequence of this deep intimacy is that we allow him to transform our lives and become

more like him21.

1.3 Conclusion
By his Real Presence in the Eucharist Christ fulfils his promise to be with us "always,

until the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "It is the law of friendship

that friends should live together. . . . Christ has not left us without his bodily presence in this our

pilgrimage, but he joins us to himself in this sacrament in the reality of his body and blood"

17
Ibid.
18
José Aldazábal, La eucaristía, 304-305
19
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God is near us, 78.
20
Ibid.85
21
Ibid. 83
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( Summa Theologiae, III q. 75, a. 1). With this gift of Christ's presence in our midst, the Church

is truly blessed. As Jesus told his disciples, referring to his presence among them, "Amen, I say

to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to

hear what you hear but did not hear it" (Mt 13:17).

In the Eucharist the Church both receives the gift of Jesus Christ and gives grateful thanks to

God for such a blessing. This thanksgiving is the only proper response, for through this gift of

himself in the celebration of the Eucharist under the appearances of bread and wine Christ gives

us the gift of eternal life. Amen, amen, I say to you, 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 on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is

true drink. . . . Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the

one who feeds on me will have life because of me. (Jn 6:53-57)

1.4 Bibliography
 Aldazábal José, La eucaristía(Barcelona: Biblioteca litúrgica), 1999, 302.

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 Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, General
instruction of Roman Miss No 5. at
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_
doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html#Preamble, consulted on 11-12-2020.
 John Paul II, Encyclical letter Ecclesia De Eucharistia,04-17-2003, at
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-
ii_enc_20030417_eccl-de-euch.html , consulted 11-21-2017. He refers to Lumen
Gentium11.
 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, The documents of Vatican II council, Sacrosanctum
Concilium, no 7, China: Saint Paul edition., 2009.
 Paul VI, Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, No 15, at http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-
vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_03091965_mysterium.html, consulted on 11-
22-17.
 Power David OMI, The Eucharisth mystery: Revitalizing the tradition (New York, The
Crossroad publishing company), 1992, 210.
 Power David OMI and Vincie Catherine, Theological and pastoral reflections
in a commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, edited by
Edward Foley, Nathan Mitchell, Joanne Pierce: (Collegeville: Liturgical
Press, 2007), 51.
 Ratzinger Joseph Cardinal, God is near us: The Eucharist the heart of life, edited by
Stephan Otto Horn and Vizenz Pfnur translated by Henry Taylor (San Francisco,
Ignatius),2003, 78.