Catholics believe that the Holy Eucharist is really the Body, Blood, rai, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine. While this belief can seem strange to non-Catholics, it is backed up by Sacred Scripture, as well as early Christian historical documents.
The Gospels tell us that on the night Jesus was betrayed He shared a Passover meal with the Twelve Apostles, the Last Supper. The Passover is the ritual meal eaten by the ancient Israelites on the eve of their liberation from bondage in Egypt. God instructed them to slaughter a lamb without blemish, put some of its blood upon the doorframe of their houses, and then roast and eat its flesh (Fitowa 12:5, 7-8).
Yesu, whom the Bible calls “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), is the fulfillment of the Passover lamb. Just as the Passover lamb was without blemish, so Jesus is without sin. Just as the people put the lamb’s blood upon the wood of their doorframes, His blood was upon the wood of the Cross.
Hakanan, the Last Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal, eaten as it was on the eve of mankind’s liberation from sin. On this night the Lamb of God gave His own Flesh and Blood to be eaten by the faithful sacramentally under the form of bread and wine.
Shan burodi, albarkace shi, karya shi, da rarraba shi a cikin Manzanni, Yace, “Dauka, ci; wannan jikina ne" (Matiyu 26:26). Sai ya dauki kofi, wanda kuma ya sanya albarka, kuma ya ba su, yana cewa, “Ku sha, dukkan ku; gama wannan ne jinina na alkawari, wanda ake zuba domin mutane da yawa domin gafarar zunubai” (Matiyu 26:27-28). Ko da yake Yesu sau da yawa ya yi magana da misali a lokacin hidimarsa, a wannan lokaci mai muhimmanci ya yi magana a sarari. “Wannan jikina ne,” Yace, without further explanation. "Wannan jinina ne." Yana da wuya a yi tunanin yadda Ubangiji zai kasance da kai tsaye.
Cibiyar Yesu ta Eucharist a Jibin Ƙarshe ya cika sanannen wa'azinsa na Gurasa na Rayuwa, rubuce a cikin sixth chapter of The Gospel According to Saint John. An gabatar da wannan wa'azin ne ta hanyar yawaitar burodi da kifi, in which thousands are miraculously fed from a tiny amount of food (John 6:4). This event is an Eucharistic metaphor, occurring as it does during Passover and involving the same formula Jesus would later use at the Last Supper—taking the loaves, godiya, da rarraba su (John 6:11). Sa'ad da mutãne suka komo a yini mai zuwa, dõmin su nẽmi wata ãyã daga gare Shi, suna tunawa da yadda aka ba kakanninsu manna a jeji (gani Ex. 16:14 da ff.), the Lord tells them,“Ni ne gurasar rai; he who comes to me shall not hunger, kuma wanda ya gaskata da ni ba zai ji ƙishirwa ba har abada. (John 6:35).
Ko da yake maganarsa ta sa Yahudawa cikin damuwa, Yesu ya ci gaba da tafiya, Jawabinsa yana girma a hankali yana da hoto, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; idan kowa ya ci wannan gurasar, zai rayu har abada; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (6:51). Because He equates the Bread that is to be eaten with His Flesh that is to suffer and die, we know He cannot be speaking symbolically, for this would mean His Flesh that suffered and died was merely a symbol!
To this the people ask, “Yaya mutumin nan zai ba mu namansa mu ci?” (6:52). Duk da fargabar da suke ciki, Jesus speaks all the more emphatically,
“Hakika, da gaske, Ina ce muku, sai dai idan kun ci naman Ɗan Mutum, ku sha jininsa, ba ku da rai a cikin ku; wanda ya ci namana, ya sha jinina, yana da rai madawwami, Zan tashe shi a ranar ƙarshe. Gama naman naman abinci ne, kuma jinina abin sha ne. Wanda ya ci namana, ya sha jinina, yana zaune a cikina, kuma ni a cikinsa. Kamar yadda Uba mai rai ya aiko ni, kuma ina rayuwa saboda Uba, Don haka wanda ya ci ni zai rayu sabili da ni. Wannan ita ce gurasar da ta sauko daga sama, ba kamar yadda ubanni suka ci suka mutu ba; wanda ya ci wannan gurasa, zai rayu har abada.” (6:53-58).
Non-Catholic Christians, who interpret John 6 symbolically, often point to the saying of Jesus that follows His Bread of Life Sermon: “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (6:63).
Jesus cannot mean His own Flesh, ko da yake, when He says, “The flesh is of no avail,” because that would mean His death on the Cross was of no avail!
Jesus uses the word “flesh” differently here than He does in the sermon. Here it refers not to the actual body, but to bodily or worldly thinking, reasoning with the flesh instead of the spirit (gani John 3:6, 12; 6:27; Bulus Wasika zuwa ga Romawa 8:5-6 kuma nasa Wasika ta Farko zuwa ga Korintiyawa 2:14-3:3). Jesus is simply saying that it is impossible to understand His Bread of Life teaching by human reason alone; one needs to think in a spiritual way.
Bikin Eucharist shine jigon rayuwar Kiristoci na farko, waɗanda suka “ba da kansu ga koyarwar manzanni da tarayya, ga gutsuttsura biredi da sallah” (Ayyukan Manzanni 2:42). Paul identifies both the manna and the rock that spewed forth water for the Israelites as Eucharistic metaphors. “Dukansu sun ci abinci iri ɗaya kuma duk sun sha abin sha na allahntaka,” ya rubuta. “Domin sun sha daga dutsen da yake biye da su, Dutsen kuma shi ne Almasihu” (Bulus Wasika ta Farko zuwa ga Korintiyawa 10:3-4).
Even more explicitly, he goes on to admonish the Corinthians for their lack of reverence in receiving the Eucharist, rubuta:
“Whoever, saboda haka, ya ci gurasar ko ya sha ƙoƙon Ubangiji a hanyar da bai dace ba zai zama laifin ɓata jiki da jinin Ubangiji.. 28 Bari mutum ya gwada kansa, Sabõda haka ku ci daga gurasar, ku sha daga ƙoƙon. 29 Domin duk wanda ya ci yana sha ba tare da sanin jiki ba, yana ci yana sha hukuncin kansa. 30 Shi ya sa da yawa daga cikinku suke raunana da rashin lafiya, wasu kuma sun mutu" (Wasika ta Farko zuwa ga Korintiyawa 11:27-30).
How could the unworthy reception of ordinary bread and wine amount to a sin against the Body and Blood of Jesus?
Early Church Teachings
We know the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Eucharist is in harmony with how the early Christians understood It. Ancient historical writings from the Apostolic Age forward affirm this. Take the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, misali. Not only was Ignatius a Christian Bishop, but he had learned the faith seated at the feet of the Evangelist John, the one who wrote John 6!
In about A.D. 107, Ignatius was arrested and taken to Rome to die a martyr’s death in the Colisseum.
On his way there, he composed seven letters, which have come down to us and which all reputable scholars agree are authentic.
A cikin nasa Wasika zuwa ga Smyrnaeans, he uses the Church’s Eucharistic teaching to defend the belief that Jesus had a real human body against the Docetists, who denied He had truly come in the flesh:
“Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, kuma ku ga yadda ra'ayinsu ya saba wa tunanin Allah. … Suna kaurace wa Eucharist da addu’a, domin ba su furta cewa Eucharist Jikin Mai Cetonmu Yesu Almasihu ne ba, Naman da ya sha wahala domin zunubanmu da kuma wanda Uba, cikin alherinsa, raised up again.” (6:2; 7:1)
Jikin da ya sha wahala ya mutu akan giciye domin zunubanmu kuma ya dawo daga matattu, kamar yadda Ignatius ya bayyana, yana nan a gare mu a cikin Eucharist mai tsarki (cf. John 6:51).
Saint Justin shahidi, writing around the year 150, only about fifty years after John’s death, Ya ce Gurasar Eucharist da Wine ana karɓar su “ba a matsayin burodi na yau da kullun ko abin sha ba,” gama su “jini ne na Yesu cikin jiki” (Farkon Uzuri 66).
A game da 185, Saint Irenaeus na Lyons, wanda malaminsa Saint Polycarp na Smyrna (d. ca. 156) kuma ya san Yahaya, yayi magana akan Eucharist wajen kare tashin matattu daga ginshiƙi. “Idan jiki bai sami ceto ba,” in ji Waliyi, “to, a gaskiya, Haka kuma Ubangiji bai fanshe mu da jininsa ba; kuma ba ƙoƙon Eucharist ba shine cin jininsa ba haka kuma gurasar da muke karya jikin sa. (1 Kor. 10:16)” (Akan Bidi'a 5:2:2).
A ciki 217, Irenaeus’ student, Saint Hippolytus na Roma, perceived Proverbs 9:2 as “refer[ring] to His honoured and undefiled body and blood, which day by day are administered and offered sacrificially at the spiritual divine table, as a memorial of that first and ever-memorable table of the spiritual divine supper” (Commentary on Proverbs).