HOW IS CHRIST PRESENT IN THE HOLY EUCHARIST?
The Doctrine of Transubstantiation and Real Presence

By Rev. Fr. Stan-William Ede

Previously, we discussed the effects of the Holy Eucharist in our life as Christians. At the moment, it is pertinent to clarify all areas of doubts and wonder especially the twin-aspects doctrine of “Transubstantiation” and the “Real Presence”.
I winded up the preceding discussion on the Eucharist with a reaffirmation of the wonderful teaching of the Catholic Church regarding Christ's consoling presence in the Blessed Sacrament: his real presence in the fullest sense: the substantial presence by which the whole and complete Christ, God and man, is present. The Eucharist, in the Mass and outside of the Mass, is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and is therefore deserving of the worship that is given to the living God, and to him alone
For this reason therefore, note that every act of reverence, every genuflection that we make before the Blessed Sacrament, is important because it is an act of faith in Christ, an act of love for Christ. And every sign of the Cross and gesture of respect made each time we pass by a church which contains the Blessed Sacrament is also an act of faith.
People have however, continued to ask the question regarding the mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species. Such questions summarily stem up to this: when and how does Christ come into the host and the wine, and to what extent is he present and for how long does he endure this “self-imposed” captivity?
The Church in her Magisterium (Teaching Authority - cf. Matt. 16:18-19; 28:16-20; Jn. 21:15-17), teaches that “the mode of Christ's presence in the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the other sacraments tend. In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. This presence is called 'real' by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the 'fullest' sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC, 1374).
According to the Magisterium (cf. CCC, 1375-1377), it is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ himself who was crucified for us. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, the priest says. This word transforms the things offered.”
The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: “Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change, the Holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. This substantial and enduring presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present in the sacred species of bread and wine - body, blood, soul and divinity, is fittingly and properly called REAL PRESENCE.
In recent years one hears more and more frequently the expression, the True Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist'. The use of the term raises questions, no doubt unintentionally, about the nature of Christ's presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
The Church is very careful in her use of language with respect to the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. Words can say something true, but still be an inadequate expression of the whole truth. That is the case here. 'True Presence' says something accurate, but it is an inadequate term because it doesn't distinguish the manner in which Christ is present. Christ has a true presence in the Holy Eucharist, but also in His mystical Body, in His Scriptures, in his minister the priest, in the person in the state of grace. However, only in the Blessed Sacrament does His presence pertain to the ontological or metaphysical order, the order of REAL being.
This is why the Church uses the term, “Real Presence” to uniquely distinguish His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament from His presence in other contexts. Catholics should therefore use the expression canonized by ecclesiastical usage and which alone adequately expresses the truth about the unique manner of Christ's Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
“Real presence” is an indubitable fact, and according to the teaching of theology, a revealed fact can be proved solely by recurrence to the sources of faith, viz. Scripture and Tradition, with which is also bound up the infallible Magisterium of the Church. This may be adduced both from the words of promise (John 6:26ff) and, especially, from the words of the institution of the Eucharist as recorded in Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Cor. 11:23ff).
By the miracles of the loaves and fishes and the walking upon the waters, on the previous day, Christ not only prepared His hearers for the sublime discourse containing the promise of the Eucharist, but also proved to them that He possessed, as Almighty God-man, a power superior to and independent of the laws of nature, and could, therefore, provide such a supernatural food, none other, in fact, than His own Flesh and Blood, and by which he would also perpetuate his presence amongst us.
Discussions regarding the doctrine of Transubstantiation and Real Presence will not be complete without making allusion to the rich and infallible papal heritage of the Church, i.e. ex cathedra statements of Popes and other ecclesiastical authorities. According to Pope Pius XII, “For by the 'transubstantiation' of bread into the body of Christ and of wine into His blood, His body and blood are both really present ...” (Mediator Dei -1947). In his encyclical, Mysterium Fidei of 1965, Pope Paul VI emphatically noted: “It is not allowable to discuss the mystery of transubstantiation without mentioning what the Council of Trent stated about the marvelous conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood of Christ, speaking rather only of what is called 'transignification' and 'transfinalization,' ... but to discuss this mystery in line with the complete truth of 'transubstantiation' as Council of Trent stated it.
For his part, Pope John Paul II, in his 2003 encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia declares: “The sacramental re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice, crowned by the resurrection, in the Mass involves a most special presence which in the words of Paul VI is called 'real' not as a way of excluding all other types of presence as if they were 'not real', but because it is a presence in the fullest sense: a substantial presence whereby Christ, the God-Man, is wholly and entirely present”. After carefully examining the different views held by other Churches, the Orthodox and Protestant Churches, regarding the nature of Christ's presence in the Holy Eucharist, John Paul II further declared: “None of these Churches sees what is really in the Eucharist as a lifeless corpse and mere blood, but as the whole Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity; nor do they see the persisting outward appearances of bread and wine as a mere illusion. This actual transformation, change or conversion of the reality, while the appearances remain unaltered not the process or manner by which the transformation comes about, since all agree that this occurs 'in a way surpassing understanding' has been called in Greek, ìåôïõóßùóéò (metousiosis), meaning transubstantiation”.
By virtue of the miracle and reality of “Transubstantiation” and “Real Presence”, the Church honors the Eucharist as one of her most exalted mysteries, since for sublimity and incomprehensibility it yields in nothing to the allied mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation. These three mysteries constitute a wonderful triad, which causes the essential characteristic of Christianity, as a religion of mysteries far transcending the capabilities of reason, to shine forth in all its brilliance and splendor, and elevates Catholicism, the most faithful guardian and keeper of our Christian heritage, far above all pagan and non-Christian religions.
The organic connection of this mysterious triad is clearly discerned, if we consider Divine grace under the aspect of a personal communication of God. Thus in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, by virtue of the eternal generation, communicates His Divine Nature to God the Son, “the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18), while the Son of God, by virtue of the hypostatic union, communicates in turn the Divine Nature received from His Father to His human nature formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary (John 1:14), in order that thus as God-man, hidden under the Eucharistic Species, He might deliver Himself to His Church, who, as a tender mother, mystically cares for and nurtures in her own bosom this, her greatest treasure, and daily places it before her children as the spiritual food of their souls.
Thus the Trinity, Incarnation, and Eucharist are really welded together like a precious chain, which in a wonderful manner links heaven with earth, God with man, uniting them most intimately and keeping them thus united.
With this in mind, the Church calls on all the faithful to be profound in the Worship of the Eucharist (cf. C.C.C., 1378). I alluded to this fact in the conclusion of my previous article on the Eucharist and, here above, in the introduction of the present. In the liturgy of the Mass, we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing profoundly as a sign of adoration of the Lord. “The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession”.
The whole point of Transubstantiation and Real Presence, together with its raison d'etre logic and truth, is once again summarily declared by the Magisterium thus: “It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was able to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he has loved us “to the end”, even to the giving of his life. In the Eucharistic presence, he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself for us, and he remain under signs that express and communicate this love” (cf. C.C.C. 1380).
Consequently, we should note as Pope John Paul II (Dominicae Cenae, 3) rightly pointed out that: “The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offences and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease”.