MOST CHRISTIANS HAVE A
CEREMONY COMMEMORATING THE LAST SUPPER. SOMETIMES IT'S ONLY ONCE A
YEAR, AND FOR US CATHOLICS, IT'S EVERY DAY. BUT WE DISAGREE ON WHAT
IT ALL MEANS. WHAT WE DO AGREE ON IS THAT IT IS AN ANSWER TO JESUS'
COMMAND TO HIS APOSTLES TO “DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.”
WE CATHOLICS ALONG WITH
THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES LOOK AT SCRIPTURE AND SEE THAT NOT ONLY DID
JESUS SAY THAT THE BREAD AND WINE WERE HIS BODY AND BLOOD, BUT IS
DESCRIBED IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AS HAVING INSISTED ON THIS EVEN WHEN
THOSE FOLLOWING HIM LEFT HIM, SAYING “HOW CAN THIS MAN GIVE US HIS
FLESH TO EAT?” AND “THIS IS A HARD SAYING.” AND WE KNOW THAT
IN SOME OF THE EARLIEST WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS, THE FACT THAT
THE BREAD AND WINE BECOME THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST WAS WIDELY
BELIEVED; EVEN PROTESTANT SCHOLARS ADMIT TO THIS.
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE
CHURCH THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION WAS THE THING THAT UNIFIED
CHRISTIANS. YOU COULD GO ALL OVER THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND INDEED, TO
INDIA AND PERSIA AND THE EASTERN COAST OF AFRICA AND FIND CHRISTIANS
RE-ENACTING THE LAST SUPPER. THEY DEVELOPED DIFFERENT LITURGIES AND
DIFFERENT EMPHASES, BUT IN ALL, THE PRIEST HELD UP THE BREAD AND WINE
AND SAID THE WORDS OF JESUS: “THIS IS MY BODY...THIS IS MY BLOOD.”
UNFORTUNATELY THE EUCHARIST NOW DIVIDES CHRISTIANS.
PERHAPS ONE OF THE
REASONS HAS TO DO WITH THE TEACHING WE REFER TO AS
TRANSUBSTANTIATION. THIS DOCTRINE MAINTAINS THAT WHEN A VALIDLY
ORDAINED PRIEST PRONOUNCES THE WORDS OF CHRIST OVER BREAD AND WINE,
THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST BECOME REALLY PRESENT, AND THE
BREAD AND WINE ARE NO LONGER PRESENT. MARTIN LUTHER COULD ACCEPT THE
FIRST PART OF THAT STATEMENT, BUT NOT THE SECOND; JOHN CALVIN SAID
THAT THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST WERE SACRAMENTALLY PRESENT, NOT
REALLY PRESENT. IF WE CATHOLICS BELIEVE IN THE REAL PRESENCE, OF
COURSE WE REVERENCE THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS; IF OTHER CHRISTIANS
THINK THE BREAD AND WINE ARE ONLY SYMBOLS, THEY HAVE NO REASON TO
REVERENCE SYMBOLS. SO WE TELL OUR BROTHER CHRISTIANS THAT TO RECEIVE
THE EUCHARIST YOU MUST BELIEVE IN THE REAL PRESENCE.
WHAT DO WE REALLY MEAN BY
THIS TEACHING? I THINK THAT'S ANOTHER AREA OF DIVISION. IF THIS IS
THE SAME BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS, IDENTICAL TO HIM WHO WALKED THE
EARTH 2000 YEARS AGO, ARE WE CANNIBALS? IT'S THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION,
ISN'T IT?
BUT I THINK THE ANSWER TO
THAT IS THE FACT THAT JESUS AT THE FIRST MASS SAID THOSE WORDS OVER
BREAD AND WINE, AND HE HADN'T DIED, THE APOSTLES COULD SEE THAT HE
WAS NOT IDENTICAL TO THE FOOD AND DRINK ON THE TABLE. BUT IT WOULD
REALLY BE TROUBLING IF THE MASS THAT JESUS SAID DID NOT RESULT IN
“TRANSUBSTANTIATION”; OBVIOUSLY THE APOSTLES AND THE FATHERS OF
THE CHURCH BELIEVED IN THE REAL PRESENCE DESPITE THIS FACT.
I THINK THE WAY TO
UNDERSTAND THIS MYSTERY, AND IT IS A MYSTERY, IS TO THINK ABOUT THE
FACT THAT WE ARE PERSONS WHO CAN EXPRESS OURSELVES AND INTERACT WITH
THE WORLD AND EACH OTHER ONLY THROUGH OUR BODIES. EVEN IF WE HAVE A
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE, IT HAS TO BE MEDIATED BY THE BODY. AND THOUGH
MANY OF US CARRY AROUND THE IDEA THAT WE ARE CREATURES MADE UP OF
BODY AND SOUL, AND WE THINK OF THE SOUL AS A GHOST THAT LOOKS LIKE US
ONLY TRANSPARENT, OR A BALLOON THAT'S TIED TO OUR BODY BY A STRING,
THE REALITY IS THAT OUR BODIES ARE SACRAMENTS OF OUR PERSONS. JOHN
PAUL II USED THIS CONCEPT WIDELY IN HIS THEOLOGY OF THE BODY TALKS.
