ONE REASON SO FEW PEOPLE today believe what the Church teaches about the Eucharist is that the teaching is so shocking: After consecration, the host at Mass isn’t bread; it is Jesus Christ himself. He just looks like bread. Really?

Really. Here’s how the Catechism puts it: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained’” (1374).

Christians have always believed in the Real Presence. And it has always been shocking. Jesus taught the doctrine most clearly in the sixth chapter of John, and already there was a scandalized reaction. The gospel tells us some of his disciples would no longer walk with him.

But through the years, the Real Presence has been an important part of Christian spirituality. To this day, most Christians worldwide believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

There are a little more than 2 billion Christians in the world. Half of those, about 1 billion, are Catholics (of those, only 7% are in the United States). Another 12% of the world’s Christians are Orthodox Christians who also believe in the Real Presence. That means more than 3 of every 5 Christians belongs to a Church that believes in the Real Presence. It’s no wonder. When Jesus says we are saved by his blood, he doesn’t mean that we are “saved” by his “blood” — he means his real blood really gives us eternal life. Where do we find it? In the Eucharist.

Tom Hoopes, Is This really Jesus? A primer on Christ in the Eucharist aleteia.org, August 19, 2019. With permission.