Bread -- Big B or Little b? [The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist]

Catholic Men's Quarterly ^ | July 30, 2007 | Brent T. Zeringue

[Antoninus]

Six hundred boys were present one morning at the oratory for Mass with Don Bosco. Since the ciborium in the tabernacle only had about 20 hosts, the sexton prepared another ciborium for consecration. But at the last moment he forgot it in the sacristy. At communion time, Don Bosco uncovered the ciborium from the tabernacle and a look of distress came over his face. The altar boys observed that he lifted his eyes to heaven, quietly prayed, and then advanced to give communion. One row after another of boys came forth and at the end all were able to receive with as many hosts left over as when he had started. The news of the multiplication of the Bread of Life spread and the boys crowded around him after Mass: “Miracle! Miracle! Don Bosco is a saint!” Don Bosco said in all humility, “Are you sure?” Then he added, “When you think of it, boys, isn’t the Eucharist always a miracle?”

Always a miracle. Don Bosco said a boy was ready for his First Communion if he understood the difference between bread with a little “b” and Bread with a big “B”.

At 2 AM, in the wee hours of the night, with our tired bodies, we are in the presence of Bread with a big “B”. We call this special time Yawns for Christ. But why are we here, yawning for Christ? Without trumpets blaring, the King visits anyway. No red carpets are unrolled, but the entire empire is in the monstrance nonetheless. If God wrote on the clouds tomorrow that He would be making a visit to planet earth in a week, billions of people would spend every dollar they owned to make way to the site of His appearance. They would pay a fortune for the miracle. And yet, we ignore the simple privilege of what is available every day to any Catholic in the world. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Tonight we are in the presence of the God who made the sun...the sun on which every second 5 million tons of hydrogen fuse into helium. Camouflaged as bread, we have before us the God who made our sun as only one of the 100 billion stars in our Galaxy; the God who made our Galaxy so big that the sun takes 200 million years to go around it one time; the God who took our Galaxy and placed it in a universe with millions of other known galaxies and probably billions yet unknown. But this God comes to us not as a supernova in the evening sky or a king in the grandest palace, but as a poor Carpenter, disguised tonight, to paraphrase Mother Teresa, in the distressing disguise of Bread. Every star in this vast universe finds its origin tonight in this Monstrance. We are sitting in the presence of the architect of our identity. This is the best seat in the universe tonight. Let’s take out the telescope of human reason and do a little exploring.

What concerns our separated brothers, and too many Catholics, is that they can not see Christ in the Eucharist. Of course, neither can they see the thoughts that flow in their heads or the love that flows in their hearts, but this does not cause them to stop thinking or loving. God seems to them to be an elusive black hole, concealing His identity in the Eucharist. But if He did otherwise, would they really rush to the table? Since 700 A.D. He has appeared on the altar at Lanciano as flesh and blood – type AB to be exact -- and still they abstain. It is as much mercy as mystery that He conceals His identity in bread. I, for one, am quite content to consume an ordinary Host rather than the Host of Lanciano. What we have here in the miracle of the altar is an opportunity to partake in microscopic sanctification. Not microscopic in that if we had more powerful lenses we could discover Him; rather, microscopic in the sense that what appears to our senses as ordinary bread and wine conceals a hidden treasure of graces. The microscopic sanctification offered by the Eucharist should have us lined up every day for the Food that can transform us from the inside so that we can go forth to the outside, doing the will of God, bringing macroscopic sanctification to the whole world.

Article continued at: http://www.houseonthemoor.com/Extra/07-30-2007.html

[Antoninus]

A good article. It's quite long, so I've only posted part of it here.

[Antoninus]

Ping!

[bert]

I thought the issue was decided in about 1540.

[GoLightly]

With all due respect, our Protestant brothers are all dressed up with nothing to eat.

All due respect? Discounting my beliefs are hardly a sign of respect.

For there to be true community, true brotherhood, there must be common blood.

So why have Catholics downplayed the blood of Christ? It's been awhile since I've been to a Catholic Mass & I've heard they've changed the practice where only the Priest partakes of the wine/blood, but I think the official teaching is that the Eucharist is "bloodless" perpetual sacrifice.

Roman Catholics likewise consume unleavened, consecrated Bread.

The bread used by the Eastern & Oriental Orthodox Churches has leavening. I've read that the Norman's made a real issue about it, so have to think the use of unleavened bread isn't an ancient requirement.

