About the Mass Series: Eucharistic Prayer Part 3

2. ‘Words of Institution-Consecration’.

Christ is truly present to us in the Mass in at least four ways at Mass. They are:

1. In the Consecrated bread and wine.

2. In the presence of the priest representing Christ in our midst.

3. In the Proclamation of the Scripture.

4.  In the presence of each of us as the congregation.

Each of these 4 ways are important, as they are the means by which Christ nourishes his Church and gives us food for the journey here on earth.  He provides the means for his people. 

When the priest says the words of institution-consecration ‘This is my Body’ and ‘This is my Blood’, the bread and wine are transformed and Christ is truly present, yet under the form of bread and wine.  In other words, we are provided with food for the journey, so that we can be fed, nourished and strengthened by Christ himself. This transformation is a mystery, yet in our beliefs, it is not an optional extra.  It is a core Catholic belief.  Christ is truly present, yet under the form of bread and wine.  

During this crucial part of the Mass   Christ becomes truly present to us.  It is not a symbol or a re- representation of the Last Supper. The bells being rung alert us to the importance of this moment in the Mass.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) says:

‘It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in his sacrament.  The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion.  St John Chrysostom declares: It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself.  The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s.  This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered’. (Para 1375 p. 346)

The Catechism goes on to comment:

‘The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures at long the Eucharistic species subsist.  Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ’. (Para 1377 p.347)

How do we welcome Christ truly present at Mass?