The Eucharist: Transubstantiation

What happens when we receive the sacrament of the Eucharist? Are we just eating a piece of unleavened bread, maybe taking a sip of wine, in a symbolic remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice, a re-enacting of the Last Supper? Is that all it is, or is it something more?

Imagine you hold the unconsecrated host in your hands. Take a good look at it. It has a certain texture, shape, size, color, weight, taste. Smooth, round, about one inch in diameter, off-white, less than an ounce, with the taste of somewhat bland bread. These are qualities of the bread. The same exercise can, of course, be done for the wine. These qualities are called by theologians “accidents.” But lets stick with the word “quality.” What is it, exactly, that has the qualities of smooth, round, one-inch diameter, off-white, half-an-ounce, and a somewhat bland taste? In the above case, it is the unconsecrated host. That is what is called by theologians “substance.” A substance has qualities. Pretty simple concept, right?

Normally, qualities are known through our senses; our mind is able to know the substance. And in just about everything we come into contact with in our daily lives, we assume that the substance we are regarding always has the sets or types of qualities we habitually experience. Bread always has a certain texture, shape, weight, taste, etc.

However, Christ has revealed to us, through the words spoken to us in John 6 and at the Last Supper, that there is at least one exception to this normal, everyday rule.

The bread and the wine, through the sacrament of Holy Communion, undergo a change in substance, not in quality. Outwardly, to our senses, they appear to still be an ordinary host and ordinary wine. But to our enlightened minds, they are now the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Once the priest, acting in the role of Christ, pronounces the words of consecration, the host and wine become the Body and Blood.

Because He says so.

Transubstantiation is just the fancy name for this change in substance.

This is what the Catholic Church teaches, and has always taught, and this is what Catholics believe.

In my research I have found that there are literally thousands of pages written on this complex subject. I am fully aware that it is completely ludicrous to believe that I could possibly give a tidy explanation of the subject in a couple hundred words. But it fascinates me in some strange way that encourages me to keep reading on.

The Eucharist: St. Thomas Aquinas

I have always had a tremendous respect for St. Thomas Aquinas, and have felt the pull for a couple of years now to really understand his writings. The few attempts I made usually last no more than a week as I became numbed by the clarity of his thought. My muddy post-modern mind is not used to such rational rigor. But one day I will read through Thomas’ work; not once, not twice, but three times to fully understand the great themes he writes about, nothing less than the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the Catholic Church. After all, I hope to meet him one day, if you know what I mean.

Thomas wrote a Sermon on the Eucharist, but I was unable to find it anywhere online after a cursory search. However, he addresses the Blessed Sacrament in his most famous work, the Summa Theologica, of which I have a copy. Since I am not a full-time seminarian, I could not find the time (though I wish I could) to go through the 1,911 pages of his magnum opus, especially as the unabridged copy I have does not contain an index (!). So I surfed a couple of websites and came up with this barely adequate post on just two of the saint’s thoughts on the Eucharist.

For Thomas the Eucharist is the summit of our spiritual life, the greatest of all the sacraments. Why? While all the other sacraments (baptism, confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation, anointing of the sick) have the energy – “vir” or “virtus” in the Latin – of Christ within them, the Blessed Sacrament contains Christ’s own body. Thomas believes that Christ’s sacrifice is truly and effectively active in the sacrament.

An interesting observation Thomas writes that I, in my admittedly limited reading, have not come across elsewhere concerns the timelessness or eternality of the Eucharist. All sacraments serve as signs that are simultaneously reminders of the past (the Passion of Christ), an indicator of grace effected in us, and a foretelling of the future glory. Especially more so regarding the Blessed Sacrament. As a commemoration of our Lord’s Passion it brings to mind the terrible suffering of the true sacrifice He did for our sake. As an indicator of the grace we receive, due to the communal nature of the holy meal, it brings to mind the unity of believers. As a foretelling of future glory it is the sacrament bar none that promises us eternal life with our Lord in heaven.

In Aquinas is found the most enlightening and complete synthesis of the Catholic faith concerning the mystery of the Eucharist. It is a definite goal of mine to get through at least some Aquinas in the near future, perhaps when things slow down and get back on track for me, God willing. It’s a goal that could possibly yield the most beneficial blessings upon me in more ways than the obvious ones.

The Eucharist: Church Fathers

The Church Fathers are the earliest group of theologians who have left writings that the Church regards as authentic. Most lived within the first five centuries after the birth of Christ. You may have heard their names in passing: Clement, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Irenaeus, clement, Origin, Athanasius, Cyril, John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great; these are just some of the most noteworthy of this saintly group.

What do they have to say about the Eucharist?

St. Ignatius of Antioch: “I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is the seed of David; and for drink I want his Blood which is incorruptible love.” (Seven surviving letters)

St. Justin Martyr: “For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have learned that the food over which thanks has been given by the prayer of the word which comes from him, and by which are blood and flesh are nourished through a change, is the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus.” (Apologies)

St. Ambrose: “…will not the word of Christ have the power to change the nature of the elements. You have read about the creation of the whole world … therefore, can not the word of Christ, which was able to create out of nothing that which did not exist, change those things that do exist into that which they were not?” (De Mysteriis)

Ambrose is talking about transubstantiation, the change of the substance of the bread and wine, not the appearance of bread and wine, to the Body and Blood of Christ.

St. Augustine is most direct: “You should understand what you have received, what you will receive, indeed, what you should receive daily. The bread you see on the altar and that has been sanctified by the word of God is the Body of Christ.” (Commentary on John)

St. Irenaeus: “When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life–flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?” (Against Heresy)

Tertullian: “For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.” (Resurrection of the Dead)

Hippolytus: “Everyone should be on guard lest a non-believer taste of the Eucharist, to say nothing of a mouse or some other animal, or lest some part of It fall and be lost For this is the Body of Christ, which is to be eaten by believers; It must not be despised.” (Apostolic Tradition)

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I could go on with more quotations, and you can to, simply by Googling Church Fathers and Eucharist together. Also, the New Advent website is an excellent source for their early writings. But it seems to me that these men, taking Our Lord’s words as recorded in the gospels and in the epistles of St. Paul, have laid the groundwork for the Eucharist that was, perhaps, used as the scaffolding where the medieval theologians, culminating in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, erected our understanding of the Blessed Sacrament.

Tomorrow I would like to investigate what St. Thomas, and perhaps his contemporaries, have written on the subject.