The Eucharist and the authority of the Catholic Church

Today’s Gospel reading is taken from Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.  This reading is critical to understanding of our Catholic faith, and especially the Eucharist.  So that we can better understand this teaching, I will summarize the discussion of Jesus with his disciples during this discourse.

 The disciples asked Jesus “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?   Jesus tells them: “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”  The disciples responded, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?  Do we not know his father and mother?  Then, how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”  Jesus responded by telling them: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”  The disciples quarreled among themselves saying: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  But Jesus responded:  “Amen, amen, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  The disciples responded:  “This saying is hard, who can accept it.”  And many of them returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

As it was in Jesus time, so it is today.  The mystery of the Eucharist, of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the bread and wine at the altar after consecration is still hard and many cannot accept it.  In fact, this is the major difference between the Catholic Church and the other Christian churches.  The Eucharist, more than anything else, is what separates us from these denominations and it is what makes any reconciliation of our differences unlikely.   

The Eucharist is also the reason for many other doctrines which are unique to the Catholic Church.  It has been said that the Eucharist is the source and the summit of the Catholic Church.  Also, the authority of the Church as it has been passed down from the apostles to the current bishops is critical to the ordination of priests and, therefore, to the consecration of the Eucharist 2000 years after Christ.  These bishops, under His authority ordain priests who then become the minister of the Eucharistic mystery, when, they, like Jesus change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. 

We have many within our Church who seem to accept the mystery of the Eucharist, but cannot accept the teaching authority of the Church in other matters.  For me and my logical mind, this doesn’t make sense.  If we accept that Jesus is present body, blood, soul, and divinity in this bread and wine, we must also accept the authority of His Church passed down through the ages.  And if we accept this authority as demonstrated by the many priests who perform this miracle in thousands of churches throughout the world, we must also accept that this Church is guided by the Holy Spirit in matters of faith and morals.  We can trust in its Scriptures, as the inspired word of God and we can trust in its doctrines, as passed down through the Church’s Magisterium and Tradition and as articulated very well in the Catechism.    

In short, it seems to me that we have only two choices.  Our first choice is to believe that our Church, with the fullness of truth, has been and continues to be guided by the Holy Spirit through the centuries.  Then, we, unlike some of Jesus disciples, accept the teaching of the Eucharist and its other teachings on faith and morals, which are equally inspired.  Our other choice is to reject the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church, like many other Christians have done, and go our own way.  We may think that we, like some who call themselves cafeteria Catholics, can accept some teachings of the Church and reject others.  But, deep down, I expect that we realize that it is all or nothing.  Which shall it be for you?  Are you a follower of Jesus who embraces all the teachings of His Church?  Or are you one who rejects Him and His Church?  If you are trying reject some teachings and to accept others, I worry that you are being lukewarm and that your spiritual life may be in peril.