Eucharistic Presence

One of the critical questions that have sharply divided Christians since the Reformation is how to understand the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, High Anglicans, and Lutherans believe that the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ are truly present in the Eucharist, in their proper reality, under the appearance of bread and wine.

The term “real presence” has been used to describe the special mode of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist since the middle ages. The Council of Trent entitled the first chapter of its Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist “The Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.” However, there are in fact other modes of Christ’s presence, each of them “real” in its own way. Several of these are mentioned in the Constitution on the Liturgy:

He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, “the same now offering, through the ministry of priest, who formerly offered Himself on the cross”, but especially in the Eucharistic species.

By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when anybody baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.

He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church.

Lastly, He is present when the Church prays and sings, for He has promised “where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.”

These are not the only ways in which Christ is present to His Church. Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei mentions all of these and adds others: “Christ is present in the Church:

As it performs works of mercy…
As it struggles to reach the harbor of eternal life…
As it preaches…
As it shepherds and guides the people of God…

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching