Real Presence in Communion – Who’s Right?

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It starts off with this beautiful and almost poetic language about how there is a bread of God that comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world. And so, as a someone who is just being introduced to this concept, you’re thinking, oh OK, he’s warming up for one of those parables or allegories that he likes to tell. Go on then Jesus.

And so he does. He says, “I am this bread of life. If you come to me, you will never go hungry or thirsty.” And then he talks about how he came down from heaven and you need to believe in him to have eternal life.

Ok, so there’s the allegory. Bread brings us life and Jesus is like bread that brings us eternal life.

And then things get a bit weirder. He says that whoever eats this bread will live forever and that this bread is his flesh. At this point, you’re probably thinking, OK, well, we’re still blending a lot of allegorical language here so maybe I’m just confusing the metaphor or something.

But if you’re hoping to hold on to that, Jesus suddenly turns a corner, and just blurts it out, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. My flesh is REAL food and my blood is REAL drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.”

If you’re like most people there, you’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s it for me. You had a good run Jesus. This is a bridge too far. Good luck with the whole feeding yourself to people.”

What’s clear about this passage in the Bible is that Jesus’ language goes from somewhat metaphorical to straight up literal and his audience understood it like that. They got super offended and left because of it and Jesus never stops them to clarify that this wasn’t supposed to be taken like that. He just turns to the few remaining and says, are you gonna go too? Almost as if to say, “‘cause I meant what I said there.”

This is one of those topics that is one of the most contentious among Christian denominations and factions. Some believe Jesus meant what he said and that when the bread and wine are blessed, they are substantially changed into his body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are groups that say Jesus was just giving us a ritual to re-enact as a memorial for his sacrifice and that it only symbolically represents his body and blood.

In considering that, the questions that I think are most relevant to making a conclusion are:

Is there any good reason to think that it’s a symbol? What did the people listening to Jesus himself think it meant? What did the early Church believe? What fits the progressing narrative of salvation in the bible best?

Looking at that first question, the support for the idea that it’s only a symbol seems to be based on the moral objection to cannibalism.

I can sympathize with this a bit, but where I get lost is in the idea that symbolic cannibalism is an acceptable substitute for actual cannibalism.

Regarding the early Church, when we look at the writings of the Church fathers, we find an understanding that tends to line up with a Catholic or Eastern Orthodox understanding. In one of the earliest Christian writings, Justin Martyr, writing to the Roman emperor in about 150 AD, says this:

“Not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."

Lastly, on the question of the what fits the biblical narrative of salvation I think we should look into how this evolved out of a tradition of sacrificing animals, in the Old Testament, for the forgiveness of sins. Obviously, this wasn’t done in a symbolic way. An actual sacrificial death had to pay for life and in the context of the Passover, which is what Jesus and the disciples were celebrating together at the last supper, you had to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and eat it.

If Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist described him, then it would make a lot of sense that his sacrifice would involve eating him as well.
So as I focused my attention on this topic as I was trying to resolve the competing claims of different denominations, it seemed to me that the ancient Catholic and Eastern Orthodox beliefs about this were much stronger and that is what inched me closer to eventually becoming Catholic.

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Fun Fact: In John 6, Jesus changes the verb "eat" in the middle of the chapter. As people keep questioning Him about whether He is being literal in what He is saying, He changes the verb "eat" to "trogo", which means to gnaw like an animal. So when questioned on this teaching, several times, Jesus gets MORE literal each and every time.

habituallinestepper
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It was this very passage that after 30 years as an adult in the reformed church made me look back at Catholicism, the faith I grew up in when I was a child. I have returned there.

MikeARP
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I teach 10th grade Religious Education at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Edinboro, PA. Some of my students are struggling with the Real Presence so I decided to teach an additional lesson on this central tenet of our faith. I found your video- how awesome! I will definitely be using it. Blessings on you and your ministry.

mullsrunner
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When I take communion as a Catholic I feel so close to Jesus that I am awash with joy and grief at the same time.That is enough for me as God’s ways are higher than our ways.

