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A. The word Eucharist strictly means pleasing, and this Sacrament is so called
because it renders us most pleasing to God by the grace it imparts, and it
gives us the best means of thanking Him for all His blessings.
A. The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament which contains the body and blood, soul
and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and
wine.
A. When we say the Sacrament which contains the Body and Blood, we mean the
Sacrament which is the Body and Blood, for after the Consecration there is no
other substance present in the Eucharist.
A. The Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament when we receive it in Holy Communion and
when it remains in the Tabernacle of the Altar. It is a sacrifice when it is
offered up at Mass by the separate Consecration of the bread and wine, which
signifies the separation of Our Lord's blood from His body when He died on the
Cross.
A. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the night before He
died.
A. When Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, the twelve Apostles were
present.
A. Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist by taking bread, blessing, breaking,
and giving to His Apostles, saying: "Take ye and eat. This is my body"; and
then, by taking the cup of wine, blessing and giving it, saying to them: "Drink
ye all of this. This is my blood which shall be shed for the remission of
sins. Do this for a commemoration of me."
A. When Our Lord said, "This is my body," the substance of the bread was
changed into the substance of His body; when He said, "This is my blood," the
substance of the wine was changed into the substance of His blood.
A. We prove the Real Presence -- that is, that Our Lord is really and truly
present in the Holy Eucharist:
- (1) By showing that it is possible to change one substance into another;
- (2) By showing that Christ did change the substance of bread and wine into
the substance of His body and blood;
- (3) By showing that He gave this power also to His Apostles and to the
priests of His Church.
A. We know that it is possible to change one substance into another, because:
- (1) God changed water into blood during the plagues of Egypt.
- (2) Christ changed water into wine at the marriage of Cana.
- (3) Our own food is daily changed into the substance of our flesh and
blood; and what God does gradually, He can also do instantly by an act of His
will.
A. These changes are not exactly the same as the changes that take place in the
Holy Eucharist, for in these changes the appearance also is changed, but in the
Holy Eucharist only the substance is changed while the appearance remains the
same.
A. We show that Christ did change bread and wine into the substance of His body
and blood:
- (1) From the words by which He promised the Holy Eucharist;
- (2) From the words by which He instituted the Holy Eucharist;
- (3) From the constant use of the Holy Eucharist in the Church since the
time of the Apostles;
- (4) From the impossibility of denying the Real Presence in the Holy
Eucharist, without likewise denying all that Christ has taught and done; for we
have stronger proofs for the Holy Eucharist than for any other Christian
truth.
A. Jesus Christ is whole and entire both under the form of bread and under the
form of wine.
A. We know that under the appearance of bread we receive also Christ's blood,
and under the appearance of wine we receive also Christ's body; because in the
Holy Eucharist we receive the living body of Our Lord, and a living body cannot
exist without blood, nor can living blood exist without a body.
A. Jesus Christ is present whole and entire in the smallest portion of the Holy
Eucharist under the form of either bread or wine; for His body in the Eucharist
is in a glorified state, and as it partakes of the character of a spiritual
substance, it requires no definite size or shape.
A. After the substance of the bread and wine had been changed into the
substance of the body and blood of Our Lord, there remained only the
appearances of bread and wine.
A. By the appearances of bread and wine I mean the figure, the color, the
taste, and whatever appears to the senses.
A. This change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord is
called Transubstantiation.
A. The second great miracle in the Holy Eucharist is the multiplication of the
presence of Our Lord's body in so many places at the same time, while the body
itself is not multiplied -- for there is but one body of Christ.
A. There are not as many bodies of Christ as there are tabernacles in the
world, or as there are Masses being said at the same time; but only one body of
Christ, which is everywhere present whole and entire in the Holy Eucharist, as
God is everywhere present, while He is but one God.
A. The substance of the bread and wine was changed into the substance of the
body and blood of Christ by His almighty power.
A. This change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ continues to
be made in the Church by Jesus Christ through the ministry of His priests.
A. Christ gave His priests the power to change bread and wine into His body and
blood when He said to the Apostles, "Do this in commemoration of Me."
A. The words "Do this in commemoration of Me" mean: Do what I, Christ, am doing
at My last supper, namely, changing the substance of bread and wine into the
substance of My body and blood; and do it in remembrance of Me.
A. The priests exercise this power of changing bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ through the words of consecration in the Mass, which are words
of Christ: "This is my body; this is my blood."
A. The Consecration in the Mass takes place immediately before the elevation of
the Host and Chalice, which are raised above the head of the priest that the
people may adore Our Lord who has just come to the altar at the words of
Consecration.
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