A unique presence

n There is nothing in the world like the Real Presence of the glorified Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament under the appearances of bread and wine in the tabernacles of Catholic churches around the world. The Protestants put Jesus' glorified body in heaven but not in their churches. There they pay respect to his word as found in the Holy Scriptures. Most religions seem to spiritualize the presence of their god, and perhaps see him or her as residing in a statue or some material object.

To my knowledge (which is limited in this matter) there is no other religion besides the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in which the members worship their God under the form of bread and wine.

The Catholic belief (when I use the word "Catholic" here I include the other churches which hold for transubstantiation) is truly astonishing, when you sit back and think about it. For the Catholic believes that Jesus Christ who is God almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, is really present body, blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of a piece of bread and a few drops of wine. During each Mass, every day, hundreds of thousands of them around the world, when the priest says the words of consecration, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, cooperates with him and really performs a miracle by changing the bread into his body and the wine into his blood. So Catholics bow down and worship Jesus in a little piece of bread. Without Catholic faith, this seems absurd. And of course there are many who accuse us of being "idolaters" because we worship Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. They are not believers and so they do not understand. There are lots of people who do not understand what Catholic worship is all about, but they have respect for it.

Catholic teaching and belief in the Eucharist would be a monumental fraud if it were not based on a tradition going back to Jesus Christ himself, attested to in the four Gospels. For belief in the Real Presence is not a recent invention of the middle ages; it goes back to the first Christian community in Jerusalem and the testimony of Jesus himself. During his discourse on the Bread of Heaven in John 6, Jesus said "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (6:54). When many of his disciples found this "a hard saying" and walked away from him, Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" (v. 67). In the name of all Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Jesus could have called the others back and explained that he was only talking figuratively, not really. But he did not. He let them walk away. He meant what he said and the Catholic Church has always taken him at his word. Therefore the Eucharist is the center and summit of Catholic worship.

Until very recently the centrality of faith in the Real Presence was clearly manifest in the physical design of Catholic churches. The tabernacle and the altar were the center of focus of the whole building. This is obvious in the ancient basilicas and in the medieval gothic cathedrals. The trend now since Vatican II seems to have the bare altar as the center of focus and the tabernacle off to the side or in a separate room.

The main point I want to make here is that the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is truly amazing, unique, astonishing. It is the one article of faith that points up the sharp difference of Catholicism from all forms of Protestantism and all non-Christian religions. Many of our saints have given their lives in defense of this precious truth. May we always treasure it as the Pearl of Great price.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor