The simplest way to explain what we receive at Mass is that "it is what the Lord says it is." Which means, that the bread and wine are not what they were previously. They are now the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the body and soul of a person are one and the temporal and spiritual aspects of the Church are also a unity so the sacrament is also one. This transformation was described at the Council of Trent as "transubstantiation" but no words or philosophy is capable of adequately conveying so great a mystery just as the Holy Trinity defies our ability to fully understand it. The mystery deepens when we realize that the Church, for which the sacrament was instituted and who members receive it, is also really the Body of Christ and likewise admits of no division. Just as the sacrament of the Eucharist makes present the sacrifice of Christ under another form so Christ is present to the world in the Church when she acts sacramentally. After all it is Christ who baptizes, Christ who confirms, Christ who offers himself up and Christ who forgives: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (1 Cor 12: 12) The unity of the Church, as the Body of Christ, and the Eucharist, as the sacrament making present the sacrifice on the Cross, is crucial. I cannot have one without the other and I cannot love one without loving the other. The ambiguity of St Paul is revealing when he told the Corinthians off for divisions in their community: "For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment on themselves." (1 Cor 11: 29) The question I must ask myself is: how do I discern the body - both in the Church and in the Eucharist?
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