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From: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Idolatry and the Eucharist, Incompatible

[16] 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?
[17] Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all par-
take of the one bread.

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Commentary:

14-22. After illustrating the general principles by reference to what himself does
and the lessons of the history of Israel (cf. note on chaps. 8-10), St Paul returns
to the subject of food sacrificed to idols. Christians may not attend the banquets
which take place at pagan shrines, for that would amount to idolatry. By eating
the meat of animals offered to Yahweh, Jews participated in the sacrifice and
worship in his honor; and, by receiving the body and blood of the Lord, Christians
unite themselves to Christ; similarly, those who take part in idolatrous banquets
are associating themselves not with false gods — which have no existence — but
with demons. In the Old Testament it is pointed out that things sacrificed to idols
are in fact being offered to demons, who enemies of the worship of God (cf. Deut
32:17; Ps 106: 36-38; Bar 4:7).

St Paul’s words confirm basic truths of faith connected with the sublime mystery
of the Eucharist—its sacrificial character, adverted to here by drawing a parallel
between it and pagan sacrifices (cf. v. 21; Council of Trent, “De SS. Missae Sac-
rificio”, chap. 1), and the real presence of Christ, as can be seen by the reference
to the body and blood of Christ (v. 16). The Church’s faith has always maintained
that the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the renewal of the divine sacrifice of Calvary;
in every Mass Christ once again offers God the Father His body and blood, as a
sacrifice for all men, with the difference that what was offered on the cross in a
bloody manner is offered on the altar in an unbloody manner. “In the divine sac-
rifice that is offered in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a
bloody manner on the altar of the cross is present and is offered in an unbloody
manner (cf. Heb 9: 27). [...] For it is one and the same victim — He who now
makes the offering through the ministry of priests and He who then offered Him-
self on the cross; the only difference is in the manner of the offering” (”De SS.
Missae Sacrificio”, chap. 2). “The Eucharist is above all a sacrifice — the sacri-
fice of Redemption and at the same time the sacrifice of the New Covenant” (Bl.
John Paul II, “Letter To All Bishops”, 24 February 1980). See also the notes on
Mt 26:26-29 and par.

On the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, see the note on 1 Cor 11:27-32.

16-17. The principal effect of the Blessed Eucharist is intimate union with Jesus.
The very name “communion”—taken from this passage of St Paul (cf. “St Pius V
Catechism”, II, 4, 4)—points to becoming one with our Lord by receiving his body
and blood. “What in fact is the bread? The body of Christ. What do they become
who receive Communion? The body of Christ” (Chrysostom, “Hom. on 1 Cor, 24,
ad loc.”).

St Augustine places these words on Jesus’ lips to describe what happens at Ho-
ly Communion: “You will not change me into you as happens with bodily food;
rather, you will be changed into me” (”Confessions”, VII, 10, 16).

Due to this intimate union with Christ, the Eucharist is at one and the same time
the sacrament where the entire Church demonstrates and achieves its unity, and
where a very special kind of solidarity is developed among Christians. That is why
it is called a “symbol of unity” and a “bond of love;” (Council of Trent, “De SS.
Eucharistia”, chap. 8; cf. “Lumen Gentium”, 7; “Unitatis Redintegratio”, 2). The
Fathers of the Church have seen a symbol of this union in the very materials —
bread and wine—used to make the Eucharist. The “St Pius V Catechism” sums
up this as follows: “the body of Christ, which is one, consists of many members
(cf. Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 10:17; 12:12), and of this union nothing is more strikingly
illustrative than the elements of bread and wine; for bread is made from many
grains and wine is pressed from many clusters of grapes. Thus they signify that
we, though many, are most closely bound together by the bond of the divine my-
stery and made, as it were, one body” (II, 4,18).

“We who are many ...”: the literal translation would be “We the many ...”. The
text derives from a Hebrew expression indicating plurality or even totality as dis-
tinct from a single entity or a minority; the RSV catches this idea. The same turn
of phrase is found, for example, in Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; Is 53:11.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.