At the last supper, Jesus sat with the twelve, took bread, broke it, gave it up and said to do that in his memory. That meal is the model for our present liturgy. But that bread that he held in his hand could not have undergone the transubstantiation right? Because Jesus had not died and risen yet, right? That Eucharistic meal was not completed untill he died on the cross and rose on the third day.

Can anybody expand on that?

-- New Guy (Newguy@nothing.com), July 30, 2004

Answers

Hello New Guy.

Just some thoughts.

1. Even before His crucifixion and resurrection, Christ said He could be present "wherever two or three are gathered in My name" (Matthew 18:20). In short, because of His Divinity and by the power of the Spirit, Christ is able to be present wherever He wants to be. And He is fully able to present Himself under the form of Bread and Cup if He wishes to.

2. "Memory" doesn't mean an empty human remembrance, like, "let's eat bread and think about Jesus". It means a sacrificial memorial before the Father.

3. Jesus offered Himself to the Father in the bread and cup before His crucifixion. In fact, His entire life was a "living sacrifice, acceptable to God". The sacrifice on the cross was not merely in the killing of Jesus (that was Deicide by the Romans), but in His loving self-offering of perfect love and obedience, unto death. (This according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition.) The shedding of His Blood is a seal of His perfect obedience, which placates the Father and gains us grace. In other words, Jesus ratified the New Covenant with us even before His death; Calvary was already a "done deal" in that He had freely accepted that suffering and death for our sake.

I'm not sure if I've responded adequately to what you are asking, but hope this helps.

Cordially, Michael

-- Michael (edwardsronning@prodigy.net), July 30, 2004.

As recorded in St. Luke 22:19 Jesus said, "This is my Body..."

It could be theologically stated that a real form of transubstantiation occurred at that time.

Transubstantiation is a human term used to attempt to explain an act of God. As normal, words are inadaquate.

God bless,

-- john placette (jplacette@catholic.org), July 30, 2004.

I'm still a bit confused.

I don't see anything wrong with the idea that while He held the bread in his hand, it underwent the transubstantiation and became Divine. I'm taught that the Eucharistic celebration is Christ's death and ressurection, present before the community, timelessly, on the altar.

What bothers me is that, at that moment, during the last supper, it seems as if that couldn't have been the transubstantiation. He had not suffered, died and ressurected yet. It seems as if that meal, at that point, lacked the qualities of the Eucharistic Celebration we celebrate today.

-- New Guy (NewGuy@Nothing.com), July 31, 2004.

Since Jesus is God and God is omnipresent as he exists in the past, present and future I really don't find this such an impossible accomplishment on Jesus' part.

-- D Joseph (nufiedufie@msn.com), July 31, 2004.