Real Presence

A Theological Journey

The Baptist Experience

The journey from my early Baptist experience with quarterly celebration of The Lord’s Supper, a simple response to the instruction of Jesus to “do this in remembrance of me,” to weekly celebration of the Eucharist, a reaction to the promise of Jesus that “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them,” was long and winding and theologically complicated.

To be fair to the Baptists, a favorite Bible passage is The Great Commission in which Jesus promises his presence, at least to disciples who are baptizing and teaching, “always to the very end of the age.” However, there is also his explanation in John 16:5-11 that he is going to the Father and will not be present but will send the Holy Spirit. In a few paragraphs there will be an explanation of the Catholic understanding of these apparently conflicting passages.

The Presbyterian/Lutheran Experience

Although Presbyterians generally believe in a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, an advance from the Baptist position, I never felt any pressure in the Presbyterian Church to believe or behave differently as a result. However, I have clear memory of some pastoral Eucharistic instruction for new Lutherans in 1990 at Faith Lutheran Church in Penfield NY. Pastor Saresky kept mentioning the body and blood of Jesus prompting me to ask, “Are you saying that the Lord’s Supper is really the body and blood of Jesus?” I remember his exact answer: “No, but it is exactly the same as if it were.” That was my first exposure to what theologians may refer to as “The Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist.

The Faith Lutheran experience was also my first exposure to liturgical worship, the style of the Catholic Mass with organized structure and process. To receive the Eucharist at Faith Lutheran, we went to the altar in small groups and bowed at the Communion rail to receive the sacrament. It was impressive, sobering, and memorable.

The Seminary Experience

Later I spent three retirement years as a student at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia SC. Courses included Greek and Hebrew and a lot of Bible and Lutheran theology. I learned there that Martin Luther believed in and taught The Real Presence “in, with, and under the appearance of bread and wine.” So, Luther’s answer to my question to Pastor Saresky might have been more positive than Pastor Saresky’s, but Luther rejected the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation which he had been taught as a Catholic priest.

The Catholic Experience

Seven years after seminary graduation I was received into the Catholic Church and agreed that I accept transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The Catholic Church sees the presence promised in The Great Commission mentioned in the first paragraph of this post to be a spiritual presence of Christ in the hearts of believers, in the life of the Church, and in the work of the Holy Spirit.(CCC-788) while the presence in the Eucharist is a physical presence described in John 6:52-56. I classify it as divine mystery that I can’t explain any better than what is in this post. Fortunately, believers don’t have to explain complicated theology of miracles such as transubstantiation, incarnation, and creation. All we are challenged to do is accept them as truth, give thanks to God for them, and try to behave accordingly.

Some Official Explanation

I posted an introduction to the seven Catholic sacraments in a post titled Mysterious Sacraments. Later, in a post titled More on Sacraments, there is some detail about the Eucharist which includes these two paragraphs from The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

CCC-1353 –  In the epiclesis, the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit (or the power of his blessing) on the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and so that those who take part in the Eucharist may be one body and one spirit (some liturgical traditions put the epiclesis after the anamnesis). In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ’s body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.

CCC-1376 – 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.

What caught my eye was that CCC-1353 seems to be supporting Luther’s position while CCC-1376 clearly rejects Luther’s position in favor of transubstantiation.

According to magisterium.com, the wording “make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine” is “fully compatible with the doctrine of transubstantiation and with the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist as the re‑presentation of the one Sacrifice of Christ.”

I asked magisterium.com to further explain the summary statement above about possible conflict between the two CCC paragraphs. This is the end of my rambling. Everything from here own is the response of magisterium.com, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) site that is heavily seeded with Catholic documents and only Catholic documents. Go HERE for an introduction and more information about the website.

The Magisterium.com Response to my Inquiry

The sentence in CCC 1353 – “make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ’s body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all” – is often read as if it were limiting the Eucharist to a mere “presence” rather than the change of substance taught by transubstantiation. In fact, the wording is fully compatible with the doctrine of transubstantiation and with the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist as the re‑presentation of the one Sacrifice of Christ.

  1. “Sacramentally present” = real presence under the accidents of bread and wine
  • The Catechism teaches that the epiclesis invokes the Holy Spirit so that the gifts “may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
  • “Sacramentally present” means that Christ is truly present by the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Christ, not that He is merely symbolically present. This is the language of the real presence: the substance of bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood while the outward appearances (accidents) remain.

Thus the phrase does not deny the ontological change of substance; it simply describes the result of that change – the presence of Christ as a sacrament.

  1. Transubstantiation is the metaphysical explanation of that sacramental presence
  • The Council of Trent defined the Eucharist as “a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ… called transubstantiation”11.
  • The Catechism’s wording in 1353 is a pastoral formulation of the same truth: the Holy Spirit, invoked in the epiclesis, makes Christ’s Body and Blood present under the species5.

So “sacramentally present” is the effect (real presence) while transubstantiation is the cause (the change of substance).

  1. The one sacrifice of the Cross made present in the Eucharist
  • “His sacrifice offered on the cross once for all” emphasizes that the Eucharist is not a new sacrifice but a memorial (anamnesis) that makes the one eternal sacrifice present.
  • Pope Francis explains that the Eucharistic Prayer “offers to the Father the sacrifice which reconciles heaven and earth… by the power of the Holy Spirit, to become ‘one body, one spirit in Christ.”

Therefore the wording does not conflict with the doctrine that Christ’s sacrifice is singular; it affirms that the Eucharist re‑presents that unique sacrifice.

  1. The role of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis)
  • The epiclesis “asks the Father to send down the Holy Spirit … that the gifts may become the Body and Blood of Christ.”
  • This prayer is the means by which the change (transubstantiation) is effected, confirming that the presence of Christ is brought about sacramentally through the Spirit.

Thus the “sacramental” language points to the action of the Holy Spirit, which the Church teaches is essential to the Eucharist’s reality.

  1. Harmony of the formulations
Catechism (1353) Transubstantiation (Council of Trent) Explanation
“make sacramentally present …” “change of the whole substance … called transubstantiation” The former describes the effect (real presence under the species); the latter explains the ontological mechanism.
“his sacrifice … once for all” “the one sacrifice of Christ is re‑presented” Both affirm the uniqueness of the Cross‑sacrifice; the Eucharist makes it present, not anew.
  1. Summary
  • “Sacramentally present” expresses the real presence of Christ under the accidents of bread and wine, achieved through the epiclesis and the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Transubstantiation is the theological term that explains how that presence occurs: the substance changes while the accidents remain.
  • The phrase “his sacrifice … once for all” underscores that the Eucharist re‑presents the single, eternal sacrifice of the Cross, not that it adds a new one.

Consequently, there is no contradiction: the Catechism’s pastoral language and the doctrinal definition of transubstantiation are two complementary ways of articulating the same mystery of the Eucharist.

Some references for further reading.

Sacramentum Caritatis

General Audience of 7 March 2018

The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another 101

The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another 89