BY IT HE MEANT THAT OUR BODIES ARE SIGNS OF AN UNDERLYING REALITY,
AND THEY MAKE THAT REALITY PRESENT. A SACRAMENT IS A SIGN THAT
CAUSES WHAT IT IS A SIGN OF.
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE
BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS, WE OF COURSE MEAN THAT JESUS IS FULLY
PRESENT, UNIQUELY AND COMPLETELY, UNDER THE APPEARANCE OF BREAD AND
UNDER THE APPEARANCE OF WINE; THAT'S CHURCH TEACHING. YOU COULD
RECEIVE EITHER AND THE EFFECT WOULD BE THE SAME AS RECEIVING BOTH.
JESUS CAN'T BE BROKEN UP INTO PARTS. THROUGH A UNIQUE MIRACLE
MEDIATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE BREAD AND WINE WHICH USED TO SIMPLY
REVEAL BREAD AND WINE, NOW REVEAL THE PERSON OF JESUS; THEY BECOME
THE SACRAMENT OF THAT PERSON, JUST AS THEY DID AT THE LAST SUPPER,
JUST AS THEY DO NOW; AND THEY ARE, THEREFORE, IDENTICAL TO THE BODY
OF JESUS, WHICH REVEALS EXACTLY THE SAME THING – THE PERSON OF
JESUS. WHEN TWO THINGS ARE IDENTICAL TO A THIRD, THEY ARE IDENTICAL
TO EACH OTHER.
WHY DID JESUS LEAVE US
WITH THIS MIRACLE? WHY SO CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD AND DRINK? I
THINK WE CAN LOOK AT THE THEOLOGY OF THE BODY HERE AS WELL. THE MOST
LOVING ACT THAT WE CAN BESTOW ON OTHER PEOPLE IS TO GIVE THEM FOOD
AND DRINK. IN DOING THIS WE AFFIRM THAT WE WANT LIFE FOR THEM, WE
WANT HEALTH, WE WANT THEM TO HAVE THE PLEASURE OF EATING, WE WANT
THEM NOT TO HUNGER. AND WE DO THIS BY INTERACTING WITH THEIR BODIES,
BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE CAN HAVE ANY RELATIONSHIP TO THE
PERSON FOR WHOM THE BODY IS A SACRAMENT. AND THE HIGHEST KIND OF
LOVE IS LOVE WHICH GIVES ITSELF AWAY – AGAPE LOVE. JESUS INITIATED
THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST SO THAT HE COULD GIVE HIMSELF AWAY,
ALL OF HIMSELF, IN LOVE, TO EACH OF US, NOW AND DOWN THROUGH THE
AGES. THAT'S WHY THE SACRAMENT IS SO SIMPLE. IN OUR CHURCH WE
INSIST THAT THE BREAD USED FOR THE EUCHARIST BE MADE FROM PURE WHEAT
AND THAT THE WINE FROM PURE GRAPE JUICE THAT'S BEEN ALLOWED TO
FERMENT USING ONLY THE YEAST THAT OCCURRED NATURALLY ON THE GRAPE
SKIN. BUT WE ALLOW HOSTS MADE FROM WHEAT STARCH HELD TOGETHER BY
GELATIN FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T TOLERATE GLUTEN; AND WE ALLOW GRAPE
JUICE WHICH HAS ALMOST NO ALCOHOL TO BE USED BY PEOPLE WHO CANNOT
TOLERATE ALCOHOL. THE POINT IS THAT WHILE THE CHURCH HAS EVERY RIGHT
TO SPECIFY HOW ITS SACRAMENTS ARE TO BE CONDUCTED, IT CAN CHANGE THE
RULES; JESUS OBVIOUSLY WANTED IT TO BE POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO COULD
EAT OR DRINK TO RECEIVE HIS REAL PRESENCE.
JESUS PROMISED THAT HE
WOULD BE WITH US UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD. HE DID NOT MEAN THIS IN
A SPIRITUAL SENSE, OR A FIGURATIVE SENSE. HE MEANT IT LITERALLY –
BECAUSE TO BE WITH A HUMAN PERSON, YOU HAVE TO INTERACT WITH THAT
PERSON, YOUR BODY AND HIS OR HER BODY. WHAT WAS BREAD AND WINE
BECOME THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS, AND THE BREAD AND WINE ARE NO
LONGER PRESENT.
