This is the fourth of five Sundays dedicated to Chapter 6 of St John’s Gospel, known as the “Bread of Life Discourse”, and we’ve been thinking about what the Holy Eucharist really is. The Church has always taught that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of JESUS Christ, and the term we use for this is “Transubstantiation”. This means at the Consecration, the substance of the bread is changed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, and that what remains is only the appearance of bread. The same with the consecrated wine: the appearance of wine remains, but the substance is changed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) says that the priest, by virtue of the power of olyHoly Orders commands the Sacraments to occur. He doesn’t ask God. So when the priest pronounces the words of Consecration over the bread and wine: “This is My Body … This is the Chalice of My Blood”, He is commanding the bread and wine to turn into Christ Who is God. And because Christ is now risen from the dead and His Body is glorified in heaven, there can be no real separation of His Body and Blood. That happened once on Calvary. Therefore, any time the Body of Christ is present, so is His Blood, Soul and Divinity. And any time the Blood of Christ is present, so is His Body, Soul and Divinity. This is the doctrine of concomitance. So if you receive the Host, you receive the Blood too. People sometimes think if they don’t receive from the Chalice, they’re not receiving Christ’s Blood. This is false. It is contained in the Host.

Now if the Holy Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, we must receive It worthily. Firstly, this means we must believe in Christ’s true Presence in the Eucharist. It is not a symbol. If we approach the altar and receive as if we were only receiving a piece of bread, this would be to dishonour Christ because He said, “for My Flesh is real food and My Blood is real drink” (John 6:55).

Secondly we must be in a state of grace. As St Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the Body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (11:29). If you’re not in a state of grace, that is, if you have any un-confessed and un-absolved mortal sins on your soul, you are not worthy to receive Holy Communion, and if you do so, it is sacrilegious. The Sacrament of Penance is there to bring us back into right “communion” with God. Mortal sin destroys our relationship with God and a good Confession restores us to a right relationship with Him, enabling us once again to receive Him worthily.

Thirdly, we must approach Him with reverence, adoration and love. St Peter Julian Eymard (1811- 68) said we need to exhibit a profound exterior bodily respect for Our Lord JESUS Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Do we approach the communion rail as if we’re coming to the Lord and King of the universe? The Scriptures tell us that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow (Philippians 2:10). If at His name every knee should bow, then how much more should we kneel before Christ Himself present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC