Please note, the belief in the Real Presence was recorded as early as 120 AD. It is worth noting, as the piece later explains, how belief in the Real Presence was taken for granted, and wasn’t until about 1000 that it was actually suggested it was anything but.
Here’s a link to the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association. It provides documentation showing what early Christians believed.
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/father/a5.html
The person who researched these documents wrote: “The Early Christians actually took the Real Presence for granted. It doesn’t even seem as if there was much debate. I could not find anyone who denied the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament before the year 500 A.D.”
So the question is, where did they get the idea that Jesus was physically present in the bread and wine? Was it taught by the Apostles? Did the first Christians after the Apostles make it up? If so, why would they?
The first place to look is the Bible. We have gone over many times what was said in John 6 and the Last Supper narratives, so let’s look at what happened after the Resurrection.
On the very evening of His Resurrection, Jesus made Himself known to two disciples in Emmaus. When they were at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave to them. With that, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. They at once set out to Jerusalem where they found gathered the eleven and those with them, and recounted what had happened to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:13-35
After three thousand were added when Peter spoke at Pentecost, they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Acts 2:42
Luke tells us that it was on the first day of the week when they gathered to break bread that Eutychus fell out of a third story window. After Paul went down, threw himself upon Eutychus, and said as he embraced him, “Don’t be alarmed; there is life in him.,†he returned upstairs, broke the bread, and ate. Acts 20:7-12
When two hundred seventy-six were on a ship in a storm, Paul took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. When day came, they all reached shore safely. Acts 27:35-44
And, finally, Paul tells the Corinthians: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 11:27
What was the message Jesus was given us by making Himself known in the breaking of bread? What were the apostles teaching them when they were devoted to the breaking of the bread? When Paul broke bread, was it solely for physical nourishment? Given his admonishment of the Corinthians, it appears that it was more than that to him.
We can believe what we want, but based on Holy Scripture, it cannot be said with absolute certitude that the physical presence was not taught by the Apostles or that it was never practiced in Scripture. Scripture is silent on what was taught or what was practiced. The writings of the first Christians, though, provide strong evidence that the physical presence is what was taught by the Apostles and was practiced in Scripture.
“We can believe what we want, but based on Holy Scripture, it cannot be said with absolute certitude that the physical presence was not taught by the Apostles or that it was never practiced in Scripture. Scripture is silent on what was taught or what was practiced.”
Agreed. If Scripture says nothing, commands nothing, gives no example of a single Apostle or leader doing the thing, it is made up later.
“The person who researched these documents wrote: “The Early Christians actually took the Real Presence for granted. It doesn’t even seem as if there was much debate. I could not find anyone who denied the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament before the year 500 A.D.â€
People never oppose that which wasn’t there.