The Eucharist — Real Presence and Sacrifice
As taught in the Catholic tradition
Why the Catholic Mass is the Church's "source and summit" — Christ truly present.
Within the Roman Catholic Christian tradition, the Eucharist is recognised as the very centre of the faith, explicitly identified by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the "Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life". The doctrinal framework surrounding the Eucharist rests upon three inseparable pillars: the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, the dogma of Transubstantiation, and the reality of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice.
By the end of this lesson
- Explain transubstantiation as defined by the Council of Trent
- Read John 6 alongside the Last Supper accounts and notice the Catholic logic
- Distinguish the one sacrifice of Christ from the daily re-presentation of that sacrifice in the Mass
- Identify how Malachi 1:11 was read by the Fathers as a prophecy of the Mass
- Articulate why "this is my body" was taken realistically by every patristic writer
Scripture
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