Why exactly is it a "hard saying" after all?

I love to think about, pray about and discuss the Church's teaching on the Eucharist because it's truly at the core of the Catholic faith. It's also important, I think, for us to recall that all of Christianity was united on this doctrine for 1500 years (and most Christians throughout the world still are). It is a reality that has defined the faith of countless disciples since the Last Supper. I've addressed this topic before a bit (see my 2/25/2013 post) but it's one that is never exhaustible, so here goes!

From the very beginning, Christ's followers understood his instructions to eat his flesh and drink his blood to be literal. John 6 bears this out quite plainly in that the crowds (of his followers, mind you) were taken aback and said that it was "a hard saying" indeed (see John 6:22-71). Then, something amazing happens: THEY LEAVE IN DROVES!

But surely Jesus spoke up when this happened, right? Surely he called them back and clarified the confusion by explaining that he was merely speaking symbolically, that of course he wasn't actually referring to his real, physical flesh and blood...

Wrong. He lets them leave!

This is absolutely crucial to face. The earliest followers of Christ came to understand this plainly - Jesus fills us with his grace and truth and so too does he leave us the eternal sacrifice promised in Malachi 1:11. He does this by making fully and substantially present his body, blood, soul and divinity in the midst of his Church for us to literally consume. We are nourished by the glorified flesh and blood of Christ, flesh and blood made present at every Mass by the power of Christ working through the priest. We, in a sense, "become what we eat" as we are strengthened and graced by Jesus' spiritual AND physical presence within us.

I am thrilled more and more each day as this reality sinks in. The awe this truth inspires is hard to describe, quite frankly. All I can say is "THANK YOU JESUS!" And now, just for fun, here are a bunch of quotes from some renowned early disciples of Our Lord:

St. Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD): Referring to "those who hold heterodox opinions" or, in other words, those who do not conform with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs of the early church, Ignatius writes in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans:

"They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again."

St. Justin Martyr (ca. 148-155 AD): I've quoted this passage from Justin's First Apology before but it's too clear-cut not to use again:

“This food is called among us Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for  forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as  Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.”

St. Athanasius (373 AD): The legendary Alexandrian bishop had this to say in his Sermon to the Newly Baptized:

"You shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine and placing them on a table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ."

St. Ambrose (390 AD): In his treatise entitled The Sacraments, the venerable bishop further explains how the priest is able to "confect" the bread and wine only by Christ's power, not his own:

"You may perhaps say: 'My bread is ordinary.' But that bread is bread before the words of the sacraments; where the consecration has entered in, the bread becomes the flesh of Christ. And let us add this: How can what is bread be the Body of Christ? By the consecration. The consecration takes place by certain words, but whose words? Those of the Lord Jesus... Therefore it is the word of Christ that confects the sacrament."

Paschasius Radbertus (831 AD): An abbot of Old Corbie Monastery near Amiens, Radbertus wrote quite plainly:

"This is precisely the same flesh that was born of Mary, suffered on the Cross, and rose from the tomb."

There are far too many examples to quote here. I encourage you to look into it and to read the primary sources for yourself!

(Note: Huge hat-tip to Karl Keating and his wonderful book

Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Ignatius Press, 1988.)