And the Catechism also teaches us that Christ is present at the Mass as both victim offered and as food from heaven giving himself to us. This is why in John 6:49-51, Jesus tells the crowd he is the new manna from heaven, and unlike their ancestors who ate but still died, the bread that Jesus gives is his flesh for the life of the world and those that eat of it will never die.

Precursors of the Old Covenant, Fulfillment in the New Covenant

God requires a sacrifice for the atonement of sin. We see this as far back as Genesis 4, when after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, their son Abel offered a blood sacrifice that was more pleasing to God than Cain’s sacrifice of the fruit of the ground. This is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s. Through this he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.”

We also see this prefigured in Abraham, who encounters the priest Melchizedek in Genesis 14. He is a priest who offered bread and wine. Then in Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son who was given to him by God as a promise, and Abraham shows his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. Both of these are seen as prefigurations of the Eucharist and the sacrifice of Christ in Catholic theology.

We also see in Exodus 25, the Lord telling Moses, “In the ark itself you are to put the covenant which I will give you.” In Hebrews 9:4 we are told what was put inside, “…and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.” In Catholic theology we see the manna as a prefiguration of the Eucharist, the staff of Aaron representing the priesthood, and the tablets representing the word of God inscribed on stone. The word of God in the Ark of the Covenant foreshadows the Word of God in the flesh, who is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is Incarnate of the Virgin Mary, who is the new Ark of the new Covenant.

When Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples and gave them his body and blood, he gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. By his crucifixion, death, and resurrection, Jesus is passing over to his Father, and this new Passover is celebrated in the Eucharist which fulfills the Jewish Passover of the Old Covenant and anticipates the final Passover of the Church and the glory of the Kingdom of God. 

Bread of Life Discourse

In John 6 we witness the multiplication of the loaves, followed by Jesus walking on water. Two miracles that point to Christ’s divinity. Then, the next day Jesus gives his famous Bread of Life discourse to the crowd of disciples, saying, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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” [John 6:48-51].

There were many in the crowd who did not believe and people quarreled about it. 

But Jesus said to them, “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. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” [John 4:53-55].

Four Facts about Jesus in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar

1. At the consecration, the substance of bread and wine no longer remain on the altar.
2. At the consecration, the species or physical properties of bread and wine remain, but without their substance. The outward appearance of bread and wine — color, taste, texture — remain, but not the substance of bread and wine. Under the appearance of bread and wine is Christ’s Body and Blood in His humanity, united with His Divinity.
3. At the consecration, Christ becomes essentially and really present. Essence is what makes a thing what it is; reality is what actually exists and is not a mere figment of the imagination.
4. The sanctity of a priest or bishop does not affect his ability to validly offer Mass or change bread and wine into the Living Christ. If he offers Mass in mortal sin, he commits another sin of sacrilege, but his Mass is valid and Christ is really there.

Heresies Against the Holy Sacrament of the Altar

In the first millennium of Christianity the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist had no serious challenges. All of Christianity held to this belief for 1000 years until an 11th-century French theologian named Berengar of Tours publicly began deny transubstantiation and he preached this error for 40 years before renouncing his heresies and reconciling himself with the Church before he died.

About 100 years later, a cult arose in France. They were referred to as the Waldensians. This was a pre-Protestant cult who were very critical of the Church’s abuses. They believed in preaching a simplified biblical belief system. As part of their simplistic belief system, the Waldensians believed priestly powers could be conferred to any person who was holy enough. This heresy allows adherents to believe holy people have the power to confer the Sacraments without being ordained as priests by the Church.

Another heresy in the 14th century was promoted by an English priest, Oxford professor, and scholar named John Wycliffe. He was later condemned as a heretic. Wycliffe had 4 heretical claims against the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist that the Church condemned. The heretical beliefs of Wycliffe opened the door to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century, and all current heresies against the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity that we see in the world today.