A response to missionaries recently on campus
Recently, a group of individuals including a woman who understands herself to be a Christian missionary were active on UD’s campus, harassing students with the pretense of decorous religious debate.
In her recent video, this woman sought to undermine the Catholic understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As Aquinas himself did not devote a portion of the Summa expressly to a defense of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, I’ve written the following article, which attempts to gather a bit of Church teaching on the matter in the style of St. Thomas.
Although it certainly falls short in both respects, I hope this might be of some use as a starting point for reflection and further research. Any apparent heresy promoted is my own and entirely accidental, and all deviations from the style of Thomas are resultant of my own limitations.
A QUESTION: SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST
John 6:30-37 says: “So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.’”
Later on in John 6, Jesus says, “‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.’”
Luke 22:19 records, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’”
Preface:The sacraments in the Catholic understanding are efficacious signs of grace through which the presence of Christ is re-presented. In Confession, reception of the Eucharist, Baptism and all of the sacraments of the Church, this representation is not limited to recollection, but is Christ’s real presence.
Christ really moves in the sacraments to unite the members of his body to Himself through objects, gestures and words which compose the physical aspect of the sacrament with and through which an individual receiving the sacrament is incorporated into the salvific works of Christ.
In his wisdom, God formed Man in such a way that his senses inform his intellect, which directs his will. Man, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is a hylomorphic composite of form and matter. The sacraments respond both to the role of the sensible in Man’s understanding and to the composite nature of Man, which is both physical and spiritual.
On the question of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, there appears to be a multitude of implied questions, but three central questions must be addressed: 1) How is the temporality of Christ to be understood? 2) Under whose authority were the sacraments instituted? 3) What is the reception of the Eucharist?
New Version: On the question of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, there appears to be a multitude of implied questions, but two central questions must be addressed 1) That of faith–How is the temporality of Christ to be understood? 2) That of authority– did Christ institute the sacraments?
These questions serve to illustrate a kind of telos of the reception of the Eucharist– John 6:56 “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
- How is the temporality of Christ to be understood?
As the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ is eternal. In the words of the Creed, “He is begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”
In his divine nature, Christ exists outside of time and is co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. God exists in an eternal present– the past, present and future are not experienced in a linear, creaturely way. Christ speaks of himself in the eternal present tense in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”
Through the incarnation, the Word became flesh, Christ entered into time and assumed a human nature in which he experiences temporality linearly. Christ is one divine person with two natures – one eternal and one temporal.
In Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist at the Mass, the language of re-presentation and memorial – “Do this in memory of me” – serve not only to reflect his human nature in the human sense of memorial and representation through recollection, but to exceed that limited definition in accordance with the divine nature of Christ, who exceeds temporal restriction.
In this way, Christ’s sacrifice is really present in the celebration of every Mass through the Eucharist, as His body, blood, soul and divinity are raised at the altar. This is what we term “the real presence of Christ.” In recognizing the real presence of Christ, we take God at His word.
- Did Christ institute the Sacraments?
Luke 22:19 clearly states, “This is my body which will be given up for you” It is not said that the Last Supper and the Eucharist will be a symbol of Christ’s body, but that the Eucharist is Christ’s body itself.
Interestingly, Luke 22:19 seems to highlight the temporality and eternality of Christ, using both present and future tenses: “This is my body. Which will be given up for you.” Because Christ is really present in the Eucharist, it serves to actually confer God’s grace and bring us into a greater fullness of participation in the divine life.
In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1116,, “The sacraments are powers that come forth from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving.” Christ’s establishment of the sacraments can clearly be seen in the Bible. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructs His apostles to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 26:26-28 and Luke 22:19-20 make clear the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and serve as scriptural evidence of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
John 20:22-23 recounts the institution of Confession: “If you forgive anyone’s sins they are forgiven.” The apostles healed the sick, as is seen in Mark 6:13 and James 5:14-15. Jesus affirms the original plan for marriage in Matthew 19:5-6.
As for Confirmation, the sending of the Holy Spirit is promised by Christ in John 14:16–17 and received by the Apostles at Pentecost, who later impart it in Acts 8:14-17.
Christ does not receive his authority from the Bible. Although the Bible is the living word of God, God is in no way limited by that which is contained in the Bible. In fact, it is through sacred tradition, the living transmission of the Apostles’ teaching, that the writings contained in the Bible are themselves transmitted.
So too is it for the sacraments. The Magisterium of the Church did not invent the sacraments– it guards and explains what was already given. The core practices which surround the sacraments and their form exist universally and consistently where they are validly celebrated.