A Miracle Everytime: The Holy Eucharist

Recently, a friend of mine shared with me about an old friend of ours who has a healing ministry. My friend claimed that this person actually brought a dead child back to life through her prayers.

I often hear about healing ministries that claim great and impressive miracles. Some earnest Christians believe that this should be the normal experience for the church, based on the book of Acts. This is a reasonable expectation. There is no doubt that the early Church performed many miracles. The writer of Hebrews tells us that this was God's way of confirming the prophetic word (Hebrews 2.4).

But I am often skeptical of reports of miracles. I do not see good fruit coming out of some of some of these ministries, which seem to be about success and prosperity and money. In my own personal experience, when I was outside of the Church, I observed dysfunction in myself and others around me in these charismatic ministries.

Some conservative Protestants believe that the age of miracles has passed, and that the Bible is represents the "perfect" spoken of by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. They are wrong, the Perfect is obviously Christ, not the Bible. We worship Christ, not the Sacred Writings.

Liberal Protestants often buy into the rationalism of theologians like John Spong, who promotes a naturalist interpretation of the New Testament. In Spong's view, the miracles of the gospel are merely parables to point to faith in Christ; they did not really happen. I have heard liberal Christians say that Jesus got people to open up their nap sacks and share bread, and that he did not really multiply the loaves. This is frankly a very stupid interpretation of the gospel narrative. And it is an insult to Middle Eastern people, made by mostly white, western scholars who do not understand that hospitality and communal sharing is greatly valued among the various people of the Middle East. They would not likely have withheld their bread from each other.

Church writers like Irenaeus (2nd century) and Augustine (4th-5th cent) report that miracles were still prevalent in their day, and give numerous examples.

But there is a miracle that has taken place each Lord's day since the founding of the Church. Every time Christians meet together on Sunday, and celebrate the Divine Liturgy or the Mass, a miracle takes place in their midst. Ordinary bread and wine become the very Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. St. Paul writes, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? " - 1 Corinthians 10.16, KJV. As Michael Ramsey (the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury during the 1960's) pointed out in his book, The Gospel and the Catholic Church, it is "a special pleading" to dismiss this text as a witness to the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Through the miracle of Transubstantiation, common bread and wine become Christ's very body and blood. In the West, theologians have taught that this change occurs during the words of institution; Eastern theologians have traditionally taught the change occurs at the invocation of the Holy Spirit. Regardless, it is the undying faith of the Church that when we meet and break bread, we are sharing in the very Body and Blood of the Lord (c.f. 1 Corinthians 1.29). Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity are truly present under the appearances of bread and wine.

It is the Holy Eucharist that is the central act of Christian worship, it is the Holy Eucharist that provides for the remission of sins, the healing of soul and body, and that divinizes our human nature, making us fit for the Kingdom of heaven. And it is in the Holy Eucharist that the Church is most truly the Body of Christ. St. Augustine says that when we eat the Eucharist, we are what we eat- the Body of Christ. It is unity established by the Holy Eucharist that has maintained the Church for 2000 years, fulfilling Christ's promise that "Be assured, I am with you always, to the end of time." - Matthew 28.20, NEB.

My faith in this miracle rests squarely on the word and promise of Christ, who says "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, possesses eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." - John 6.54, NEB.

Some Protestants object to a real presence, noting that the book of Hebrews speak of Christ's sacrifice being made only once. But they are not reading the New Testament with the mind of the Church. The earliest writers after the New Testament- Ignatius of Antioch, Ireanaeus, Justin Martyr- all taught the Real Presence and the Sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. For we are not re-sacrificing Jesus, and it is libelous to portray the Catholic Church as teaching that we do. Rather we believe that the once for all sacrifice on Calvary is made present each time we meet. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that "Our altar is one from which the priests who serve the sacred tent have no right to eat." - Hebrews 13.10, NEB.

St. Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 makes no sense apart from a sacrificial understanding of the Holy Eucharist:

"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the alter? What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." - I Corinthians 10.16-21, KJV. St. Paul clearly relates the Christian Eucharist to the Jewish sacrifices and the sacrifices of pagans. While the pagans partake with demons, we partake with Christ.

St. Justin Martyr writing in the 2nd century, quoted Malachi 1.11 as foretelling the Eucharistic Sacrifice offered by the Church: "From furthest east to the furthest west my name is great among the nations. Everywhere fragrant sacrifice and pure gifts are offered to my name; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts." - Malachi 1.11, NEB.

The pagans had accused the early Christians of "eating babies," because they had heard about someone being "eaten" during their service. Justin Martyr outlined the Christian worship as an apologia to the Roman Emperor. He taught "we do not receive these [the gifts of the Eucharist] as bread and wine, but as they really are, the body and blood of Christ."

Ignatius of Antioch knew John and Peter the Apostles, and he clearly teaches in his letter to the Smyrnians that the Eucharist is "the very flesh of Jesus Christ our God which suffered for us, and which afterwards, the Father in his goodness raised up." If we cannot trust witnesses like Ignatius of Antioch or Ireneaus of Lyons, how can we even trust we have the true faith, or that we know which books go in the Bible? For it is these same people who convey the Apostolic witness to us.

My faith is greatly strengthened by the knowledge of Christ's true Presence in the Eucharist. When I visit other churches that do not have weekly Eucharist, and do not have an altar, I feel something very large missing. In all humility, I feel a sadness from some of my other Christian brothers and sisters, who do not accept and receive the Real Presence of Christ every Sunday. I challenge them to study with an open mind the Scriptures and the history of the Church, and open their hearts to the reality of Jesus Christ among his people in the Holy Eucharist. I want all of my friends to be able to share in the very Body and Blood of Christ. "Here I stand knocking at the door; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and sit down to supper with him and he with me."- Revelation 3.20, NEB.

My belief in the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist has greatly strengthened my often flagging faith, disappointed by soul-crushing life circumstances. I know I am a witness and participant to a miracle every Sunday, and grateful to be in the Lord's Presence.

My belief in the Real Presence is the reason I am Catholic. I would die for my belief in the Real Presence, just as many Christians did in the early church, accused as they were, "of eating babies."

"Taste, then, and see that the Lord is good. Happy the man who finds refuge in him!"- Psalm 34.8, NEB.

For a fuller appreciation and teaching on the Eucharist, see the link, Memory and Presence: The Bible and the Mass.