Catholic Bible 101
Answering the Question "Where is it in the Bible?"
The Eucharist
What is the Eucharist, anyway? Well, Eucharist is a Greek word that means “Thanksgiving”. It refers to the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus truly present in Holy Communion. What was once an ordinary piece of bread and an ordinary cup of wine, has now been changed (transubstantiated) into Jesus. In other words, just like Jesus changed the substance of water into wine at
So what are some of the biblical references to this? Well, starting in Genesis 14:18, Melchizidek, the High Priest, offers bread and wine as sacrifice. The Bible says in Hebrews 7:17 that Jesus is priest forever, in the line of Melchizidek. Melchizidek is a biblical type (foreshadowing) of Jesus. A biblical type is an OT person or event that prefigures a person or event in the New Testament. Jesus offered Himself at the Last Supper in the form of bread and wine, so He is both priest and victim.
Another Old Testament type is the Passover. In Exodus 12:7-8, God told Moses to mark the doors of the Jewish homes with the blood of the slain lamb, using a hyssop branch, and to eat the lamb, with bitter herbs, as well, so that they and their children could live, before finally leaving
Another prefigurement of the Eucharist in the Old Testament is the manna from Heaven. In Exodus 16:4ff, God feeds the Israelites struggling in the desert with bread from Heaven. The Israelites were forbidden from storing more than one day’s supply of the manna (except for the day before the Sabbath), so that they would learn to trust in God’s providence. Just so, Jesus feeds us with the bread of heaven, His body and Blood, while we struggle in our lives, which can certainly resemble wandering in a desert at times. When we say the “Our Father” prayer – “Give us this day our daily bread”- we are asking God to give us the Eucharist always.
In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Jesus is described as “the new Adam”, meaning that through Adam sin entered the world, and through Jesus salvation entered the world. However, there is more to it than that. Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and died as a result. Conversely, Jesus was hanged on a tree (Acts 10:39); He commanded us to eat of the fruit of this tree (his Eucharistic flesh) at the Last Supper, so that we will live forever and never die.
In the New Testament, there are also several types of the Eucharist. At the wedding feast at
Another example is the multiplication of the loaves, in John 6:11, where 5000 people were fed with only 5 barley loaves. Just as thousands were filled with just five loaves, Jesus feeds millions of believers throughout the centuries with his Eucharistic flesh.
At the Last Supper, in Matthew 26, Jesus held up the bread and said – “This IS my Body”. Notice He didn’t say –“This represents my Body”, or “This is a symbol of my Body”. Although curiously questioned by a former President of the
Matthew 26:26-28: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus goes to great lengths to tell his believers about the Eucharist. He mentions both the manna in the desert and the multiplication of the loaves as bread that only provided for temporal needs. He then explained that His body and blood was "real food", & would give us eternal life, not just fill our stomachs. The Jews who heard him said that it was a “hard saying”, and walked away. Why would they walk away and leave someone who they had seen raise the dead, multiply the loaves, cure the sick, walk on water, etc., if “eating his body” and “drinking his blood” was only a symbolic statement? They understood his meaning perfectly, that it was a literal statement, and not symbolic. To literally “eat someone’s flesh” and to “drink someone’s blood” was a pejorative term in those days, as seen in Isaiah 9:20, Jeremiah 46:10, and Deuteronomy 32:42.
Jesus couldn’t have been more outspoken about the reality of the Eucharist being His actual body and blood. The key scriptures are as follows:
John 6: 30-66: So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I AM the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I AM the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I AM the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
An important note is that "I AM" is the name of God, as told to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Here Jesus uses the name of God to say that "I AM (GOD is) the bread of life." Also notice above that if you eat Jesus' flesh and drink Jesus' blood, you abide in Him, and He in you. Why is this important? Because of
John 15:4-7: Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
Some people take John 6:63 as the scripture that negates everything that Jesus just said, because it says “the flesh is of no avail”. But scripture can’t contradict scripture, no matter how hard it is twisted out of context. John 6:63 talks about “the” flesh, or human flesh in general. In the rest of John 6, Jesus always refers to the necessity of eating “my” flesh, which is quite a distinction. To say that the real meaning of the above scriptures is that "Jesus flesh is useless", as some protestants do, is heresy. We are saved by the flesh of Christ sacrificed on the cross. And the rest of John 6:63 talks about his words being spirit and life. “Spirit” is not symbolic, as in “The Father, Son, and Holy “Symbolic”. The Spirit is just as real as He can be. In other parables that Jesus told, when there was a question as to the meaning of it, he very carefully explained it, as is the case of the sower and the seed (Luke 8:11). However, here, he explains nothing; he just turns to his twelve apostles and asks if they also want to leave him. Why? Because He meant it literally, not figuratively. There really was nothing to explain!
In 1 Corinthians 10:16-21, Paul says the following:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Here Paul talks about participating in the body and blood of Christ by receiving Holy Communion. This brings up an important point. The sacrifice of the Mass is not another sacrifice of Jesus; it is the same one repeated over and over again, through space and time. The key word is SACRIFICE, as in "This is my body...which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Verse 18 above mentions the Jews eating the sacrifice of the altar being partners. Of course, the old animal sacrifices of the altar have now been replaced by the one pure sacrifice of the altar, Jesus Christ, as foretold in Malachi 1:11. So many people just think of Communion as a memorial only, but it is much more than just a memorial. It is the unbloody sacrifice of
Additionally, in verse 21 above, Paul talks about not partaking of the table of demons AND the table of the Lord. That is why the Church says that one must go to confession first and be absolved of any mortal sins before receiving Holy Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
How can one profane the body and the blood of the Lord if the Eucharist is only a symbol? People can get sick and die if they do not discern the body of the Lord when they consume the Eucharist. They actually eat and drink judgment upon themselves. How can this be if it is only a symbol? The Eucharist is 5 parts. It is a
- memorial
- sacrificial
- sin-forgiving
- thanksgiving
- meal
The effects of taking Holy Communion are as follows:
1. it unites us most intimately with Christ;
2. it increases sanctifying grace in us;
3. it weakens our evil inclinations;
4. it strengthens us in the practice of all virtues;
5. it cleanses us from venial sins;
6. it preserves us from mortal sins;
7. it is a pledge of eternal life.
The bottom line is that Jesus Himself commanded us to eat His body and to drink His blood, so that we can have eternal life. By ignoring this command of Jesus, or by downplaying its significance, we are putting our very souls at risk, not to mention the fate of the entire world. The devil hates the Eucharist, and is trying to desecrate it and degrade it every chance he gets. By adoring the Eucharist, and by consuming the Eucharist, we are following God’s instructions and helping Jesus to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Remember - The Bible says that the devil goes around like a roaring lion trying to devour us. Evidently the devil wants us damned, so we can be his food, and spend our eternity in hell with him. Jesus, on the other hand, wants to be our food, so we can be blessed and attain eternal life with Him in Heaven.
Remember, a prayer said from the heart immediately after receiving Holy Communion is very powerful, because you and Jesus are one flesh at that time, so please don't take the time lightly after you receive Jesus in the Eucharist. And always remember to first seek the love of Christ, before asking for something. 
