The Bread Of Life
I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Then Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
John 6:48 to 6:58
Jesus uses similar language at the Last Supper. “Take and eat, this is my body. This is my blood.” In other parts of the Gospel, Jesus’ use of parables and metaphor is made plain. Here, He isn’t using symbolism. This is his actual flesh and blood.
How is the Eucharist the real presence of Christ?
The Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus, present under the appearances of bread and wine. You may wonder, how can this be? The bread and wine continues to look, and even to taste like bread and wine. Perhaps we should become familiar with the word “transubstantiation,” or a change of substance (the innermost essence of someone or something). This is the change that takes place when a priest asks God to miraculously transform bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood; the substance changes, but the appearances – “accidental,” nonessential qualities like taste, color and weight – remain the same.
Catholics don’t just believe in a man who lived 2,000 years ago. They don’t just pray to Jesus who is in Heaven; He is truly sacramentally present to us here and now on this earth in the most Holy Eucharist. He is the food from Heaven and anyone can have direct access to Him anywhere there’s an Adoration chapel or Mass taking place.
The Eucharist is not just a symbol
The notion that the Eucharist is just another nice Christian symbol goes against all teaching of the Church. Writer Flannery O’Connor said it best when during a discussion at a literary gathering, a non Catholic writer suggested that the Eucharist was a “pretty good symbol.” O’Connor retorted, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it.”