The Mass: Liturgy of the Eucharist - Part VII

Before we review each of the four individual Eucharistic Prayers during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, let’s take at the Institution Narrative and Consecration. This is the moment when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus.

We should never fail to appreciate that Jesus himself instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and we find the evidence of this in Sacred Scripture. Note in Matthew 26:26-28 that, at the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and directed his disciples to eat it, saying, “This is my body.” Jesus further took the cup of wine, blessed it, and directed his disciples to drink it, saying that it is “my blood of the covenant, shed for many.” These words are continued to this day in the words said by the priest in the words of consecration during Mass.

If you review Mark 14:22-24, you will find the same words, as you will in Luke 22:17-20. These words are so important that they are found in every Eucharistic Prayer. When they are said, we know that Jesus is now present in the bread and wine.

We find something else crucial in John’s Gospel. In John 6:48-58, Jesus explains that he is the bread of life, the true manna from heaven (harkening back to Exodus 16:15 and the manna in the desert for the Israelites freed from Egyptian captivity), and we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. In John 6:54, for “eat,” John uses the Greek word τρώγων, which means to “gnaw or chew.” There is no doubt that we are meant to believe the Eucharist is not a symbol of Jesus, but his Real Presence.

"It is not man that causes the things offered to be the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered."– St John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6: PG 49, 380

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact me at eucharist@stmli.org.