[Larry Lucido]

Christ is Really Present at my evangelical church. With a capital R and P. You know, “two or three gathered in My Name, there I am.”

[Nihil Obstat]

First Friday bump - thanks for posting.

[RobbyS]

Christ is present in your soul if you are in a state of grace. But the Eucharistic presence is something special.

[Salvation]

Always a capital B in my book, but it stands for "Body of Christ"!!

The Eucharist: The Sacred Adventure of Life

EUCHARIST: HOLY MEAL

Early Christians on the Holy Eucharist

Holy Father stresses Need of Devotion to Holy Eucharist outside of Mass: Pope Paul VI

The Fourth Cup: The Sacrament of the Eucharist [Holy Thursday] [Passover]

The Holy Face of Jesus Christ as appeared on the Holy Eucharist

The Reverence due to the Holy Eucharist

New rules on the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday

Devotion to the Holy Eucharist Advances Devotion to Jesus' Person

Vatican: Matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist (April 23, 2004)

CATHOLICS AND BAPTISTS WITNESSED UNUSUAL IMAGES IN BLESSED SACRAMENT

The Discipline of the Eucharist Holy See Releases Redemptionis Sacramentum...

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

THE HOLY EUCHARIST: NOURISHMENT TO FINISH OUR COURSE

LITANY OF REPARATION TO OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

The Disposition of Priests [Valid Mass, Valid Holy Eucharist?]

Grace of the Eucharist is secret to holy priests, says Pope

Area worshipers march to celebrate Holy Eucharist

Custody of Holy Land Concludes Year of Eucharist - In Capernaum, Site of a Key Discourse

Gift Of Life, Gift Eternal: The Most Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

THE HOLY EUCHARIST IS THE WHOLE CHRIST

The Catholic Doctrine of the Real PresenceCatholic Caucus)

This is My Body, This is My Blood

Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament

A series of reflections from St. Peter Julian Eymard Blessed Sacrament(Catholic Caucus)

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Discounting my beliefs are hardly a sign of respect.

It would be disingenuous on our part to accept that which lacks the fullness of truth.

So why have Catholics downplayed the blood of Christ?

We don't and never have. The Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ are fully present in both species.

1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.183 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."184

1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. the sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."185 In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."186

1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:

[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.187

1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner."188

It's been awhile since I've been to a Catholic Mass

While there it sounds as if you weren't paying attention during the Eucharistic Prayer.

... so have to think the use of unleavened bread isn't an ancient requirement.

You think incorrectly. Unleavened bread was used at the Last Supper.

[Salvation]

I don't think we downplay the Precious Blood

The Traditional Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Catholic Caucus)

Devotion to the Precious Blood

DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And More on the Precious Blood

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST

FORMER PENTECOSTAL RELATES MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

St.Gaspar:Founder of the Society of the Precious Blood[AKA The Hammer of Freemasons]

FORMER PENTECOSTAL RELATES MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

[Salvation]

Did you see this that got posted on the Daily Mass Readings every day in July??

 

 

 Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

 

July Devotion: The Precious Blood

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. Like the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, His Precious Blood deserves special honor because of its close relation to the Sacred Passion. That honor was given to it from the beginning by the Apostles who praised its redeeming power. (Rom. 5:9 "we are justified by His blood"; Heb. 13:12 "and so Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people by His blood, suffered outside the gate"; 1 John 1:7 "and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.")

In recent times the devotion has been encouraged by Blessed Gaspar Buffalo, founder of the Congregation of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. When Pope Pius IX was in exile from Rome in 1849, he had as his companion Don Giovanni Merlini, the third general of that Congregation. This saintly priest suggested to the pope that he make a vow to give the feast of the Precious Blood to the entire church, if he should regain the papal territory. Without binding himself by the vow, the pope immediately extended the feast to the whole Church. On the old calendar it was celebrated on July 1, but Catholics may still continue this tradition by increasing their devotion to the most precious Blood throughout the entire month of July.

