Some critics of the Church specifically criticize the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Holy Mother Church teaches that Jesus Christ is actually present, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist, in the appearance of bread and wine. It is a Mystery, and an article of faith to say that the bread and wine we start mass with actually change to the living body and blood of Jesus Christ when the priest says the words of consecration. Our critics say this cannot be the case.
The authority to change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ was given to the apostles at the Last Supper, when Jesus took bread and called it his body, and gave to his disciples to eat; he also took wine and called it his blood, and similarly gave it to his disciples to drink. And then he asked his disciples to do what he had done in his memory (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:14-20; John 6:52-57). In a previous post we talked about the sacrifice of Jesus, and how it was designed to take away all the negative emotions concomitant with sin in his own self. We showed how we could share in this redemption by becoming other Christs. And the mechanism for this is embodying Jesus, or as St Paul would say, "putting on Christ" (Rom. 13:14). If we are what we eat, then eating Jesus means we become him, and benefit from his sacrifice that removes the concomitants of sin.
But our critics say we don't behave like those who eat Christ everyday. They say our actions don't correspond to our Eucharistic feast. They say that we should behave better if it was really Christ we were eating. They say they cannot understand how we can spend so much time with Christ and still not be saints. Well then, the first thing I will have to say is two words: free will. We humans have free will. We all get to choose whether we respond to Jesus or not. "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and have supper with him" (Rev. 3:20). Jesus does not force anyone to behave in any way. He just stands there in the Eucharist, non forceful; non pushy, waiting for us to change and become more like him.
There was once this story of a man who welcomed Jesus into his house. He gave Jesus charge of a small room in the basement. The next day the devil came and beat the man up. The man complained to Jesus. He said: "I gave you a room in my house and you let the devil come and beat me up." Jesus replied: "Well, you gave me only a small room in the basement and I am there tending to my affairs." The man then gave Jesus a room on the upper floor. The next day the devil came and beat the man up. The man was distressed and went to Jesus. He said: "I let you live in my house and you let the devil beat me up still." Jesus replied: "Well, you gave me only a room in the house, and I was in there minding my business." So the man gave Jesus charge of the whole house. The next day, the devil came and knocked. Jesus opened the door and asked: "Yes?" "Wrong house," the devil said, and went running down the lane, petrified.
So, the fact the Jesus is in the Eucharist and we eat him daily does not mean he forces us to be better. He waits for us to freely will to come to him. Besides, look at his own disciples, the people he spent all his time with. Time and time again he spoke with them, ate with them and prayed for them, but among them was Judas that betrayed him; Peter that denied him; Thomas that doubted him, and the rest that fled from him at the Garden of Gethsemane. Even while he walked with them, we still had the sons of Zebedee, James and John, asking for seats at the left and the right of Jesus in Glory. We had the disciples arguing about who was greatest in the Kingdom of God, and Jesus calling Peter a devil, when Peter tried to talk him out of his mission, without realizing it. So, if the disciples lived with Jesus 24/7 and still behaved this way, we can understand why our being with Jesus in communion everyday has yet to make saints of us.
Next, at the Great Commission and upon rising from the dead, Jesus gave the Church authority to teach and perform the sacraments. He said: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matt. 28:19-20). Again he said concerning his Church: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18-19). And to his disciples, the founding fathers of the Church, he said: "Receive the Holy Spirit; whomever's sins you forgive are forgiven, and whomever's sins you retain are retained" (John 20:22-30). He also said: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18). He said as well to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19).
And so, why are the bread and wine Jesus' body and blood? Because the Church authoritatively says so. And that's enough for me.
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