An Apologetical Explanation of

Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist

How is Christ truly present in the Eucharist?

Jesus said to [the Jews], “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; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”  (Jn 6:53-55)

[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given up for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  (Lk 22:19-20)

The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present—in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—in the Eucharist.  The bread and wine consecrated by the bishop or priest in the Liturgy of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Church has always recognized Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.  Christ’s words in instituting this Sacrament at the Last Supprt were unequivocal: “This is my body…. This is my blood” (Lk 22:19-20).  In the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” (Council of Trent [1551]: DS 1651).  St. Paul condemns the unworthy reception of the Eucharist as a profanation of the very Body and Blood of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29).  Already in the fourth century, St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorted, “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are his Body and his Blood: faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”  (Cf. CCC 1373, 1375)

This change in the Eucharistic species in which the substance of the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ is call transubstantiation.   It occurs at the consecration during the Mass, when the bishop or priest pronounces the words of consecration over the bread and wine as Christ commanded.  (Cf. CCC 1376-1377, 1411-1413)

In the Eucharist Christ remains truly and totally present under the appearances of bread and wine.  He offers his Body and Blood to us in Holy Communion to be nourished by his divine life.  The Eucharist is, therefore, not merely a symbol of Christ’s presence, but also the active presence of Christ himself, who gives himself to us unconditionally so our lives might be united to his intimately.  The Eucharist is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend” (STh III, 73, 3c).  (Cf. CCC 1323-1325)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraphs 1360 and 1374.

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