Why Must The Eucharist Be the Real Flesh of Jesus?

After some days of discussing with a friend on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, I thought deeply about it and wondered: Why not just keep it as a Spiritual Presence? That would be easier to teach and be more believable.

Then I had a revelation.

 

The Same Faith Challenge

If you think about it, a similar faith challenge is presented: 

• We know now that Jesus is both God and man. Externally, He looks just like a ordinary man and we read from the Gospels that it is hard to believe He is God. (John 10:30–33, John 6:41–42, John 8:57–58, Mark 6:2–3, Matthew 13:54–57)
  
• And then, we have the Eucharist that looks like bread, smells like bread, feels like bread, tastes like bread and in a very similar way, it is hard to believe it is God Himself.

In other words:

• Incarnation = God hidden in man
• Eucharist = God hidden in bread

Both takes faith.

Especially since John 6 talks about it so directly. Why read it in a way that denies His Presence in the Bread He Himself gives us?

 

Isaiah Foresaw This

"He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men..." Isaiah 53:2–3

The Messiah would not appear outwardly glorious.

Many would reject Him because He looked ordinary, even hidden under humility, like bread.

 

But Why Bother To Make It The Real Presence? Is Not the Spiritual Presence Enough?

Jesus wanted to give us His real self. That is the very reason He took on flesh and became man.

Would we think that Jesus would only give Himself for those 33 years of His earthly life? He continues to give Himself to us.

 

"Oh, but He IS present to us spiritually even today!"

Yes, we agree. He is also present to us truly and really, and the Church teaches this is made sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

If you think of human relationships, intimacy is deepened when someone is truly present with you. It feels more comforting and loving when the person is there, not far away.

Jesus desires this closeness too. That is why He says "I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matthew 28:18–20

He has made a way to fulfil this, even after His Ascension.

 

What The Church Says

Now, is Christ truly giving Himself to me or just pointing to Himself in a spiritual sense?

The Church teaches:

• not pointing
• not reminding
• but truly giving Himself (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity)

 

How is it possible at all?

So, if this sounds more believable, the next question is: how is this even possible?

On Easter, Jesus rose from the dead.

The resurrected body of Christ is the same body (not a different one), but now glorified.

Same Body: John 20:19–20, John 20:27, Luke 24:39

Glorified body: John 20:19, John 20:26, Luke 24:30–31, Luke 24:36, Luke 24:15–16, John 20:14–15, John 21:4, Acts 1:9

His glorified body can appear in closed rooms, be present without being immediately recognised (Luke 24:16), and vanish from sight after the breaking of bread at Emmaus.

The Church understands that Christ, in His risen and glorified humanity, is able to make Himself truly present in ways that are not limited to ordinary physical constraints — and this includes His sacramental presence in the Eucharist.

 

What Happened In The Resurrection?

He is God and He is also truly human.

Before the Resurrection, Jesus fully embraced human life: He became tired (John 4:6), hungry (Matthew 4:2), slept (Mark 4:38), suffered and bled (Luke 22:44, Mark 15:15, John 19:2), and died (John 19:34, Mark 15:37, Luke 23:46).

"Though he was in the form of God... he emptied himself..." Philippians 2:6-8

He also manifested divine power in His earthly life: walking on water (Matthew 14:25), calming storms (Mark 4:39), multiplying loaves (Mark 6), raising the dead (John 11), knowing hidden thoughts (Mark 2:8), and being transfigured in glory (Matthew 17).

After the Resurrection, "Christ being raised from the dead will never die again." (Romans 6:9) His humanity entered a new condition:

• immortal
• incorruptible
• glorified

 

Yes, It's a Hard Teaching

In Mark 16:14, Jesus "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.”

Even the Eleven struggled to believe, even after hearing eyewitness testimony.

 

Holy Miracles

There are documented Eucharistic miracles where the consecrated host is reported to have become visible human tissue (see the catalogue at St. Carlo Acutis’ documentation).

And despite that, still “many did not believe”.

Fortunately, faith itself is also a gift.

And if you believe — you are already responding to that grace.