THE Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is a defining aspect of the Catholic faith.
It’s a belief that can be traced back to the earliest Christian groups and texts.
And with the Church’s Corpus Christi celebrations around the corner, it’s a good time to go over just what the Real Presence means.
The Church has always professed that when the priest speaks the words of consecration, the bread and wine offered at the Mass becomes the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
It is not merely symbolic, it is not a metaphor, it is a real and substantial change.
In the Gospel of John and the writings of St Paul, Jesus says the Eucharist is “truly” his body and blood. The ancient Greek word sarx is used, which means physical, actual flesh.
The earliest Christian document outside the New Testament, the Didache, refers to the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
So too do the letters of Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, at the turn of the 2nd century.
The great work of St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, written in about AD 189 also talks about an early understanding of the Mass and the Real Presence at work.
“If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?” he writes.
Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic and its transformative power is one of the most central and most mysterious tenets of Catholicism (and good evidence for apostolic succession).
Many have tried to understand and dissect the process of transubstantiation, the name we give to the process, but much of it remains a mystery of the faith.
Because it is hard to understand, there have been times when the faithful’s belief in the Real Presence has waned.
This is where Corpus Christi got its beginning.
Pope Urban IV, with the help of St Thomas Aquinas, created the feast to focus on the Eucharist containing the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
And the purpose of the first feast is as relevant as ever.
A 2019 Pew research poll in the United States revealed that only about a third of American Catholics believed in the Real Presence of the Eucharist.
Pretty dire numbers. And we can assume similar rates here in Australia.
In response, the US Bishops conference began the National Eucharistic Revival, a movement just like Pope Urban and St Thomas had undertaken eight centuries earlier.
The movement has promoted the transformative power of the Eucharist and the Real Presence.
Now, more recent data suggests, partly as a result of the movement, belief in the Real Presence has risen to two thirds, double the 2019 results.
We all have a responsibility to make known the Real Presence and a great way to do it is to get involved with Corpus Christi events when they happen.
For more information on Brisbane’s Corpus Christi procession, visit https://www.corpuschristibrisbane.com/
