The Eucharist is a Miracle but Much More

Every third year, during the summer, the cycle of liturgical readings presents us with the Bread of Life Discourse from Chapter 6 of John’s gospel so that we can meditate on the central mystery of our faith. The Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, His very divine Presence among us.

Those words are easy to say, but it’s easy to miss their true meaning: God Himself comes to us at the moment of consecration. The bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ – invisibly as it were. The theological term for that transformation is Transubstantiation, and it is the essence of our sacramental belief. It is a miracle of grace, but in fact, it is much more. 

A fascinating book from the ’50s called Understanding Miracles (by Zsolt Aradi, republished in 2011 by Sophia Institute Press), claimed that the Eucharist does not fit the definition of a miracle as such. Miracles touch our sensory experience; they are recognizable by some external and inexplicable change.

While the Eucharist is certainly miraculous, it is better to call it a profound mystery. That is, it offers no external evidence of change after the moment of consecration. The only sensory experience one may have of it is the taste of the elements of bread and wine, but these have not changed from before the moment of consecration. They are not of the substance of the mystery.

This dynamism of inner change (substance) without an outer change is the essential point of the Eucharistic mystery: it requires an act of faith to “see” what has happened. 

In approaching this mystery, we are as blind as the first followers of Jesus. They were looking for external signs as proof of Jesus’ teaching. They wanted to place faith in something tangible, doable, actionable. Their responses to Jesus’ discourse reflect this desire to grab hold of the mystery: 

“What can we do to accomplish the works of God” (Jn 6:28);

“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?” (v. 30).

They wanted evidence of His claims to be the Bread of Life. What they got instead was an exhortation to believe. 

“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,” Jesus told them (v. 27); and then,

“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent” (v. 29).

This is perhaps why the Eucharist has always been a point of contention, historically, even among some who profess Christian belief. It forms a dividing line between faith and sight. We must believe – beyond belief – that the bread and wine we see is actually and truly the God we cannot see. 

Our belief is an act of pure faith. It is different from the faith we put in miracles, which are expressions of divine power. We can see the changes they make in the world. 

But the Eucharist mystery exhibits no external change whatsoever. It is an expression of the divine essence. We must simply believe. 

The astounding thing is that God invites us into this mystery. St. Maximilian Kolbe knew how great a gift that is, when he said that "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

Your friend in Christ,

Thomas McKenna

http://www.catholicaction.org/