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A third way to prove Catholicism true is to show how the Bible, early Christians, and miracles prove the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist.
I do so in this article here:
https://christtheking.info/undeniable-proof-of-the-real-presence-of-christ/
But since many won't click this link, let me reply to my own comment here with the text from that article that proves the Bible, early Christians, and scientific evidence proves the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist.
Undeniable Proof of The Real Presence of Christ
Denial of the Real Presence
The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is denied by most of the world; Non-Christian and Christians alike.
Non-Christians obviously don’t believe it.
And most people that call themselves “Christian” don’t believe it.
Even most people that call themselves “Catholic” deny it.
Only 31% of so-called “Catholics” believe in the Real Presence, according to a Pew Research survey!
Therefore, I will prove that the Real Presence is true in this article.
Please read the Catholic Encyclopedia entries on the Eucharist, Blessed Sacrament, and the Real Presence; if you aren’t sure what these terms mean.
The rest of this article will assume that you are familiar with those terms.
If you are a non-Christian, then you will probably be interested in the Eucharistic Miracles section.
If you are a non-Catholic Christian, then you will probably be interested in the Bible and Early Church sections.
Finally, if you are a Catholic, then you will probably be interested in the Catholic section.
Real Presence Proven By Eucharistic Miracles The biggest evidence of the Real Presence, especially for non-believers, are the phenomena of the Eucharistic Miracles.
Eucharistic Miracles are borne from disbelief, which you will learn from the cases below.
There have been several Eucharistic Miracles since the First Century, and they continue to happen (even in the 21st century)!
Below are some of the most famous cases of Eucharistic Miracles.
Real Presence – Miracle of Lanciano The first Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the most famous one, the Miracle of Lanciano.
Real Presence Lanciano 3 In 750 AD there was a priest who was doubting the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
When the priest said the words of consecration during Mass the wine coagulated into 5 globules of blood.
A ring of flesh also formed around the consecrated bread.
The local archbishop quickly approved the miracle, after he launched an investigation.
The first study on this miracle occurred in 1574 by Archbishop Antonio Gaspar Rodríguez..
They weighed all 5 globules of blood separately, and all 5 weighed the same amount, despite being different sizes.
Moreover, all 5 weighed together weighed the same amount as each weighed separately!
Every combination of weighing them separately or together always equaled exactly 15.85g!
And scientists always confirm the same results in all subsequent tests throughout the centuries.
Of course, this is a miracle itself!
Real Presence Lanciano 4 The flesh and blood still exist today in the Church of San Francesco in Lanciano, Italy.
Dr. Edward Linoli, professor of anatomy, analyzed the flesh and blood in 1971, by request of the current archbishop of Lanciano.
Linoli determined the flesh was human cardiac tissue of the myocardium, left ventricle.
He also determined that the coagulated blood was indeed human and type AB blood.
Scientists also found type AB blood in the Holy Shroud of Turin.
Moreover, scientists determined the flesh and blood to be fresh, instead of 1200 years old!
Human tissue and blood decompose much quicker than 1200 years, so this is a miracle itself!
Scientists found no trace of preservatives in the flesh and blood either.
And Linoli also determined that only a modern surgeon could cut out the heart tissue with that kind of precision.
So it would have been impossible for this to be a medieval hoax!
Watch the Miracle of Lanciano Medical Report by Dr. Linoli video by The Joy of the Faith on YouTube for an English translation of Dr. Linoli’s report.
Real Presence Lanciano 2 Real Presence – Miracle of Santarém The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Santarem.
On February 16th 1247, a woman consulted a sorceress over her husband, whom she thought was unfaithful.
The sorceress demanded a consecrated host for her help. The woman obliged by going to a Mass.
She received the host, but quickly spit it into her veil and wrapped it when nobody was looking.
Before she could even leave the church, her veil and hand started dripping blood.
People ran up to her and tried to help her, scaring her away.
So she ran out of the church! She put the host in a trunk in her home.
After her husband came home that night, the host started emitting a bright light.
At that point, she had to tell her husband everything.
The next day they back to the church, she confessed, and told the priest everything.
Her priest and several others went to her home to retrieve the host and take it back to the church.
The priest took it back to the church, with a procession of adorers, and it bled for 3 whole days!
Her priest placed it in a holy reliquary made of beeswax.
In 1340, a priest opened the tabernacle and found the vase made of beeswax in pieces.
In its place was a crystal vase.
They found the blood of this host mixed with the beeswax inside the crystal vase.
Throughout the centuries the host still bleeds on occasions, and you can still see the host and blood today!
Real Presence Santarem Real Presence – Miracle of Bolsena The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Bolsena.
Like the Miracle of Lanciano, this miracle happened when a priest was doubting the Real Presence during Mass.
In 1263 the doubting priest was celebrating Mass in Bolsena, Italy.
When he consecrated the Eucharist, the host started bleeding onto the altar.
The priest interrupted Mass and travelled to a nearby town where Pope Urban IV was visiting.
After confessing his doubt of the Real Presence to the Pope, he asked the Pope to investigate the miracle.
After an investigation, the Pope confirmed the miracle.
He ordered that the host and altar cloth be on display in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
Unfortunately, they lost the hosts during the French Revolution.
However, the bloodstained cloth is still on display in the Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy today.
This miraculous event inspired Pope Urban IV to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi and commission St. Thomas Aquinas to write the texts for the Mass and Office of this Feast.
Real Presence Bolsena Real Presence – Miracle of Siena The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Siena.
On August 14th, 1730, thieves broke into the Church of St. Francis in Siena and stole a gold ciborium that contained hundreds of consecrated hosts.
The thieves kept the gold ciborium (probably sold it for money).
But a few days later the hosts turned up in an offering box at a different church in Siena.
Instead of consuming the hosts, the priests put them in a new ciborium so they could deteriorate naturally.
But that never happened; they stayed fresh, like they were brand new hosts.
50 years after the theft and return of the miraculous hosts, the Church conducted an investigation into the miracle.
The Minister General of the Franciscan Order examined a host and found that it still tasted fresh and incorrupt.
Nine years later Archbishop Tiberio Borghese of Siena conducted a more detailed investigation.
Using microscopes his scientists found no evidence of deterioration on the 59 year old hosts!
Another experiment the Archbishop conducted was to place unconsecrated hosts in a locked box for a decade.
After that decade was over, they found out that the unconsecrated hosts deteriorated; unlike the miraculous consecrated hosts that retained their freshness!
In 1914 and 1922, some of the best scientists in the world examined the hosts again.
They appeared to be just normal unleavened wheat flour bread to these scientists.
And the scientists couldn’t explain how they stayed fresh for almost two centuries.
As of today, it has been almost 292 years, and the hosts are still fresh!
Real Presence Siena Real Presence – Miracle of Buenos Aires The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Buenos Aires.
On Aug. 15, 1996, a priest found a discarded host on the ground in the church after Mass in Buenos Aires.
He placed the host in a bowl of water and then into the tabernacle to dissolve, as is standard procedure.
A week later they moved it into a new tabernacle, and they discovered a reddish substance.
Eventually the local bishop (future Pope Francis) ordered an investigation.
Bishop Bergoglio also ordered an investigation into similar incidents that happened in the same church in 1992 and 1994.
Real Presence Buenos Aires Dr. Edward Linoli (who investigated the Lanciano miracle) and a few others studied samples of the bloody hosts.
They all came to the conclusion that there were fragments of flesh and white blood cells in the hosts!
Moreover, they discovered that the flesh fragments were heart muscle and the blood was type AB.
Everything was the same as in the Lanciano samples from over a millenia ago!
On March 2, 2004, they brought in Professor Frederick Zugibe of Columbia University.
He was the leading expert in forensic medicine of the heart.
Dr. Zugibe didn’t even know the sample he was studying came from consecrated hosts.
He has an official letter saying that he wasn’t privy to the history of the material before examining it.
And he still came to the same conclusions as the other scientific experts!
Real Presence Buenos Aires 2 Real Presence – Miracle of Chirattakonam The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Chirattakonam.
On April 28th, 2001, there was adoration at St. Mary’s parish in Chirattakonam, India.
The priest noticed there were three red dots that appeared on the consecrated hosts after a few moments.
He pointed it out to a few people.
They didn’t know what to make of it, so he put it back in the tabernacle.
About a week later, he took it out of the tabernacle.
And the red dots seemed to inexplicably rearrange themselves into the face of Christ.
Real Presence Chirattakonam Real Presence – Miracle of Tixtla The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Tixtla.
On October 21, 2006, during distribution of Communion, a priest found a host effusing a reddish substance.
The diocese ordered an investigation to discern if this was legitimate or fraud.
The microscopic examination revealed that the host was the source of the human blood.
They determined the blood was coming from within because the outer blood was coagulating.
However, blood under it was still fresh.
Moreover, the examination revealed the blood type was AB, consistent with all other miracles.
Watch the Interview With Doctor That Analyzed The Eucharistic Miracle of Tixtla, Mexico video by The Joy of the Faith on YouTube for an interview with the doctor that analyzed this host.
Real Presence Tixla Real Presence – Miracle of Sokolka The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Sokolka.
On Oct. 12, 2008, at a church in Sokolka, during the distribution of Communion a consecrated host fell to the ground.
The sacristan placed the host in a container of water to dissolve and locked in a safe.
Only the pastor and sacristan had the key to this safe.
A week later, they opened the safe, and there was a red blood stain in the middle of the host.
The sacristan told the priest who contacted the archbishop for an investigation.
The archbishop ordered the host secretly locked in a corporal in a tabernacle for 3 years.
During this time, he decided to investigate.
By the beginning of 2009, the host had transformed into what looked like a blood clot.
It has not changed its appearance since then.
The archbishop had several scientists examine the remaining blood clot fragment in early 2009.
They determined that part of the host transformed into the heart tissue of a person near death.
Part of the bread still remains intertwined with the heart tissue, as if the bread is transforming into a heart.
Real Presence Sokolka Real Presence – Miracle of Legnica The next Eucharistic Miracle that we will learn about is the Miracle of Legnica.
On Christmas Day 2013, in Legnica, a priest picked up a consecrated host that fell to the floor.
Per the rules, he placed it in a plate of water to dissolve. A reddish color started appearing on the host.
He then asked Bishop of Legnica to investigate this incident.
