The Holy Eucharist
The Catholic Church has always taught that we receive Jesus in the Eucharist – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - even though some secular polls show that an alarming number of people who identify themselves as “Catholic” don’t actually believe this.
According to the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Eucharist is “the source and summit of our faith.”
In the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:25-71), our Lord emphatically states that unless we eat his flesh and drink his Blood, we have no life within us. He goes on to say “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
It is interesting to note that the usual Greek word used for human eating is “phagon”, however, this is not the word used in these passages. St. John uses the word, “trogon”, which means, to munch or to gnaw - like an animal. Jesus was again using hyperbole (exaggeration) as he often did to drive his point across so that the crowd would understand that he was not speaking metaphorically. He meant what he said.
Later, John 6:66, goes on to say, “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” This marks the only time in Scripture where Jesus’ disciples left him for doctrinal reasons. They simply couldn't’t handle what Jesus was telling them.
The Early Church Fathers were unanimous in their belief in the Holy Eucharist – so much so that they were willing to shed their blood by martyrdom for this belief. The Jewish and Roman leaders of the time accused them of cannibalism for their belief in the Eucharist and many of them suffered horrible deaths because of it.
We must ask ourselves, “Do I believe in the words of Jesus or do fallible human beings know better?”
For more information, please visit:
The Vatican
Catholic.com Forgiveness of Sins
Cathloic.com Who can receive Communion
Catholic.com