Section II.
Chapter 7.  The Sacrament of the Eucharist.


     "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
      ye have not life in yourselves. He that eateth my flesh and 
      drinketh my blood shall have eternal life... (John 6:53)

   The sacrament of the Eucharist is found in the gospels and Paul's letters, 
where during the feast of the Passover, Jesus distributes bread to his 
disciples, saying "Take, eat; this is my body". Then, while passing around a cup 
he adds, "Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins". (Matthew 26:26-27; also see Luke 
22:18, I Corinthians 11:25-8)

   While many Protestants interpret this verse to mean Jesus was speaking 
figuratively or "symbolically", Catholics hold it as a requirement of faith that 
Jesus was speaking literally or PHYSICALLY! That is, when Christian believers 
conduct the rite of the Last Supper Communion, they maintain as a matter of 
faith that the wafer and wine is PHYSICALLY transformed into the flesh and blood 
of Jesus!   The Council of Trent, a Catholic tribunal held in the sixteenth 
century, emphasized the importance of this doctrine, stating, "If any one shall 
deny that the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and therefore entire Christ, are truly, really, and substantially 
contained in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; and shall say that He is 
only in it as a sign, or in a figure, or virtually, - let him be accursed." 
During the Dark Ages, Jews were accused and tried for crucifying Jesus (again!), 
if it was believed a nail was driven by them through a wafer used in the 
Communion rite.

   Scholars have noted similarities in the belief of transubstantiation (ie the 
belief that   consumption of consecrated bread and wine/water is physically 
transformed into the flesh and blood of their god) with earlier pagan rites 
performed before the birth of Jesus.  Ceres, the Greek goddess of corn, gave her 
flesh to eat, and Bacchus, the god of wine, gave blood to drink to their 
adherents.  In Egypt, priests would consecrate cakes which were supposed to 
become the flesh of Osiris. (Encyclopedia Of Religions, Vol. 2, p. 76).  

     Followers of the mystery religion Mithraism performed a rite of the Last 
Supper, with a sacred meal comprised of cakes and a cup of water or wine.  
Initiates were sometimes depicted in animal masks. (This may go back to when 
gods were represented under the forms of animals--and initiates believed that in 
taking the name and form of his god, that he was identifying with him. (1)   
Indeed the famous statesman Cicero, in a speech given around 40 years before 
Jesus' birth, denounced the pagan rite of the sacrament of substantiation, 
decrying,  "How can a man be so stupid as to imagine that which he eats to be a 
God?"

    Many Christian apologists have explained the similarities between Christian 
and pagan rites as due to the influence/mischief of demons.    Justin Martyr, 
the influential second century Christian scholar, bemoaned how demons had 
imitated the sacrament of the Christian Eucharist, handing the same rites of 
bread and a cup to initiates to the Mysteries of Mithras (known to be an earlier 
rite). (Justin Martyr, FIRST APOLOGY c. LXVI).   

   Today the doctrine of transubstantiation is perhaps the most divisive and 
bitter issue dividing Catholics and Protestants (with the latter sometimes 
railing against the rite as an obvious ancient pagan infiltration into Catholic 
dogma).  This is not likely to change in the near future: Vatican II, which 
began in 1962 and ended in 1965, reaffirmed in its Sacrosanctum Concilium (in an 
article entitled "The Mystery of the Eucharist"), the Catholic belief and 
practice of changing bread and wine used at the mass into the very body and 
blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. It was not long thereafter that Pope 
Paul VI issued an encyclical, Mysterium Fidei, to emphasize the importance of 
the rite to Catholics:

"During the Second Vatican Council the Church has made a new and most solemn 
profession of her faith in and worship of this mystery...For if the sacred 
liturgy holds the first place in the life of the Church, the mystery of the 
Eucharist stands as the heart and center...Those who partake of this sacrament 
in Holy Communion eat the Flesh of Christ and drink the Blood of Christ, 
receiving both grace, the beginning of eternal life, and the 'medicine of 
immortality,'...

Indeed, we are aware of the fact that, among those who deal with this Most Holy 
Mystery in written or spoken word, there are some who...spread abroad such 
opinions as disturb the faithful and fill their minds with no little confusion 
about matters of faith as if every one were permitted to consign to oblivion 
doctrine already defined by the Church, or to interpret it in such a way as to 
weaken the genuine meaning of the words or the approved import of the concepts 
involved...the spread of these and similar opinions does great harm to the faith 
and devotion to the Divine Eucharist... we cannot approve the opinions which 
they express...

We must therefore approach this mystery especially with humble obedience, not 
following human arguments, which ought to be silent...It is a logical 
conclusion, then, that we should follow as a guiding star in our investigations 
of this mystery the agisterium of the Church, to which the Divine Redeemer 
entrusted for protection and for explanation the revelation which He has 
communicated to us through Scripture or tradition having this from conviction 
that 'what since the days of antiquity was preached and believed throughout the 
whole Church with true Catholic Faith is true, even if it is not comprehended by 
reason, even if it is not explained by means of words'...we are not to tolerate 
anyone who on his own authority wishes to modify the formulae in which the 
Council of Trent sets forth the Mystery of the Eucharist for our belief...

It is the teaching of the First Vatican Council: 'that meaning of the sacred 
dogmas must forever be retained which Holy Mother Church has once defined and we 
may never depart from that meaning under the pretext and in the name of deeper 
understanding.' ...the Catholic Church has held to this faith in the presence of 
the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, not only in her teaching but also 
in her practice, since she has at all times given to this great Sacrament the 
worship which is known as latria and which may be given to God alone. 

As St. Augustine says: 'It was in His flesh that Christ walked among us and it 
is His flesh that He has given us to eat for our salvation. No one, however, 
eats of this flesh without having first adored it...and not only do we not sin 
in thus adoring it, but we would sin if we did not do so.'...The Catholic Church 
has always offered and still offers the cult of latria to the Sacrament of the 
Eucharist...We therefore beseech you, venerable brothers...Tirelessly promote 
the cult of the Eucharist, the focus where all other forms of piety must 
ultimately meet and converge...

May all those not yet in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, who though 
separated from her are honored by and glory in the name of Christian, share with 
us as soon as possible with the help of divine grace that unity of faith and 
communion which Christ wanted to be the distinctive mark of His disciples...May 
the Most Blessed Virgin Mary from whom Christ Our Lord took the flesh which 
under the appearances of bread and wine 'is contained, offered, and received in 
this Sacrament,' and all the saints of God, especially those who had a more 
ardent devotion to the Divine Eucharist, intercede with the Father of mercies so 
that from this same faith in and devotion to the Eucharist may come forth and 
flourish a perfect unity among all who bear the name Christian."
_________________________________________________________________
(1)  Some have speculated that the concept employed here was to "put on" their 
God. This has been compared to some of Paul's imagery in his description of the 
Last Supper, when he suggests that all who are baptized have "put on" Christ. 
The "consecrated cup and bread that we break for the Lord's Supper are the 
'fellowship of the blood and body of Christ'" O. Pfeiderer, as quoted in THE 
EARLY CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF CHRIST, ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND VALUE IN THE HISTORY 
OF RELIGION (London-New York, 1905) This theory makes much of the fact that Paul 
grew up in Tarsus, which was a large metropolitan city where the mystery cults 
were especially strong. According to this theory, Paul was exposed to their 
beliefs and customs, and either consciously or unconsciously introduced the same 
terminology into his new religion.