margaretcooper
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Hi, Brian, I'm a currently Greek Orthodox who is in the process of converting to Catholicism. I discovered your channel by accident yesterday in the evening, while googleing Catholic convert stories. Needless to say, I found your videos very enlightening and immediately proceeded to bingewatch almost all of your videos. I just wanted to sincerely thank you for all of your videos, as they are very helpful to me. If I may request a future topic, I was wondering how you felt and what you were thinking prior to your baptism. You see, I do not consider myself Greek Orthodox anymore, and I do consider myself to be Catholic, but having grown up in a religious Orthodox household, Catholicism still feels kind of foreign to me, which makes me question my conversion. How can I finally feel 100% Catholic and overcome this dichotomy? Or is that not possible before my confirmation? Another topic I'm very eagerly awaiting for you to cover, is how a young adult such as myself(19yo), cannot feel left alone in a largely secular world within a largely secular generation. Please forgive my rambling and if you're reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

DevilDaz
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This is the best thing I've ever watched 😂😂😂😂. I laughed to tears at 2:48.

laureneonunkwo
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Thank You, Brian. I love all your messages. You teach more clearly than today's bishops and clergy. Keep up your Savior's Teachings.

SOGT
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"People left because they took him literally"
Well, we Catholics take Jesus literally here, and yet we haven't walked away, in fact the Eucharist is the most fundamental part of our mass; everything we do during mass is to prepare us for that specific sacrament.
The people who walked away in John 6 were in fact Jesus' disciples (remember, he had 12 apostles, but he also had like 79 or so disciples), that means: they were followers of Jesus.
What is more interesting to me, is that the Eucharist seems to be the ultimate deal breaker for Protestants from becoming Catholic. They can accept that Virgin Mary is important (not just an ordinary woman), they can accept we pray to Saints for their intercession, they can accept the icons and statues... but the absolutely won't accept Eucharist as something that is not mere symbolism. "It's just so difficult to believe" ...well, so said the disciples back then, and so are saying the Protestants of our time.
Come home, siblings, let's be together in full communion with Christ.

peppy
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Communion with my fellow Christians is very profound, we are in communion with the Lord Jesus in our soul and heart. Praise the Lord.

c.larochelle
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I'm not Catholic (have in fact recently joined a Baptist church), but as also with Bishop Barron, I find your videos deeply thoughtful and informative.

joaniehiggs
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An excellent articulation of a thorny topic and beautifully related. This has really helped to clarify my thoughts as a new convert. Thank you Brian.

applin
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God bless you and your work, Brian! 🙏 Thank you for all these wonderful videos

priscillachua
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Brian, you are a fantastic apologist and I really appreciate your candor. I am a Lutheran and we hold that the Eucharist is truly Christs' body and blood. Where we would disagree is over transubstantiation - Lutherans simply hold it to be a mystery and don't attempt to explain it - and then the sacrificial elements in the Mass, since Christ died for sins once for all and his perfect atoning sacrifice is complete. Luther once said he'd rather drink the Lord's blood with the Pope than celebrate a memorial with the sacramentarians. Look forward to meeting you in heaven at the Lamb's high feast!

philiphahn
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Thanks for this informative topic 👍 I'm a proud catholic and am so disturbed when the catholic faith is always being criticized by other faiths...😔

sharonjacobs
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I am a catholic catechist, love your teachings. Thank you for explaining the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! Amen!

SuperRuthJ
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This is probably the best vid I've seen on the real presence of Christ in the eucharist. Praise God for your work, Brian. God bless you

mattduin
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All food and drink that we consume must be eaten in recognition of Jesus Christ, that he gives us life through his death on the cross....both physical and and to eat without thanking God for this gift can bring judgement upon us....as I was taught....we are the body of

johnbaart
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This cleared up a ton for me. Thanks so much for posting!

djketler
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The Eucharist is perhaps the most difficult part of Catholic doctrine to explain to Protestants and other Christian denominations. I hope to understand it to a point that I can explain it to our fellow brothers.

ToxicPea
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Thank you so much for this video! It’s enormously helpful. I’ve been trying to discern the same thing for quite some months now. When I came to faith in Jesus it was through reading the gospel of John, and I wasn’t part of any church. I’ve done communion with grape juice! On Passover etc.., seeking the way... but when I felt compelled to attend mass and took communion I was shaking and reduced to tears. I didn’t understand it all...I’ve been trying to find out what happened! thank you very much for this clarification. God bless you.

believewithyourheart