February 12, 2023, 12:00 PM

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says transubstantiation is “The scholastic term used to designate the unique change of the Eucharistic bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Transubstantiation indicates that through the consecration of the bread and wine there occurs the change of the entire substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ, and of the entire substance of the wine into the Blood of Christ, even though the appearances or ‘species’ of bread and wine remain” (CCC Glossary). The appearances are also called the “accidents.” The accidents are the natural qualities of bread and wine that we recognize with our senses such as taste, smell, look, texture, etc. It is our faith that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus, the Real Presence, even though the accidents remain. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). With the words of consecration, the substances of bread and wine are changed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity even though the accidents remain. Through faith and our sense of hearing we believe what Jesus tells us in Sacred Scripture, however, our senses still perceive the Eucharist as bread and wine with the qualities of the accidents. So, as the Church teaches, the substance is changed, but the accidents remain. In this way our human senses react to the accidents of gluten and alcohol even though the substance is Jesus Christ. Now you know!