Sermon Blog
The Eucharistic Presence
June 8, 2024
“This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.” John vi. 50. Newman begins the sermon “The Eucharistic Presence,” first preached in 1838, with this verse, reminding us that the time from Ash Wednesday to Trinity Sunday can be called the sacramental season of which the greatest and highest sacramental mystery is Christ in Holy Communion.
“Christ . . . is in it spiritually present, in the fulness of His death and of His resurrection. We call His presence in this Holy Sacrament a spiritual presence, not as if ‘spiritual’ were but a name or mode of speech and He were really absent, but by way of expressing that He who is present there can neither be seen nor heard; . . . or ascertained by any of the senses; . . . though He is really present. And how this is, of course is a mystery. All that we know or need know is that He is given to us, and that in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.”
Newman tells us that as is the case with other passages of the Gospel, St. John omits what the Synoptics already narrate but supplies any omission. Although John does not mention the institution of the Sacrament, he gives us its doctrinal meaning. “He assigns the consecrated Bread as that Body of which He had spoken, and the consecrated Wine as His Blood; and in partaking of the Bread and the Cup, they were partakers of His Body and Blood.”
Christ prepared his disciples by telling them: “I am that Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (Jn 6)
After Christ’s death, the disciples called to mind the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the discourse in the sixth chapter of St. John quoted above, and recognized the proper interpretation of Jesus’s discourse.
“He had said He would give them a bread which should be His flesh and should have life, and surely they recollected this well. Who among us, had he been present, would not under such circumstances, have recognized in His institution of His Supper the fulfilment of that previous promise? Surely, then, we cannot doubt that this announcement in St. John does look on towards, and is accomplished in, the consecrated Bread and Wine of Holy Communion.”
The Church, Newman explains, has never thought little of this great gift. Writing then, as an Anglican, he stated that Anglicans do not believe in the doctrine of the transubstantiation, yet, “That belief, which goes beyond ours, shows how great the gift is really.” Later, as a Catholic he would embrace the Catholic Church’s doctrine.
Newman asserted that the words of Christ contain some great mystery; they are not figurative language. Why should have Christ startled his followers needlessly?
Furthermore, for Newman, “the manna, to which He compares His gift, was not a figure of speech, but [was]really given, really received. The manna [was] a certain something which caused health, continued life, and betokened God’s favour.” Christ tells us that He is the true Manna.
Newman continues, “it is what our Lord says it is, the gift of His own precious Body and Blood, really given, taken, and eaten as the manna might be (though in a way unknown), at a certain particular time, and a certain particular spot; . . . where the Holy Communion is celebrated.”
Jesus reproves the multitude for not accepting the multiplication of the loaves as a miracle, and asks whether or not we fail to approach the Table of the Lord with awe, admiration and hope?
St. Paul expressly warns the Corinthians of the great peril of “not discerning the Lord’s Body.”
The miracle of the loaves, Newman explains, is a type of Holy Communion. And “the incomprehensible nature of the miracle of the loaves is a kind of protection of the mystery of the Eucharist against objections with which men are wont to assail it; as, for instance, that it is impossible.” He argues “If the marvellousness of the miracle of the loaves is no real objection to its truth, neither is the marvellousness of the Eucharistic presence any real difficulty in our believing that gift.”
At his Last Supper, Jesus used the same form and words of institution narrated by the Gospels, because, as Newman notes, the multiplication of loaves “interprets the Lord’s supper.”
Newman concludes with an insightful comment on the appearance of Our Lord’s withdrawl of his words when He said “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” In various passages of the Scriptures, Christ seems to withdraw what he has said, but in fact He is calling us to faith in Him: “Let him who has ears hear.” We are called to have faith in God, and trust in Christ; to pray with a humble heart as we approach the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood.
We can make ours the words of the hymn Adoro te devote, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas:
“Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
. . . .
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
And the Son who reigns on high,
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty. Amen.”
