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“He told them to eat the whole thing, or else their first born were to be taken...”

So is each wafer the whole Christ? Is Jesus wholly consumed by each participant at every communion?

And when God says he would gather us under his wings, does it mean God is a celestial chicken?

How far do you wish to take things? In Exodus, it is written, “5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

7”Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it...10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.

So, should you spread the wine on the top of the door? Is Communion only to be done once a year, on the 14th day, at twilight? Must we gobble the Eucharist, while wearing sandals and with a staff in our hand?

We all agree that Jesus is the Lamb. But to assume that means the wafer becomes the actual flesh of Jesus is a stretch, to say the least. And to cite references to scripture, and then summarize with meanings totally foreign to the text, is dishonest.

In reference to your questions -- "So is each wafer the whole Christ? Is Jesus wholly consumed by each participant at every communion" -- the answer is yes. Does the Eucharist taste like beef? No. And I think the best clarification on these kinds of issues can be found in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas.

A few passages from St. Thomas’s greatest work, the Summa Theologiae, Part III

Q. 74, Art 1. “Bread and wine are the proper matter of this sacrament. And the reasonableness of this is seen, first, in the use of this sacrament, which is eating: for, as water is used in the sacrament of Baptism for the purpose of spiritual cleansing, since bodily cleansing is commonly done with water; so bread and wine, wherewith men are commonly fed, are employed in this sacrament for the use of spiritual eating.”

Q. 75, Art 2, ad 3. “Christ’s body is not in this sacrament in the same way as a body is in a place, which by its dimensions is commensurate with the place; but in a special manner which is proper to this sacrament. Hence we say that Christ’s body is upon many altars, not as in different places, but sacramentally: and thereby we do not understand that Christ is there only as in a sign, although a sacrament is a kind of sign; but that Christ’s body is here after a fashion proper to this sacrament.”

Q. 75, Art. 4. “Yet this change is not like natural changes, but is entirely supernatural, and effected by God’s power alone. . . . Hence this is not a formal, but a substantial conversion: nor is it a kind of natural movement: but, with a name of its own, it can be called transubstantiation.”

Q. 75, Art. 5. “It is evident to sense that all the accidents of the bread and wine remain after the consecration. And this is reasonably done by Divine providence. First of all, because it is not customary, but horrible, for men to eat human flesh, and to drink blood. And therefore Christ’s flesh and blood are set before us to be partaken of under the species of those things which are the more commonly used by men, namely, bread and wine.”

Q. 76, Art. 1. (Whether the Whole Christ is Contained under This Sacrament?) Objection #2 says “Only the flesh and blood of Christ are contained in this sacrament. But there are many other parts of Christ’s body, for instance, the nerves, bones, and such like.” Thomas’ response: “It is absolutely necessary to confess according to Catholic faith that the entire Christ is in this sacrament.”