Based Banners

Transubstantiation

Does bread and wine truly transform into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ?

before we answer this question, we must first define transubstantiation: transubstantiation is defined by the catholic church as “the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ”

This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer which is preformed by a priest or bishop who has valid apostolic succession through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the ‘eucharistic species’, remain unaltered. in other words, the bread and wine become the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ but retain the visual and sensory appearance of Bread and Wine.

Ad Orientem (facing east) eucharistic prayer.

The Body and Blood are transubstantiated when the bell rings three times. the bells ring in response to the words below that change the substance that are highlighted in red.

example of an English Novus Ordo (post 1962) Eucharistic Prayer

Priest:  The Lord be with you.   People: And with your spirit.
Priest:  Lift up your hearts.   People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest:  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.   People: It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, your Word through whom you made all things, whom you sent as our Savior and Redeemer, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin. Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people, he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion, so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection. And so, with the Angels and all the Saints we declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and + Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.

For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT: FOR THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT: FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT; WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

Priest:  The mystery of faith:

People: A – We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again

Therefore, O Lord, we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.

Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church, and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.

May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect, especially with the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, her Spouse,* with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs (with Saint N.: the Saint of the day or Patron Saint) and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help.

May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you have gained for your own. Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have summoned before you: in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.

† To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord through whom you bestow on the world all that is good. †

so now that the mechanics of transubstantiation have been laid out we can can now dive into the main topic of this page. why is the Transubstantiation is correct; why real consubstantiation theology as well as memorialist views are wrong. to prove the transubstantiation this article will be split into 4 sections: Biblical support, Early church support, rebuking early church protestant arguments, and finally eucharistic miracles.

Biblical Evidence

there are 3 main biblical supports for transubstantiation. the first is the biblical account of the last supper found in Luke 22 and Mathew 26. the second is the bread of life discourse found in John 6. the third is Pauls description of the Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 10-11

we will start with the last supper:

here is the text of Luke 22: 14-20 which is the longest section to describe this event

Luke 22: 14-20
14And when the hour was come, he sat down: and the twelve apostles with him.
15And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer.
16For I say to you that from this time I will not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17And having taken the chalice, he gave thanks and said: Take and divide it among you.
18For I say to you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, till the kingdom of God come.
19And taking bread, he gave thanks and brake and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.
20In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.

Greek analysis of Mathew 16:18

the greek text of mathiew 16:18 is as follows: κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς· which translates to Thou art peter and upon this rock I will build my church.

A common objection to the papacy is the big rock little rock theory. this theory is based off of the fact that the greak uses two words for rock in the sentence. “Thou art petros and upon this petra I will build my church”. in ancient greek these two forms or rock had different meaning, Petro being a small rock and Petra being a big rock. however in koine greek there is no distinction, the difference is only in gender which is neccessary since peter is a man and the regular word for rock is feminine. if a distinction was inteded the word lithos which means large rock would have been used instead of petra.

in addition jesus and his disciples spoke aramaic and not greek, and Ss. Papias and Irenaeus said that the gospel was originally written in this launguage. in aramaic there is only one word for rock which is kepha. we know that peter was called this as this is what paul calls peter in his epistles. this means that peter was not called a little rock as the word in aramiac is evna which peter is never described as. this means that the 2 words for stone are the same in the passage

this brings our more clear translation to “Thou art rock and upon this rock I will build my church”

next we have to identify who the rock is.

we will begin with the beginning of the sentence. we know that the object of the sentence is Simon as Mathew 16:17 identifies him as the object.

Jesus then uses the pronoun σὺ which translates to “you”. “σύ” (su) is the second-person singular pronoun, meaning “you” in the singular form. Its plural counterpart is “ὑμεῖς” (humeis), which translates to “you” in the plural form. 

This brings our more clear translation to this “Thou (addressing only peter) are the rock(simon-peter), and upon this rock I will build my church”

next we will examine the next part of the text

greek mathiew 16:19 “δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.”

this translates to “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

lets look at who is being refered to with the word “you”. again this version of “you” is singular. this brings the clearer translation to “I will give you (peter) the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”