Testing began in 2014, and a couple years later the results determined that the host contained human heart tissue.
Just like the Sokolka miracle, scientists determined the heart tissue was of a person nearly dead from bodily trauma.
Like the other miracles, you can still visit the diocese where this happened today to see the evidence.
Real Presence Legnica Real Presence – Other Eucharistic Miracles For a full list of Eucharistic Miracles, visit Blessed Carlo Acutis’s website, miracolieucaristici.org.
The Joy of the Faith YouTube channel has several videos going over the scientific evidence of Eucharistic miracles.
Real Presence Proven By The Bible The Bible repeatedly proves the existence of the Real Presence.
Below are several passages in the Bible and authorative interpretations that prove the Real Presence.
Genesis 14:18 But Melchisedech the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God
Genesis 14:18 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
[Melchisedech was a priest] offering in sacrifice bread and wine, a figure of Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass; as the fathers constantly affirm.
Many Protestants confess, that this renowned prince of Chanaan, was also a priest; but they will not allow that his sacrifice consisted of bread and wine. In what then? for a true priest must offer some real sacrifice. If Christ, therefore, be a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech, whose sacrifice was not bloody, as those of Aaron were, what other sacrifice does he now offer, but that of his own body and blood in the holy Mass, by the ministry of his priests?
Haydock Commentary Genesis 14:18 Exodus 16:15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread, which the Lord hath given you to eat.
Exodus 16:15 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
Yet this wonderful bread was only a figure of that which Jesus Christ promised to give, and as the figure must come beneath the reality, what we receive in the blessed Eucharist, must undoubtedly be something better than manna. Would Zuinglius and Calvin attempt then to persuade us, that Christ appointed their mere sacramental bread, to supersede and excel the favour of manna granted to the fathers, who are dead? Mere bread cannot stand in competition with this miraculous food.
But the truth which it foreshewed, according to all the doctors of the Church, I mean the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, in the blessed sacrament, under the appearances of bread and wine, are surely more excellent than manna itself. It is miraculously brought upon our altars by the words of Jesus Christ, spoken by his priests at Mass, and dispensed to infinite multitudes, in the most distant places from each other, and even in the smallest particle.
Haydock Commentary Exodus 16:15 Exodus 16:31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed white, and the taste thereof like to flour with honey.
Exodus 16:31 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
Manna. This miraculous food, with which the children of Israel were nourished and supported during their sojourning in the wilderness, was a figure of the bread of life, which we receive in the blessed sacrament, for the food and nourishment of our souls, during the time of our mortal pilgrimage, till we come to our eternal home, the true land of promise: where we shall keep an everlasting sabbath: and have no further need of sacraments.
Haydock Commentary Exodus 16:31 Matthew 26:26-28 And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.
Matthew 26:26-28 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
And whilst they were at supper. Jesus Christ proceeds to the institution of the blessed Eucharist, that the truth or reality may succeed to the figure in one and the same banquet; and to impress more deeply upon our minds the remembrance of so singular a favour, his last and best gift to man. He would not institute it at the beginning of his ministry; he first prepares his disciples for the belief of it, by changing water into wine, and by the miraculous multiplication of the loaves.
Jesus took bread, and blessed it. S. Luke and S. Paul say, he gave thanks. This blessing and giving thanks, was not the consecration itself, but went before it.
This is my body. He does not say, this is the figure of my body—but, this is my body.
Neither does he say in this, or with this is my body, but absolutely this is my body; which plainly implies transubstantiation.
Catholics maintain, after the express words of Scripture, and the universal tradition of the Church, that Christ in the blessed sacrament is corporally and substantially present; but not carnally; not in that gross, natural, and sensible manner, in which our separated brethren misrepresent the Catholic doctrine
If Protestants, in opposition to the primitive Fathers, deny the connection of the sixth chapter of John with the institution, it is from the fear of giving advantage to the doctrine of transubstantiation, says Dr. Clever, Protestant bishop of Bangor.
This is my body. By these words, and his divine power, Christ changed that which before was bread into his own body; not in that visible and bloody manner
Yet so, that the elements of bread and wine were truly, really, and substantially changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood. Christ, whose divine power cannot be questioned, could not make use of plainer words than these set down by S. Matthew, S. Mark, S. Luke, and S. Paul to the Corinthians: this is my body; this is my blood: and that the bread and wine, at the words of consecration are changed into the body and blood of Christ, has been the constant doctrine and belief of the Catholic Church, in all ages, both in the east and west, both in the Greek and Latin churches; as may be seen in our controvertists, and particularly in the author of the books of the Perpetuity of the Faith.
The first and fundamental truths of the Christian faith, by which we profess to believe the mystery of the holy Trinity, i.e. one God and three divine Persons, and of the incarnation, i.e. that the true Son of God was made man, was born, suffered and died upon the cross for our salvation, are no less obscure and mysterious, no less above the reach of human capacity, than this of the real presence: nor are they more clearly expressed in the sacred text. This change the Church hath thought proper to express by the word, transubstantiation: and it is as frivolous to reject this word, and to ask where it is found in the holy Scriptures, as to demand where we read in the Scriptures, the words, trinity, incarnation, consubstantial to the Father
Luther fairly owned that he wanted not an inclination to deny Christ’s real presence in the sacrament, by which he should vex and contradict the Pope; but this, said he, is a truth that cannot be denied: The words of the gospel are too clear. He and his followers hold, what is called impanation, or consubstantiation; i.e. that there is really present, both the substance of the bread and wine, and also the substance of Christ’s body and blood. — Zuinglius, the Sacramentarians, and Calvinists deny the real presence; and hold that the word is, (est) importeth no more, than it signifieth, or is a figure of Christ’s body; as it hath been lately translated, this represents my body, in a late translation, or rather paraphrase, 1729. I shall only produce here the words and reasoning of Luther: which may deserve the attention of the later reformers.
