SUMMARY

1. The words which, at the Last Supper, Our Lord commanded the Church to use – “This is my Body, This is my Blood” – came true in the Eucharist.  And at the Consecration, when we offer Our Lord to God, the forms of Bread and Wine on the altar and Our Lord’s Ascended Body and Blood in Heaven become one (John 6:48-58).

2. At the Eucharist, therefore, we actually offer to God Christ himself in his Heavenly Body, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament under the forms of Bread and Wine.

3. In Holy Communion Jesus renews us in his own likeness by giving himself to us and thus becoming part of us.

4. See also the diagram: Jesus Christ, the living Lord of the present.

Note

Justin Martyr, who died in 163 AD, wrote as follows: “…we do not receive…(the Eucharist) as ordinary food, or ordinary drink; but as by the Word of God Jesus our Saviour was made flesh, and had both flesh and blood for our salvation; so also the food which was blessed…is, we are taught, both the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. (3)

References

1. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD) The Epistle to the Smyrnaeans VI.  Available from: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/srawley/smyrnaeans.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

2. Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  A Catechism.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/catechism.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

3. Justin (c. 150-155 A.D.) Apology I, 66 cited in Kidd, B. J. (editor) (1920) Documents illustrative of the History of the Church, Vol I, document 42, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.