See this article from the Catholic Culture library, Apostle of Devotion to His Most Precious Blood: St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Listen to the Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus in RealAudio
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Jesus, hear us. God, the Father of Heaven, God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, God, the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God,  Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness. Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, Blood of Christ, victor over demons, Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, You have redeemed us, O Lord, in your Blood.	Lord, have mercy Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy Jesus, graciously hear us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Save us. Spare us, O Lord Graciously hear us, O Lord. have mercy on us. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.
Let us pray, ---  Almighty and eternal God, you have appointed your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be appeased by his Blood. Grant we beg of you, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation, and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life, so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The Traditional Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Catholic Caucus)

Devotion to the Precious Blood

DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And More on the Precious Blood

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

St.Gaspar:Founder of the Society of the Precious Blood[AKA The Hammer of Freemasons]

[GoLightly]

It would be disingenuous on our part to accept that which lacks the fullness of truth.

From my POV, your "truth" is a lie.

In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.

Unbloody blood?

While there it sounds as if you weren't paying attention during the Eucharistic Prayer.

I must have been too busy wondering where the little glasses were & why the priest drank all of the wine himself, while y'all were only given bread. (I think that's been changed since I've been to a Catholic Mass.)

You think incorrectly. Unleavened bread was used at the Last Supper.

I think the Orthodox & Oriental Churches disagree.

[GoLightly]

A month long devotion isn’t the same thing as everyone in communion partaking of the body & blood every single time that the Eucharist is offered.

[Mad Dawg]

Good answer!

I think the (or 'an') interesting question is what does "Really" mean. It doesn't mean "sho' 'nuff". Etymologically I'd guess it means "of or pertaining to a thing" (res + -al) so I figure the "Real Presence in the Sacrament" means that at least that the presence of Christ is localisable so that you can say,"There He is," in a meaningful way.

Then I, retorting, ask, "Where is He not?"

[Mad Dawg]

IN favor of your argument is the use of αρτοσ rather than αζυμοσ in relevant texts. Against it is that the Last Supper is understood to have been a Passover meal.

Is the use of leavened bread in the East because they think the bread used at the Institution was leavened or for some other reason?

Aquinas (PLEASE don't make me look it up!) says that a valid Eucharist can be celebrated with leavened bread, but it would by naughty for a Catholic to do so, while not naughty for a Greek, because of the disciplines of their respective communions.

[Mad Dawg]

A month long devotion isn’t the same thing as everyone in communion partaking of the body & blood every single time that the Eucharist is offered.

Clearly not. Is anybody saying it is?

What do you think about partaking when one is in a state of severe sin (or a severe state of sin)?

Serious question. It's too early to fight.

I know I owe you a letter.

[Mad Dawg]

I must have been too busy wondering where the little glasses were

LOL

See, cause we're Cat'lick they'd have to be at least gold plate, and they couldn't be throw-away so the priest would have to wash each one. It just wouldn't work. So in our church, the shot-glasses are all in the rectory bar where they belong.

[ex-snook]

Because Jesus said so. [John 6]

51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. 52 The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when the heard this , said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble? 62 What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, are are life.

[GoLightly]

IN favor of your argument is the use of αρτοσ rather than αζυμοσ in relevant texts.

My church uses unleavened bread, so if "my argument" is in favor of leavened, I'd be at odds with my own church. I wondered when & where the difference came about. Mind you though, I am troubled by the Normans trying to enforce their standard on all others. Things that generate a blood trail give me pause.

Against it is that the Last Supper is understood to have been a Passover meal.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Is the use of leavened bread in the East because they think the bread used at the Institution was leavened or for some other reason?

One of the Oriental churches claim their leavening was passed down from one of the Apostles. It was distributed to all of the members of the church, so they were able to fulfill one of their responsibilities, bring the bread & wine to church for the communion. The cynic in me would like to test the DNA of the leavening in various locations.

For what it's worth, (wiki was my source here) "Those who use leavened bread see the leaven as a symbol of resurrection and new life, and concomitantly associate its lack with mourning."

Aquinas (PLEASE don't make me look it up!) says that a valid Eucharist can be celebrated with leavened bread, but it would by naughty for a Catholic to do so, while not naughty for a Greek, because of the disciplines of their respective communions.

Naughty? lol

[FourtySeven]

A month long devotion isn’t the same thing as everyone in communion partaking of the body & blood every single time that the Eucharist is offered.

It's ironic you phrase the question this way, since this is exactly what we believe: We believe that everytime we partake of the Eucharist, in the form of bread, that we actually receive both the Body and the Blood. So we actually do receive both, even if we only receive the consecrated Host.

As for your question regarding unleavened/leavened bread used in the consecration, it's an interesting one, one I recently heard myself. I don't know the answer although I think Mad Dawg may be onto something. Perhaps our Orthodox bretheren could shed some light on it though.