[Quoting Luther] “Who but the devil, hath granted such a license of wresting the words of the holy Scripture? Who ever read in the Scriptures, that my body is the same as the sign of my body? or, that is is the same as it signifies? What language in the world ever spoke so? It is only then the devil, that imposeth upon us by these fanatical men. . . .
Not one of the Fathers, though so numerous, ever spoke as the Sacramentarians: not one of them ever said, It is only bread and wine; or, the body and blood of Christ is not there present. Surely it is not credible, nor possible, since they often speak, and repeat their sentiments, that they should never (if they thought so) not so much as once, say, or let slip these words: It is bread only; or the body of Christ is not there, especially it being of great importance, that men should not be deceived. Certainly in so many Fathers, and in so many writings, the negative might at least be found in one of them, had they thought the body and blood of Christ were not really present: but they are all of them unanimous.”
Thus far Luther; who, in another place, in his usual manner of writing, hesitates not to call the Sacramentarians, men possessed, prepossessed, and transpossessed by the devil.
My body. In S. Luke is added, which is given for you. Granted these words, which is given, may bear this sense, which shall be given, or offered on the cross; yet as it was the true body of Christ, that was to be crucified, so it was the same true body which Christ gave to his apostles, at his last supper, though in a different manner. — The holy Eucharist is not only a sacrament, but also a sacrifice, succeeding to all the sacrifices of the ancient law, which Christ commanded all the priests of the new law to offer up.
Luther was forced to own, that divers Fathers, taught this doctrine; as Irenæus, Cyprian, Augustin: and in his answer to Henry VIII. of England: The king, says he, brings the testimonies of the Fathers, to prove the sacrifice of the mass, for my part, I care not, if a thousand Augustines, a thousand Cyprians, a thousand Churches, like that of Henry, stand against me. The Centurists of Magdeburg own the same to have been the doctrine of Cyprian, Tertullian, and also of Irenæus, in the end of the second age; and that S. Greg. of Nazianzen, in the fourth age, calls it an unbloody sacrifice;
Drink ye all of this. This was spoken to the twelve apostles; who were the all then present; and they all drank of it, says Mark xiv. 23. But it no ways follows from these words spoken to the apostles, that all the faithful are here commanded to drink of the chalice, any more than that all the faithful are commanded to consecrate, offer and administer this sacrament; because Christ upon this same occasion, and as I may say, with the same breath, bid the apostles do so, in these words, (S. Luke xxii. 19,) Do this for a commemoration of me.
It is a point of discipline, which the Church for good reasons may allow, or disallow to the laity, without any injury done to the receiver, who according to the Catholic doctrine of the real presence, is made partaker of the same benefit under one kind only; he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. John vi. . . . When our adversaries object to us, in opposition to the very clear and precise proofs we produce from the primitive writers of the doctrine of the real presence, that is called sometimes bread, a figure, a sign; we reply, that they can only mean that the outward forms of bread and wine, which remain after consecration, are a figure, a sign, a commemoration. They nowhere teach that the consecrated species are barely figures or signs, and nothing more.
This is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. The Greek text in S. Luke shews that the words shall be shed, or is shed, cannot, in construction, be referred to the blood of Christ shed on the cross, but to the cup, at the institution of the holy sacrament. This cup (says Luke xxii. 20,) is the New Testament in my blood; which cup shall be shed, or is shed for you. S. Paul also saith: this cup is the New Testament in my blood. And if any one will needs insist upon the words, as related by S. Matthew and S. Mark, the sense is still the same; viz. that this cup was not wine, but the blood of Christ, by which the New Testament was confirmed, or alliance betwixt God and man.
For many. S. Luke and S. Paul, instead of many, say for you. Both are joined in the canon of the mass. Euthymius says, for many, is the same as for all mankind. This new alliance was made with all, and the former with the Jews only.
As the Old Testament was dedicated with blood in these words: This is the blood of the Testament, (Heb. ix. 20,) so here is the institution of the New Testament, in Christ’s blood, by these words: This is the blood of the New Testament, which God contracts with you, to communicate to you his grace and justice, by the merits of this blood, which shall be shed for you on the cross; and which is here mystically shed for many, for the remission of sins: for the Greek is in the present tense in all the three evangelists, and in S. Paul, 1 Cor. xi, and the Latin Vulgate of S. Luke, xxii. 19.
Haydock Commentary Matthew 26:26-28 Mark 14:22-24 And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body. And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it. And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.
Mark 14:22-24 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
This is my Body.
This which I now give, and which you now receive; for the bread is not the figure only of Christ, but is changed into the true body of Christ; and he himself says, The bread, which I will give you, is my flesh. But the flesh of Christ is not seen, on account of our infirmity; for if we were allowed to see with our eyes the flesh and blood of Jesus, we should not dare to approach the blessed sacrament. Our Lord therefore condescending to our weakness, preserves the outward species of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of flesh and blood.
These words are so plain, that it is difficult to imagine others more explicit. Their force and import will however appear in a still stronger light, if we consider the formal promise Christ had made to his apostles, as related by S. John, that he would give them his flesh to eat, that same flesh he was to deliver up for the life of the world. He on that occasion confirmed with remarkable emphasis of expression the reality of this manducation, assuring them that his flesh was meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed; and when some of the disciples were shocked at such a proposal, he still insisted that unless they eat his flesh, they should have no life in them.
The possibility of it he evinced from his divine power, to be exemplified in his miraculous ascension; the necessity of it he established, by permitting those to abandon him who refused to believe it; and the belief of it he enforced on the minds of his disciples, from the consideration that he, their teacher, was the Son of God, and the author of their eternal salvation. The apostles were deeply impressed with these thoughts, previously to the institution of the holy Eucharist; consequently when they beheld Jesus Christ, just before his death, taking bread into his sacred hands; when after blessing it with solemnity, they heard him say, Take, eat; this is my body, which shall be given for you; they must necessarily have concluded, that it was truly his body, which he now gave them to eat, according to his former promise.
And though their reason or senses might have started difficulties, yet all these were obviated by their belief of his being God, and consequently able to effect whatever he pleased, and to make good whatever he said.
Moreover, if we consult tradition, we shall find that the Greek, as well as the Latin Church, has uniformly declared in favour of the literal sense of Christ’s words, as may be seen at large in all Catholic controvertists. The learned author of the Perpetuité de la Foi, and his continuator, Renaudot, in the two additional quarto volumes, have invincibly demonstrated, that the belief of all the Oriental Christians perfectly coincides with that of the Catholic Church, respecting the real presence.
Dr. Philip Nicolai, though a Protestant, candidly acknowledges, in his first book of the Kingdom of Christ, p. 22, “that not only the churches of the Greeks, but also the Russians, the Georgians, the Armenians, the Judæans, and the Ethiopians, as many of them as believe in Christ, hold the true and real presence of the body and blood of our Lord.”
This general agreement amongst the many Churches of the Christian world, affords the strongest evidence against Secker and others, who pretend that the doctrine of the real presence is a mere innovation; which was not started till 700 years after Christ’s death. For, how will their supposition accord with the belief of the Nestorians and Eutychians, who were separated from the Church of Rome long before that period, and who were found to agree exactly with Catholics concerning this important tenent? — See this point clearly given in Rutter’s Evangelical Harmony.
This is my Blood.
Which shall be shed. With words so explicit, with the unanimous agreement of the Eastern and Western Churches, how can any Dissenters bring themselves to believe that there is nothing more designed, or given, than a memorial of Christ’s passion and death? Catholics, who believe in the real presence, do certainly renew in themselves the remembrance of our Saviour’s death and passion, with more lively sentiments of devotion than they who believe it to be mere bread and wine.
The outward forms of bread and wine, which remain in the Eucharist, are chiefly designed to signify or represent to us three things; viz. 1. The passion of Christ, of which they are the remembrance; 2. the body and blood of Christ, really, though sacramentally present, of which they are the veil; and 3. everlasting life, of which they are the pledge. — N. B. In speaking of the real presence in the Eucharist, Catholics hold that Christ is corporally and substantially present, but not carnally; i.e. not in that gross, natural, and sensible manner, in which or separated brethren so frequently misrepresent our doctrine.
Haydock Commentary Mark 14:22 Luke 13:26 Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
Luke 13:26 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
These words are addressed particularly to the Jews, because Christ was born of them according to the flesh, eat and drank with them, and taught publicly in their streets; but they apply to us Christians also, for we eat the body of Christ, and drink his blood, when each day we approach the mystical table, and we hear him teaching us in the streets of our souls.
Haydock Commentary Luke 13:26 Luke 22:19-20 And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me. In like manner the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.
Luke 22:19-20 Which has a footer that states:
“Do this for a commemoration of me”: This sacrifice and sacrament is to be continued in the church, to the end of the world, to shew forth the death of Christ, until he cometh. But this commemoration, or remembrance, is by no means inconsistent with the real presence of his body and blood, under these sacramental veils, which represent his death; on the contrary, it is the manner that he himself hath commanded, of commemorating and celebrating his death, by offering in sacrifice, and receiving in the sacrament, that body and blood by which we were redeemed.
Luke 22:19 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
Do this for a commemoration of me. By these words he gave a power and precept to them, and their successors, to all bishops and priests, to consecrate and offer up the same; yet so, that they are only the ministers and instruments of Jesus Christ, who instituted this sacrifice, this and all other sacraments, who is the chief and principal Priest, or offerer. It is Christ that chiefly consecrates and changes the elements of bread and wine into his own body and blood; it is he that chiefly and principally forgiveth sins in the sacraments of baptism, penance, &c. It is what S. Aug. so often repeats against the Donatists, that it is Christ that baptizeth, though the instrumental minister be a sinner or a heretic; and this is what all Catholics confess and profess.
The holy sacrifice and sacrament is to be offered and received with a devout and grateful remembrance of Christ’s benefits, and especially of his sufferings and death for all mankind. But to teach that it is a bare, though devout memorial, or a remembrance only, so as to exclude the real presence of Christ, under the outward appearances of bread and wine, is inconsistent with the constant belief and consent of all Christian churches, both of the west and east, and contradicts the plain words of Christ.
The learned bishop of Meaux, in his Exposition of the Catholic Faith, desires all Christians to take notice, that Christ does not command them to remember him, but to take his body and blood with a remembrance of him, and his benefits: this is the import of all the words, put together. This is my body: this is my blood: do this in, for, or with a remembrance of me.
This sacrifice and sacrament is to be continued in the Church to the end of the world, to shew forth the death of Christ, until he cometh. But this commemoration, or remembrance, is by no means inconsistent with the real presence of his body and blood, under these sacramental veils, which represent his death; on the contrary, it is the manner that he himself hath commanded, of commemorating and celebrating his death, by offering in sacrifice, and receiving in the sacrament, that body and blood by which we were redeemed.
Which is given, &c. He does not say, which shall be offered for you, but which is offered; because it was already a true sacrifice, in which Christ was truly present which he offered in advance to his eternal Father, before that which he was going to offer the next day, in a different manner, on the cross. This sacrifice was the consummation of the figurative Pasch, and the promise or pledge of the bloody offering, which Christ would make on the cross. . . . It was not the mere figure of his body, which was crucified, but the true body and the true blood. In the same manner it is both the one and the other which are given, and really present, in the Eucharist.
To renew the memory of what I have this day done, in giving you my body; and what I shall do to-morrow, in delivering my blood and my life for the whole world, do you hereafter what you now see me do. Take bread, break it, sand say, This is my body; and it will become so really and truly, as it now is in my hands.
Haydock Commentary Luke 22:19 Luke 24:30 And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them.
Luke 24:30 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
The ancient Fathers think our Saviour consecrated, on this occasion, and administered the Eucharist to the two disciples. In the Acts of the Apostles, this same term, breaking of bread, is explained without difficulty of the Eucharist. S. Luke seems fond of this manner of expression, to signify that sacrament
Haydock Commentary Luke 24:30 John 6:35-64 And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, that you also have seen me, and you believe not. All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day.
And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day. The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.
It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.
These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.
John 6:35-64 Which has some footers that state:
[John 6:44] “Draw him”: Not by compulsion, nor by laying the free will under any necessity, but by the strong and sweet motions of his heavenly grace.
[John 6:54] “Eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood”: To receive the body and blood of Christ, is a divine precept, insinuated in this text; which the faithful fulfil, though they receive but in one kind; because in one kind they receive both body and blood, which cannot be separated from each other. Hence, life eternal is here promised to the worthy receiving, though but in one kind. Ver. 52. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. Ver. 58. He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. Ver. 59. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.
[John 6:63] “If then you shall see”: Christ by mentioning his ascension, by this instance of his power and divinity, would confirm the truth of what he had before asserted; and at the same time correct their gross apprehension of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, in a vulgar and carnal manner, by letting them know he should take his whole body living with him to heaven; and consequently not suffer it to be as they supposed, divided, mangled, and consumed upon earth.
[John 6:64] “The flesh profiteth nothing”: Dead flesh separated from the spirit, in the gross manner they supposed they were to eat his flesh, would profit nothing. Neither doth man’s flesh, that is to say, man’s natural and carnal apprehension, (which refuses to be subject to the spirit, and words of Christ,) profit any thing. But it would be the height of blasphemy, to say the living flesh of Christ (which we receive in the blessed sacrament, with his spirit, that is, with his soul and divinity) profiteth nothing. For if Christ’s flesh had profited us nothing, he would never have taken flesh for us, nor died in the flesh for us.
[John 6:64] “Are spirit and life”: By proposing to you a heavenly sacrament, in which you shall receive, in a wonderful manner, spirit, grace, and life, in its very fountain.
John 6:35-64 According to the Haydock Commentary, this means:
Ver. 36. You demand this bread; behold it is before you, and yet you eat it not. I am the bread; to believe in me is to eat me. You see me, but you believe not in me. It is to this place that those words of S. Austin are to be referred: “Why do you prepare your teeth and belly? believe in me, and you have eaten me.” Words which do not destroy the real presence, of which he is not speaking in this verse.
Jesus Christ leads them gradually to this great mystery, which he knows will prove a stumbling block to many. The chapter begins with the miraculous multiplication of the loaves; then Christ walking on the sea; next he blames the Jews for following him not through faith in his miracles, but for the loaves and fishes, and tells them to labour for that nourishment which perishes not, by believing in Him, whom the Father had sent; and then promises, that what their fathers had received in figure only, the manna, the faithful shall receive in reality; his own body and blood.
Ver. 38. Christ does not say this as if he did not whatever he wished; but he recommends to us his humility. He who comes to me shall not be cast forth, but shall be incorporated with me, because he shall not do his own will, but that of my Father. And therefore he shall not be cast forth; because when he was proud, he did his own will, and was rejected. None but the humble can come to me. An humble and sincere faith is essentially necessary to believe the great mysteries of the Catholic faith, by means of which we come to God and believe in God.
