Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
A Reader Asks: Is the Eucharist Cannibalism?

A Reader Asks: Is the Eucharist Cannibalism?

Last updated on: October 10, 2017 at 2:57 am by Mary Pezzulo

A Reader Asks: Is the Eucharist Cannibalism? 2017-10-10T02:57:22-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

eucharist-1591663_640

A friend had a question: what do I say to a person, who is soon to be accepted into full communion with the Catholic Church, who keeps asking if the Eucharist is really a form of cannibalism?

If I were you I’d be honest. You’d better tell him that it is cannibalism, in a sense. It is eating a human Body. It’s horrifying in its way. That’s why the Jews were so shocked when Christ brought it up; that’s why so many people left Him when He insisted.

So many people left Him. And He loved those people, more than His own life. He came that none of them should be lost. But He didn’t call them back and explain the metaphor, because it wasn’t one. When He said “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world,” He meant it. You have to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Everyone who receives Holy Communion, receives the flesh and blood of Christ.

We receive the flesh and blood of Christ. Not a little piece, but the whole flesh and blood of Christ. Christ cannot be divided. Christ cannot be broken down into parts. Christ is God and God is One. Everyone who receives Holy Communion receives all the flesh and blood of Christ. Everyone who receives Holy Communion receives the whole Body, all of it, all the Blood, the whole Soul and Divinity as well. Everything that is Christ is in every wafer or crumb of the Precious Body and every drop of the Precious Blood. Everyone who receives Communion, receives all of Christ.

We receive Christ, the Wisdom that played upon the waters before the earth was formed. We receive Christ who took flesh as a microscopic zygote in the body of a young woman two thousand years ago. We receive Christ as He was born in the stable; Christ as He was carried helpless, a fugitive, into Egypt. We receive Christ in His hidden childhood in Nazareth, Christ baptized in the Jordan, Christ the healer, the teacher, the king entering Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. We receive Christ before the Sanhedrin, Christ before Pilate, Christ scourged, Christ mocked, Christ crucified, Christ dead and sealed in the tomb. We receive the Risen Christ. We receive Christ who is coming to judge the living and the dead. Each of us receives all of Christ.

When we receive Holy Communion, we do not each receive a different Christ. We do not each receive a bite of Christ. It’s not that you receive one piece of Christ and I another; it’s not that Saint Catherine six hundred years ago received one Christ and I received a different one. Everyone who receives Holy Communion receives the exact same Christ. Every sip of the chalice and every wafer or cube of the Host is all of Christ. You and I, Saint Patrick and the Pope, every Catholic who has ever received Holy Communion has received the exact same Christ.

And when we receive all of Christ, Christ receives all of us. Christ takes all of you to Himself, and in the same way you take all of Him into you. The eternal Bridegroom and the bride– that’s you, whether you’re male or female, every human being is the Bride– become one flesh. Your body, your soul, your personality, your history, become one with Christ’s. While you live, you will live the life of Christ. When you are happy, you share the joy of Christ. When you suffer and die, you will suffer and die with Christ– and you will rise with Him as well. He does this for each communicant individually, and He does it for all of us who have received Holy Communion.

What a terrible, wonderful, inconvenient mystery. I have swallowed God and you, the new communicant, are about to swallow the same God. Not one or another piece of God, because God is One. All of us individually are about to eat the same God, and when we do, He will eat us. This will happen whether we who receive Him believed it or not, whether we know it or not, whether we feel it or not. You and I will eat the same Christ and He will eat us. You and I became one flesh with the same Bridegroom. There is only Christ. Without losing the individual selves the Father created, we will become one, just as the Father and Christ are One. Everyone in the Church– not just this church at this liturgy but at all churches in all liturgies that ever have or ever will be celebrated– is one. I am one with Saint Catherine, Saint Nicholas, Saint Paul, Saint Peter, with my ancestors in Ireland and in West Virginia, with the priest who baptized me and who has been dead for years, and with everyone else who receives Communion, because we are all one in Christ.

And when you receive Him, you will be one with us.

It’s infinitely stranger than cannibalism. And infinitely better as well.

(image via Pixabay)

inter-religious dialogue

Interpretation of Scripture

Previous Post

October 10, 2017

Baby Boomers Invented Everything

Next Post

October 11, 2017 We Remain Human

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Hebrews, what two things cannot be shaken?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Faith and love A kingdom that cannot be shaken The word and Spirit Heaven and earth