Holy Communion

Holy Communion = becoming one (Communion) with God (Holy)

The Rite of Communion at the Mass during which the consecrated bread and wine are distributed to the faithful

John 6: Bread of Life Discourse

In the "Bread of Life Discourse", Jesus declares himself "the Bread of Life"

So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. (Jn 6:32-35)

and

Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. I am the bread of life. (Jn 6:48-51)

His followers were shocked by these words, and especially by his further explanations:

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 

(Jn 52-56)

• Jesus used the term fag-oh, Greek for "to eat", which may be used figuratively.
• His followers, however, did not take him figuratively
• Jesus further affirmed that he meant to "eat his flesh" literally by then using the word which in Greek is, "troh-goh" for "to gnaw" or "to mash with one's teeth", and which is not used figuratively

Transubstantiation

Definition of Transubstantiation

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." (CCC 1376; emphasis added)

Etymology of Transubstantiation

• from: trans- = across, beyond + substance ("what it is") (-tion = makes a noun)
  • trans- = across, beyond
  • substance = sub- (up to, under, made up of) + stare (that which stands, what is)
    • stare has PIE root *sta- "to stand, make firm, be firm"

"transubstantiation" versus "transformation"

• trans-substance = changes form but not substance
• trans-form = changes its appearance while keeping its substance
  • ex. water keeps its substance while changing form when solid, liquid or gas

• transform = trans- (across) + form (image, likeness, shape, appearance)
  • i.e., change in shape, appearance

Belief in Transubstantiation

• In the Gospel of John Ch. 6, verses 47-51, Jesus affirms that belief in him as the "bread of life" is needed for salvation:

"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 

• the Church has accepted the doctrine and belief in transubstantiation from its beginning with the Apostles
• Ignatius of Antioch, a student of Saint John, wrote to the Church in Rome not to protect him from martyrdom, saying,

Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God. (Ignatius to the Romans, Ch. IV)

"I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life." (Ignatius to the Romans, Ch. VII)

• it was first termed "transubstantiation" in the 11th century
  • largely in response to Berengar of Tours, a monk who denied the "material" change in the bread and wine when consecrated,
  • at the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215, the Church made a canonical (official) pronouncement of the doctrine of Transubstantiation.
• Protestant movements, inspired by Martin Luther's attacks on certain Sacraments, ultimately dropped belief in Transubstantiation
  • and today, celebrate the Eucharist symbolically (called either "sacramental union" or "consubstantiation")
• Under Queen Elizabeth I, the British government included rejection of Transubstantiation as part of the "Test" oaths of allegiance to the English church and rejection of Roman Catholicism

Impact of belief in Transubstantiation on Mass attendance

• in 2008, Georgetown University conducted a poll of Catholics and found that
  • 57% of Catholics surveyed believe in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist
  • 91% of those who attend mass weekly or more so believe
  • 86% those who attend mass monthly so believe
  • 40% of those who attend mass "a few times a year" so believe
• in 2019 Pew Research conducted a similar study and found that
  • 31% of all Catholics believe "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus"
  • 63% of those who attend mass weekly or more believe in the Real Presence
• it is reasonable to infer that the wording of the questions in these studies yielded different results