2. How does the theory of transubstantiation help in understanding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist?

The theory of transubstantiation helps in understanding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist by explaining the words of the Last Supper at which Christ declared the bread and wine to be His body and blood. This great mystery was no less incomprehensible to the disciples than it has been to the doctors of the Church. Nonetheless, Aquinas states that transubstantiation is a mystery, one that defies imagination, one inconceivable to reason alone, one not to be found at all in the order of nature Yet, it is the true presence of Christ, not just a communion in mind or spirit, for it is the person of the Word Incarnate, the whole Christ, who is present and gives himself in communion.[footnoteRef:2] This presence, in other words, cannot be understand by reason alone: it can only be accepted on faith, and God demands that faith from His children. [2: David N. Power, Thomas Aquinas On the Eucharist: Focal Point of Medieval Thought, 223.]

Still, the Church has sought to help Her children draw nearer to this mystery so as to appreciate it all the more. For instance, at the Council of Trent in the 16th century, when Protestants were denying the Real Presence all over Europe as they broke with the centuries of teachings of the Church, the Church sought to reaffirm this sacred mystery and explain it in as rational of terms as possible. Thus, Schillebeecx writes that at Trent the Church had to show that in such a way that after the consecration, the reality present is no longer ordinary or natural bread and wine, but our Lord himself in the presence of bread and wine which has become sacramental.[footnoteRef:3] However, Schillebeecx goes on to say that Christ is present in the liturgy as well.[footnoteRef:4] [3: Edward Schillebeeckx, Transubstantiation, Transfinalization, Transfiguration, in Living Bread, Saving Cup: Readings on the Eucharist (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1987), 183.] [4: Ibid, 188.]

The Real Presence should be a matter of great concern for Catholics, since Christ Himself declared it to be so. Since the Protestant Reformation, however, the Real Presence has been denied with more and more frequency; today, there are Catholics who doubt the Real Presence. Perhaps it does not help that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been changed since the Second Vatican Council to be less focused on the Eucharist and more focused on the people in the congregation, what with the priest now facing the people in the Ordinary form instead of facing the tabernacle and the crucifix above the old altar. There are lay people who distribute Holy Communion, even though their hands have not been blessed as the priests havebut because the Church has granted an indult for this to happen due to shortage of priests the laity see little problem with it. But does this not work to undermine faith in the Real Presence when the Eucharist is handled with such little devotion, reverence, and veneration? People in the congregation may go up to receive Holy Communionnot kneeling and on the tonguebut standing and in the hand, as though their hands, too, were blessed. Such reception of the Sacrament would have been viewed as sacrilegious in the Age of Faith; today, when faith seems to be needed most of all, the object of faiththe Eucharistis treated in a way that does not seem to inspire faith. It is no surprise then that...…in a communion of faith with the mystery by which we had been saved and by which we were destined to the fullness of life in glory.[footnoteRef:10] [10: Power, 240.]

The Eucharist is brought to us by the minister, who has been given the special ability to bring God to us through the Eucharist. But it is Jesus offering Himself to us through the minister, as the Council of Trent points out: the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross.[footnoteRef:11] The minister, the assembly, the liturgy service, and the Word, are all there to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass. [11: Council of Trent, Session XXII, Doctrine on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, c. 2.]

The liturgy is the ordering of the celebration; the feast is Christ Himself; the guests are the assembly; the host is the minister; the solemn words of praise are those of God, the Word. The mystery of this divine banquet is one that can only be penetrated through humble acceptance of the mystery that Jesus Himself shared with His disciples at the Last Supper. He ordered in the manner that He desired, for our help, as long as we are able to gather with others in the Church to receive from the minister the remedy of soul that we need to be children of God.

Thus, the Church teaches that Jesus is present in the liturgy, and so this teaching should help us to contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist more fully, as it is His will that we should receive Him from His ministers. Yet to be honored with this great invitation we must also humble ourselves. The proud do not dare to attend because they dislike the mystery; they disdain the notion that they…