The True Presence of Christ
Symbols are part of our everyday lives; we know green light means go, and that the exit sign eventually leads to the outside world. Even in simply reading this text you are interacting with a complicated set of symbols that have meaning to you. Every day, as we navigate our lives, we are walking through a world rich with symbols.
These symbols are meaningful, they are a ‘sign’ of something. The sign points to the signified, but there are some symbols that are different. Some symbols are what they signify - a ‘true symbol’ or, as we call them, a Sacrament.
This is why we use the word sacrament when we refer to the seven Sacraments that we celebrate in the Catholic Church. Sacraments are signs that are what they signify. For example, Baptism isn’t simply a sign of forgiveness of sins and becoming part of the church; that is what Baptism is.
The blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist is the same. We believe that the bread and the wine offered during the Liturgy of the Eucharist becomes a ‘true symbol’ of Jesus Christ – meaning that they truly become His Body and Blood. This is not in a poetic, metaphorical nor representative sense, but in that sacramental sense: they are what they signify, the real presence of our Lord.
The outward appearance of bread and wine remain, but by the power of the Holy Spirit they are transformed into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
We believe this because it is what Jesus told us:
"While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Mark 14:22-23
This is the mystery at the heart of our faith, and how God comes to dwell with us. From the beginning, this belief has been staunchly defended by the Apostolic church, the church built on this sacrament. The real presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is what the Church has always believed.
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is the celebration of Jesus’s real presence in the Eucharist. It was instituted during the Middle Ages, at a time when questions about this belief were being asked. It was also a time when the devotion to the Eucharist as a cornerstone of catholic mystic experience was flourishing in the lives of people like Juliana of Liège and Thomas Aquinas.
The true presence of Jesus in the eucharist is disputed by some groups of protestant Christians. Yet, Catholics joyfully affirm the mystery of the real presence and have done so clearly and stridently for nearly 2000 years, from the Apostles and fathers of the early church, through medieval mystics and theologians, to modern apologists. The true presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist is one of the best documented and dearly held beliefs of the Church in every age.
Today's Readings: Exodus 24:3-8 Psalm 115 Hebrews 9:11-15 Mark 14:12-16,22-26
Photo credit : The Catholic Herald, May 18th, 2017
Source: Corpus Christi
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