Why Don’t People Believe in the Real Presence?
Once again, I have been stumped the last couple of days for an idea what to write about. It happens when you write articles every week. Yesterday morning, I reached out to a couple and told them I was without ideas. I asked them if they had any idea(s). One responded with the question, “Why Don’t People Believe in the Real Presence?
A fair question and one I wish I knew the answer to. The timing is also significant. I recently was inspired with the idea to create a bulletin insert to promote understanding and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I have not yet created this insert for two reasons. The first is having the time to do it. The second is wondering what I should include in it.
When I shared with my friends that I did not know what I could include in the insert that would be new, they responded that repetition is okay because the Eucharist is so important that it bears repeating, adding that I always come up with something new. To me, it is not I who come up with “something new.” It is the Holy Spirit who blesses me with the “something new.” Thanks be to God.
Since my conversation with my friends, I may have realized what the something new is. Before I write about that, please allow me to say the purpose of this article is not to repeat what I have taught before. You can find that on my website in many articles and videos. The two places to start are:
- A three-part video series I did on the Eucharist – The Greatest Gift: The Eucharist
- My blog articles on the Eucharist
As to the new idea, I think perhaps the “new” idea is to create the bulletin insert. I have written blog articles before on the Eucharist. I have done presentations on the Eucharist. I have even written some bulletin articles on the Eucharist but I have not created a bulletin insert before. Perhaps there lies the something new. Now, I just need to find time to create the insert. If you think it is a good idea, please pray that I find the time to create it.
As I think about what to include in that insert, today I would like to reflect more on the question, “Why Don’t People Believe in the Real Presence?”
One consideration is wondering how people believe in anything transcendent today. We have lost the sense of mystery. At the consecration at Mass the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ. Perhaps the biggest challenge to believing they are changed is that they still look like bread and wine. It is only when we open ourselves to seeing as God sees, when we open ourselves to the mysteries of our faith that we see with our souls, not our physical eyes, that they have become the Body and Blood of Jesus.
The origin of our Catholic belief that Jesus truly becomes present in the appearance of the bread and wine is simple. It is Jesus himself that tells us this. He does so at the Last Supper. When He takes the bread, He does not say this is like my body. He says, “This is my body…This is the chalice of my blood.” We can believe what Jesus says (see Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:14-20, Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
So why don’t people believe in the Real Presence if Jesus says it is so? It seems to me that part of the answer is what I said before, people don’t believe in anything transcendent. If they can’t see it for themselves, they will not believe. So, they don’t take Jesus’ words in these institution narratives seriously enough. Maybe the people who don’t are the same people who don’t believe that Jesus did any miracles even though the Bible is clear that Jesus did miracles. Our faith firmly believes the Jesus continues to do miracles.
Perhaps they also don’t understand the significance of what Jesus offers us in the Eucharist as his Body and Blood. Jesus did not provide a theology of the Real Presence at the Last Supper. He had already provided it in his Bread of Life Discourse found in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. I will sum the discourse up in Jesus’ words, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53).
Just as people today struggle to understand this as Jesus’ teaching on his Real Presence in the Eucharist, many of the early disciples also struggled (see John 6:60-71). Even Peter did not wholly understand. Instead, when asked if he wishes to leave too, he says, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Peter may not fully understand but he does believe.
Do you believe?
One of my friends wrote, “I’ve always wondered if some Catholics go to receive Communion, taking it for granted, but not thinking of the Real Presence. I myself always think of the Real Presence, not taking receiving for granted.” I think he is right. Have you ever given it much thought?
Our faith in the Real Presence may not be as great as we would like on our own. That’s fine. Jesus can take what faith we have and multiple it, “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:23).
Do you feel like you don’t believe? I invite you to think back to March – June of 2020 when the COVID pandemic shut down public Masses. Did you miss going to Mass? Did you miss receiving Communion? If you did, whether you understand it or not, this says to me that you have at least some belief in the Real Presence.
I invite you to give whatever faith you have to Jesus with the words of the father whose son was ill, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
Why don’t people believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? Sometimes it is that they don’t open themselves to believing in it. For some, it is because they were never taught well. When I asked my friends how many homilies they have heard about the Real Presence in their lifetime, one responded, “I think I count the homilies I have heard on the Real Presence on one hand.”
How sad this is! As the Second Vatican Council said, the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our faith (see Lumen Gentium, 11, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324). We need to talk about it more.
If you do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, I invite you to tell us why by commenting to this article.
If you do believe, is it what you have always believed or was there a specific time when you came to believe? Was it a homily, a Bible passage, the recent Eucharistic Revival, a story of a Eucharistic Miracle, or something else?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff
For me the belief in the Real Presence has been life long. My mother converted to the Catholic faith when I was about 4 years old. I remember going to those meetings and playing with toys on the floor or walking around the block. (In good weather the priest, my mother and I would walk the block pushing my younger sister and they would talk.)
My Mother developed a very strong faith which became integral in our family life. Coupled with the nun who was my first grade teacher the concept of the “Real Presence” became part of who I was.
I think initially it was just a fact to me, not something to question. Over time as I understood the teaching, I think I still accepted it with blind faith.
I know that this is the core of my faith. I was interested in your comments about COVID because I think being unable to attend mass was the biggest travesty.
I think it is the focus on the Real Presence that keeps me wanting and needing to attend regularly.
I’m glad a belief in the Real Presence was there for you at a young age. As adults we look for answers. Sometimes as children we can better accept for what it is. That’s why it’s called faith.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff