It’s been over 2000 years since the Last Supper where Jesus told his disciples “ This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)
Many believers have forgotten about the spiritual power that is truly present within the Eucharist of the Catholic Church. Some never understood it in the first place or even doubted it.
The Holy Eucharist is truly Jesus in the flesh.
Why is this idea so perplex for us to understand when the WORD is so often understood as Jesus?
Just as Jesus comes to us through his WORD, he comes to us through his Holy Communion.
And just as Jesus has authority over all demons, the Eucharist has authority over all demons.
Jesus = Eucharist
Did you know that during an exorcism, if you place the Eucharist in a room, demons cannot stand His Holy Presence. Moreover, if you place a Holy host on the tongue of an oppressed/possessed individual, it will become unbearable for the demon within that individual. The demon will scream at the sight of Jesus and submit to His authority in the Eucharist. How can a protestant fluent in spiritual warfare explain that to me ?
Moreover, just as Jesus heals within Charismatic movements, the Eucharist heals within the Catholic Church. That is why consuming Him is so important. It is your vitamin C against all demonic illnesses of this world. Consume Him often.
Although protestant theology often criticizes Communion within the Catholic Church, it is simply miss-understanding the theology behind it.
The Catholic Church has been accused of cannibalism, idolatry and more in regards to the Eucharist theology. Hopefully the following points will clarify what the Eucharist is not.
- Consuming the Eucharist is not cannibalism. This would imply consuming physically another body. Cannibalism is eating of human flesh by another human being. During Communion, Catholics consume the substance of bread and wine that then go through a “transformation of the substance” called transubstantiation. In this process, the bread & wine become the vessels in which Jesus is truly present while still looking like regular bread and wine. How do we know then that He is truly present then ? That will become a question of how deep is your faith.
- Catholics are not trying to re-create God’s sacrifice, rather they are partaking in the Paschal Mystery that occurred and occurs outside of time. God is outside of time and at Holy Mass we enter into His once for all sacrifice. Catholics understand that his sacrifice was a one time event and are not trying to reproduce it by their own hands.
- Another common accusation is that Catholics partake in some form of idolatry when they adore the Eucharist. I can understand how that accusation would form coming from someone who is on the outside, because you don’t understand that we are indeed in front of Jesus our Lord. Nor do you believe that the host we are looking at, that appears to be merely physical is actually the real Jesus.
It’s ironic how the oldest group of Christians is the one that is attacked the most.
Catholics are supposed to believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Therefore, if we are fully convinced we are in front of our Lord, we cannot be accused of idolatry. The problem of idolatry arises only when one starts to doubt that the Eucharist holds the Real Presence of Christ.
Moreover, for the first 1500 years ALL Christians believed so. They saw the Eucharist as the literal body and blood of Christ and this was the focus of the Church, not someone preaching from a pulpit, as we see in mega churches.
Recently, we even saw a known protestant pastor discover this for himself : Francis Chan! He was the headline of many articles as he began to share all that he discovered about the Eucharist.
To be a Christian and not believe in the Eucharist is a heresy. To replace the Eucharist with a symbol is also a heresy.
None of us were present at the Last Supper when it happened over 2000 years ago, but we are invited to be there during every mass.
Jesus is still with us. He can be found within the One Apostolic Church he founded and the physical body he left us : his Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist.
I pray this article served you well.
Meet the author
Johanna – Hebrew for “God is Gracious”
I’m a former New Ager, Yogi & spiritual nomad turned Christian after a moment of illumination in 2017. I created this website to help you differentiate between light & darkness and to answer questions about spiritual topics from a Catholic Christian worldview.