Ver. 41. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. These Jews did not believe that Christ was the true and eternal Son of God, who came down from heaven, and was made flesh, was made man. He speaks of this faith in him, when he calls himself the living bread, the mystical bread of life, that came to give life everlasting to all true and faithful believers. In this sense S. Augustin said, (trac. xxv. p. 489) why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly? only believe, and thou hast eaten; but afterwards he passeth to his sacramental and real presence in the holy sacrament.
Ver. 44. Draw him. Not by compulsion, nor by laying the free-will under any necessity, but by the strong and sweet motions of his heavenly grace. We are drawn to the Father by some secret pleasure, delight, or love, which brings us to the Father. “Believe and you come to the Father,” says S. Austin, “Love, and you are drawn. The Jews could not believe, because they would not.” God, by his power, could have overcome their hardness of heart; but he was not bound to do it; neither had they any right to expect this favour, after the many miracles which they had seen.
Ver. 45. Every one, therefore, that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned of him who I am, cometh to me by faith and obedience. As to others, when the Scripture says they are taught of God, this is to be understood of an interior spiritual instruction, which takes place in the soul, and does not fall under the senses; but not less real on that account, because it is the heart, which hears the voice of this invisible teacher.
Ver. 47. Thus Jesus Christ concludes the first part of his discourse: “Amen, amen, he that believeth in me, hath everlasting life;” which shews that faith is a necessary predisposition to the heavenly bread.
Ver. 48. Because the multitude still insisted in begging for their corporal nourishment and remembering the food that was given to their fathers, Christ, to shew that all were figures of the present spiritual food, answered, that he was the bread of life. Here Jesus Christ proceeds to the second part of his discourse, in which he fully explains what that bread of life is, which he is about to bestow upon mankind in the mystery of the holy Eucharist. He declares then, in the first place, that he is the bread of eternal life, and mentions its several properties; and secondly, he applies to his own person, and to his own flesh, the idea of this bread, such as he has defined it.
Ver. 51. Christ now no longer calls the belief in him, or the preaching of the gospel, the bread that he will give them; but he declares that it is his own flesh, and that flesh which shall be given for the life of the world. This bread Christ then gave, when he gave the mystery of his body and blood to his disciples.
Ver. 52. The bread which I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. In most Greek copies we read, is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. Christ here promised what he afterwards instituted, and gave at his last supper. He promiseth to give his body and blood to be eaten; the same body (though the manner be different) which he would give on the cross for the redemption of the world. The Jews of Capharnaum were presently scandalized. How (said they) can this man give us his flesh to eat? But notwithstanding their murmuring, and the offence which his words had given, even to many of his disciples, he was so far from revoking, or expounding what he had said of any figurative or metaphorical sense, that he confirmed the same truth in the clearest and strongest terms.
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat, &c. And again, (v. 56.) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. I cannot omit taking notice of what S. Chrysostom and S. Cyril, in their commentaries on this place, have left us on these words, How can this man do this? These words which call in question the almighty and incomprehensible power of God, which hinder them, says S. Chrysostom, from believing all other mysteries and miracles: they might as well have said: How could he with five loaves feed five thousand men?
This question, How can he do this? Is a question of infidels and unbelievers. S. Cyril says that How, or, How can he do this? cannot, without folly, be applied to God. 2dly, he calls it a question of blasphemy. 3dly, a Jewish word, for which these Capharnaites deserved the severest punishments. 4thly, He confutes them by the saying of the prophet Isaias, (lv. 9.) that God’s thoughts and ways are as much above those of men, as the heavens are above the earth.
But if these Capharnaites, who knew not who Jesus was, were justly blamed for their incredulous, foolish, blasphemous, Jewish saying, how can he give us his flesh to eat? much more blameable are those Christians, who, against the words of the Scripture, against the unanimous consent and authority of all Christian Churches in all parts of the world, refuse to believe his real presence, and have nothing to say, but with the obstinate Capharnaites, how can this be done? Their answers are the same, or no better, when they tell us that the real presence contradicts their senses, their reason, that they know it to be false.
We may also observe, with divers interpreters, that if Christians are not to believe that Jesus Christ is one and the same God with the eternal Father, and that he is truly and really present in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, it will be hard to deny but that Christ himself led men into these errors, which is blasphemy. For it is evident, and past all dispute, that the Jews murmured, complained, and understood that Christ several times made himself God, and equal to the Father of all.
2ndly, When in this chapter, he told them he would give them his flesh to eat, &c. they were shocked to the highest degree: they cried out, this could not be, that these words and this speech was hard and harsh, and on this very account many that had been his disciples till that time, withdrew themselves from him, and left him and his doctrine.
Was it not then at least high time to set his complaining hearers right, to prevent the blasphemous and idolatrous opinions of the following ages, nay even of all Christian Churches, by telling his disciples at least, that he was only a nominal God, in a metaphorical and improper sense; that he spoke only of his body being present in a figurative and metaphorical sense in the holy Eucharist? If we are deceived, who was it that deceived us but Christ himself, who so often repeated the same points of our belief? His apostles must be esteemed no less guilty in affirming the very same, both as to Christ’s divinity, and his real presence in the holy sacrament, as hereafter will appear.
