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The Roman Catholic church teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation--that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus. It seems that the sacrament of taking the body and blood gives the partaker a special grace.

Jesus introduced this by saying, "This is my body which is broken for you" and "This is my blood which is shed for you" prior to His crucifixion.

So, my question is this. Does the Catholic Church teach that the bread and wine taken by the disciples prior to the Crucifixion was all the literal body and blood of Jesus? If so, did they also receive the grace of the sacrament at that time as well?

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Since you are asking Catholics directly, I don't feel an answer from me would be appropriate, but in my Church (Orthodox) this is a belief we have as well. – treehau5 Aug 7 '12 at 15:05

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Hello fellow roman catholic!

My understanding is thus:

  • The Eucharist, celebrated at every Mass, connect us back to the last supper, uniting the celebrant priest to the High Priest, and the congregation to the witnesses of the institution of the eucharist. So it seems to me that since we hold Consecrated Eucharist from every Mass to be the true body and blood of Jesus, we must hold the bread and wine at the last supper to be the body and blood of Jesus.
    • In other words, since it is truly Jesus's sacrifice at each mass, and not the priests, the priest can only consecrate the eucharist insofar as Jesus does, and since he did so at the last supper, it must be valid.

Besides all of this, Jesus said very clearly, as he held up the bread, "this is my body." And when Omnipotent/Omniscient God makes a declaration, unless he's actively lying, it must be true in some sense.

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Thanks for the answer. Your last paragraph seems implausible though. Jesus also said, "I am the gate, the door, the light..." We don't believe that Jesus is a physical door or gate or light, but this doesn't mean He was lying. – Narnian Aug 8 '12 at 20:00
Fair enough, but i stand by what I said. I was reading CSLewis recently, (gotta love CSLewis) and he discussed in his book "Miracles" how so much of the reality concerning Jesus is so far beyond comprehension, let alone human languages, that the only way much of his message can be understood is with metaphors. So, instead of being untrue, calling Jesus 'the way truth and light' (or door, gate) is simply an understatement, or metaphor of who he really is. – Joe Daniels Aug 8 '12 at 20:37
@Narnian On the other hand, how often did he say, "This gate is me" "This way is me" and "This light is me?" – Ignatius Theophorus Aug 8 '12 at 20:47
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@IgnatiusTheophorus Never... and He never said "this bread is me" either. He said, "This [bread] is my body." A symbolic interpretation is quite reasonable here. – Narnian Aug 8 '12 at 21:04
Well, I think a symbolic interpretation, esp. of John 6 is close to what most Protestants believe, isn't it? They will say that "I am the bread that came down from heaven" means only that you must rely on the strength and character of Jesus, like the Israelites relied on the 'mana that came down from heaven' in the desert. Of course, its a valid, reasonable interpretation, just not the catholic one. – Joe Daniels Aug 9 '12 at 17:49
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This is indeed what the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church teaches.

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This is really a comment, not an answer to the question. Please use "add comment" to leave feedback for the author. – Andrew Aug 14 '12 at 3:59

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