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The past few weeks we have looked at the Holy Eucharist and looked at its component parts. We have divided the Holy Eucharist into the Word of God and the Holy Communion. A proper question is what happens in the Holy Eucharist? One answer is provided by the traditional definition of a sacrament. “The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.” (BCP 857-858) With that definition, any sacrament or sacramental act can be analyzed looking first for the outward and visible signs and then for the inward and spiritual grace. With the Holy Eucharist, the outward and visible signs are the bread and wine. “The inward and spiritual grace in the Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people, and received by faith.” (BCP 858) What happens to the bread and wine in Holy Communion? Are they more than just a symbol of something heavenly and spiritual? Is there any type of objective change in the bread and wine? Our catechism answers lead us to suspect there is some kind of change that happens to these material things so that they are reverenced and respected in ways that ordinary bread and wine are not. After the Holy Eucharist, they are not consumed as part of a Sunday lunch. They are consumed reverently or disposed of in a reverent manner. Some part may be reserved and used to commune the sick or for a deacon’s mass. The place of reservation is marked with a light that indicates that something special is kept there. All of these lead us to see that we believe that some kind of objective change has taken place in the bread and wine. Three theories or ways of looking at this change have been put forth in the past. One is called transubstantiation which means a change of substance. Yet, even that name is misleading. This theory says that every substance has accidents (external appearance) and essence (essential meaning). Transubstantiation says that the accidents of the bread and wine do not change, but the essence changes. The external appearance of bread does not change, but the essential meaning is changed to Body of Christ. Likewise the external appearance of wine does not change, but the essential meaning is changed to Blood of Christ. The popular understanding has created difficulty by understanding it to mean that bread is changed to flesh and wine is changed to blood. There have been attempts to analyze the bread and wine to see if it has indeed changed. Consubstantiation is a further attempt to describe the change in the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist. Consubstantiation says that the Body of Christ coexists alongside the substance of bread and wine. This approach to understanding the Eucharist is attributed to Martin Luther. In Anglicanism, there has been a rejection of the idea that there has been a change of substance. However, Anglicanism has held that there has been a real and objective change to the bread and wine. Either my Anglican reinterpretation of “transubstantiation” or “consubstantiation” would be acceptable interpretations. Both of them seek to understand the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist without arguing for a material or substantive change in the bread and wine. In all of the Eucharistic prayers, we pray that the Holy Spirit will descend upon the gifts of bread and wine and that they will be the Body and Blood of Christ. This moment of Epiclesis or invocation of the Holy Spirit is an important point in the Great Thanksgiving during which the bread and wine cease to be just bread and wine and becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. The consecrated bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ to us . The consecrated bread and wine are treated with reverence. Christ is present to us in and through the consecrated bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist. A change has happened that enables Christ to be present to us. When we receive the bread and wine of the Eucharist, we receive Christ himself. What happens to the bread and wine of the Eucharist? They become the Body and Blood of Christ. Jim+ March 22, 2006 |