How we can receive more from the Mass – 22

Just a few years ago, a study in the USA revealed that about 75% percent of American Catholics believed that the Eucharist is merely a symbol. 

That’s really quite shocking.  And would it be much different in the UK?

The Church, from its very beginning, has taught that Jesus is really, truly and substantially present in the Eucharist.  So why is it that so many Catholics seem not to have taken this to their heart?

We are not the first generation to find this to be a difficult teaching.  When Jesus told the people, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51) the crowd reacted with confusion, horror and anger.  “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (6:52)  To his Jewish listeners, especially, the idea of drinking ANY blood, let alone the blood of a human, was abhorrent and struck at the heart of the Law as found in Leviticus.

But Jesus’ words became even more earnest: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)

St Paul, before his conversion, would have been scandalised by this idea.  Yet a few years after his conversion he wrote, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16)

We will come to look at some of reasons why the Church has taught and continues to teach the real presence in the Eucharist.  But let us approach the Eucharist not with a sceptical heart, one that surrenders to doubts; rather with a heart of faith, of trust in the words of Jesus.