Compare the words here spoken with those he delivered at his last supper, and you will see that what he promises here was then fulfilled: “this is my body given for you.” Hence, the holy Fathers have always explained this chapter of S. John, as spoken of the blessed sacrament. See the concluding reflexions.
Ver. 53. Because the Jews said it was impossible to give them his flesh to eat, Christ answers them by telling them, that so far from being impossible, it is very necessary that they should eat it. “Unless you eat,” &c. It is not the flesh of merely a man, but it is the flesh of a God, able to make man divine, inebriating him, as it were, with the divinity.
Ver. 54. Unless you eat . . . and drink, &c. To receive both the body and blood of Christ, is a divine precept, insinuated in this text; which the faithful fulfil, though they receive but in one kind; because in one kind they receive both the body and blood, which cannot be separated from each other. Hence life eternal is here promised to the worthy receiving, though but in one kind: (ver. 52.) If any man eat of this bread he shall life for ever: and the bread which I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world: (ver. 58.) He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me: (ver. 59.) He that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
Ver. 55. Jesus Christ, to confirm the notion his disciples had formed of a real eating of his body, and to remove all metaphorical interpretation of his words, immediately adds, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. . . . For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;” which could not be so, if, as sectarists pretend, what he gives us in the blessed sacrament is nothing but a bit of bread; and if a figure, certainly not so striking as the manna.
Ver. 58. As the living Father hath sent me, his only, his true Son, to become man; and I live by the Father, proceeding always from him; so he that eateth me, first by faith only, by believing in me; and secondly, he that eateth my body and blood, truly made meat and drink, though after a spiritual manner, (not in that visible, bloody manner as the Capharnaites fancied to themselves) shall live by me, and live for ever, happy in the kingdom of my glory.
Ver. 61. If Christ had wished to say nothing else than that his disciples should be filled with his doctrine, that being his flesh and blood, it would not have been a hard saying; neither would it have shocked the Jews. He had already said as much in the former part of his discourse: but he goes on in still stronger terms, notwithstanding their complaints; and, as they were ignorant how he would fulfil his promise, they left him, and followed the example of the other unbelieving Jews, as all future sectarists have, saying: how can this be done?
Ver. 62. If you cannot believe that I can give you my flesh to eat, now that I am living amongst you, how will you believe, that, after my ascension, I can give you to eat my glorified and immortal flesh, seated on the right hand of the majesty of God?
Ver. 63. If then you shall see, &c. Christ, by mentioning his ascension, by this instance of his power and divinity, would confirm the truth of what he had before asserted; at the same time, correct their gross apprehension of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, in a vulgar and carnal manner, by letting them know he should take his whole body living with him to heaven; and consequently not suffer it to be, as they supposed, divided, mangled, and consumed upon earth.
The sense of these words, according to the common exposition, is this: you murmur at my words, as hard and harsh, and you refuse now to believe them: when I shall ascend into heaven, from whence I came into the world, and when my ascension, and the doctrine that I have taught you, shall be confirmed by a multitude of miracles, then shall you and many others believe.
Ver. 64. The flesh profiteth nothing. Dead flesh, separated from the spirit, in the gross manner they supposed they were to eat his flesh, would profit nothing. Neither doth man’s flesh, that is to say, man’s natural and carnal apprehension, (which refuses to be subject to the spirit, and words of Christ) profit any thing. But it would be the height of blasphemy, to say the living flesh of Christ (which we receive in the blessed sacrament, with his spirit, that is, with his soul and divinity) profiteth nothing. For if Christ’s flesh had profited us nothing, he would never have taken flesh for us, nor died in the flesh for us.
Are spirit and life. By proposing to you a heavenly sacrament, in which you shall receive, in a wonderful manner, spirit, grace and life in its very fountain.
It is the spirit that quickeneth, or giveth life. These words sufficiently correct the gross and carnal imagination of these Capharnaites, that he meant to give them his body and blood to eat in a visible and bloody manner, as flesh, says S. Aug. is sold in the market, and in the shambles; but they do not imply a figurative or metaphorical presence only. The manner of Christ’s presence is spiritual and under the outward appearances of bread and wine; but yet he is there truly and really present, by a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of his body and blood, which truly and really become our spiritual food, and are truly and really received in the holy sacrament.
The flesh of itself profiteth nothing, not even the flesh of our Saviour Christ, were it not united to the divine person of Christ. But we must take care how we understand these words spoken by our Saviour: for it is certain, says S. Aug. that the word made flesh, is the cause of all our happiness.
When I promise you life if you eat my flesh, I do not wish you to understand this of that gross and carnal manner, of cutting my members in pieces: such ideas are far from my mind: the flesh profiteth nothing. In the Scriptures, the word flesh is often put for the carnal manner of understanding any thing. If you wish to enter into the spirit of my words, raise your hearts to a more elevated and spiritual way of understanding them.
The reader may consult Des Mahis, p. 165, a convert from Protestantism, and who has proved the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist in the most satisfactory manner, from the written word. Where he shows that Jesus Christ, speaking of his own body, never says the flesh, but my flesh: the former mode of expression is used to signify, as we have observed above, a carnal manner of understanding any thing.
Concluding reflexions on this chapter.