Almost 3 years ago to the day, I wrote this post about transubstantiation:
http://corpcloset.blogspot.com/2015/06/transubstantiation.html
My soul searching then, prompted by a challenging question, ended with the conclusion that the Eucharist was symbolic in nature.
I was wrong. Although one of the raiders actually commented on it already, it took this video for me to realize that it is not symbolic at all. Yes, His body and blood are actually present in Eucharist.
https://youtu.be/sgy_TFeIyiM
(Lifted from Bishop Barron`s Youtube videos.)
My understanding of Bishop Barron`s thesis on the matter:
1. God`s word is not only transformative but creative. His Word, Jesus` Word, creates a new reality once it comes out of His lips. He raises a dead child, or a dead Lazarus, supplanting the reality of death with a new reality of being alive. His is the only authority that can do this. So when He says “This is My Body, this is My Blood”, he has supplanted the reality of bread and wine with a new reality.
2. Appearance is not necessarily reality. Our eyes, our senses, do not always perceive what is real, what is true. (Just look at how easily people believe fake news nowadays.) So even if we still perceive (see, smell and taste) bread and wine, the substance has changed because Jesus has said so. Again, His is the only authority that can create this new reality.
Why is it so important for us to believe in this real presence? I have come to believe that our true union with God can only happen if we come to realize that we are eating the body and drinking the blood of the sacrificial `lamb`. His Words, his other teachings cannot transform us without this fundamental belief. This continuous sharing of His Body and Blood is the only way by which we can experience that transformative nature of His Commandments. Slowly but surely, we become better followers, better people as we imbibe His Word AND partake of His Body and Blood, weekly or even daily.
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