Go deeper, for parents
The Real Presence and transubstantiation
What the Church means when it says the bread and wine become Jesus.
What your child reads
Now the bread and wine are really Jesus, not just a sign of him, even though they still look and taste the same.
From Coming in, The Consecration, Lamb of God, Holy Communion
What the Church teaches
In the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” (CCC 1374). Christ is present in other ways too: in his Word, in the Church at prayer, in the poor. But he is present “most especially in the Eucharistic species” (CCC 1373). This presence is called “real” not because the others are unreal, but because it is presence “in the fullest sense” (CCC 1374). Teaching
Substance and appearances
The Council of Trent teaches that “the whole substance of the bread” changes into Christ’s Body, and “the whole substance of the wine” into his Blood. The Church calls this change transubstantiation (CCC 1376). A thing’s substance is what it is. Its appearances (theologians say “accidents” or “species”) are everything the senses can detect: shape, colour, taste, texture. In the Eucharist the substance changes completely and the appearances stay just as they were. So nothing visible happens, yet what lies on the altar is no longer bread. Teaching
Why the appearances stay
St Thomas Aquinas gives three reasons. People would recoil from eating flesh and drinking blood, so Christ gives himself under ordinary food. Unbelievers cannot mock what they cannot see. And receiving him unseen calls for faith (Summa Theologiae III, q. 75, a. 5). Tradition
Not just a new meaning
In 1965 Pope St Paul VI rejected explaining the change as only “transignification” or “transfinalization”, a new meaning or purpose for the bread. The consecrated species do take on a new meaning, but because “they are no longer ordinary bread and wine” (Mysterium Fidei 11, 46). Teaching
Whole, and lasting
Christ is whole in each species and in every part, so breaking the Host doesn’t divide him (CCC 1377). Receiving the Host alone gives the whole Christ (CCC 1390). He remains present as long as the appearances last, which is why the Eucharist is kept in the tabernacle and adored (CCC 1377–1379). Teaching
Why Catholics believe it
Jesus said “this is my body” (Matthew 26:26) and “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (John 6:55), and many disciples stopped following him over it (John 6:66). St Paul warns that receiving unworthily is “profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27, as quoted in CCC 1385). St Ambrose wrote that “by the blessing nature itself is changed” (CCC 1375). In the end it rests on Christ’s word: it “cannot be apprehended by the senses… but only by faith” (St Thomas, quoted in CCC 1381).
Questions children ask
- Does it hurt Jesus when I chew?
- No. Jesus is risen and glorious (GIRM 83), and breaking the Host doesn’t divide him (CCC 1377).
- So is it a symbol?
- It is a sign, but not only a sign: it really is what it shows (Mysterium Fidei 11, 46).
- Why does it still taste like bread?
- Because only the substance changes (CCC 1376); Aquinas’s three reasons above say why.
Words to avoid
“Represents” and “a symbol of”; “Jesus is in the bread”, since after the consecration no bread is left (CCC 1376); “only a meal” or “only remembering”, since the Mass is both sacrifice and banquet (CCC 1382).