The Eucharist: A Symbol or a Sacrament?
By Nina Leone
What is a sacrament? A sacrament is an outward sign established by Jesus Christ and given to the Church to give inward grace. The grace we receive in the participation of the Sacraments allows us to participate in the life of God. The word sacrament comes from the Latin word “Sacramentum” which means “A sign from the sacred”. There are two categories of grace: sanctifying grace and actual grace. Sanctifying grace is the life of God in you and the indwelling of the Trinity which only comes through the Sacraments. Actual grace is God's exterior movement propelling us towards greater depths of holiness within our daily lives in how we live. Sacraments bear fruit when received correctly and with proper knowledge of them. Jesus instituted these Sacraments of the New Law. There are seven total: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. If you are old enough to read this, you need Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, and the Eucharist in order to be fully united with the Body of Christ. Today we will be discussing the Eucharist, and why it is not just a symbol as Protestantism claims.
Before we dive into the Eucharist as a sacrament, we need to define the difference between a sacrament and a work. Many Protestants claim that Sacraments are works. “Baptism is a work.” No, its a command. “And now why do you wait? Rise, and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). These are instructions to receive inward grace. A sacrament allows us to be placed into a state of grace or to grow in grace, and is a supernatural work of God. Simply put: a “work” is an action or a deed that we perform. It can be good or bad, but we own it. An example of a good work is taking your grandmother to the doctor’s office or visiting her when she is sick. A sacrament, on the other hand, is a means to grace, which originates with the Church. Another way to explain this is that we are commanded to have faith. The act of faith is not a work, just as repentance isn’t a work. When Jesus says, “You must be born again,” we are responding to the command. Work is done under grace, a sacrament is the sign of a covenant. When a husband and a wife enter a covenant, they take out the trash or take care of each other when they are sick, out of love, under a covenant. Works are done under grace but are not a sacrament. God wants a covenant with his children.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)
Jesus commanded us to take part in these sacraments for the salvation of our souls.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.” (John 6:53-55)
The Catholic Church offers what we call the Eucharist every day in the daily Mass. It is also referred to as our daily bread or the daily sacrifice. What exactly is the Eucharist? The Eucharist is the very sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus which he instituted to perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until his return in glory. The Eucharist (from the Greek ‘Eucharistia’ for “thanksgiving”) is central in the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Himself is truly, wholly, and substantially present in the Eucharist. By this, they mean, his Body and his Blood, truly. They teach that to have salvation and life inside of us, we must partake in this sacrament in accordance with Sacred Scripture and in accordance with the commands of Christ. The Eucharist, or Communion, is not just a symbol. It is a symbol inside of Protestant Churches for multiple reasons, but inside the Catholic Church, Jesus is truly present. He is hidden under the appearance of bread and wine, but the substance is transformed into His Body and Blood. We may see and taste bread, but we are truly receiving His Body and Blood.
I Am the Bread of Life
“Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6: 11-29)
Verse 26 shows how they sought after him not because they had seen the signs, but because they had eaten of the bread and were hungry. Jesus tells them instead to pursue the food that endures to eternal life, which He will give to them. He initiated this at the Last Supper, when He consecrated the first Eucharist. If the Eucharist were just a symbol, and thus mere bread, it would not endure to eternal life. “I am the Bread of Life”. He is truly present in the Eucharist, not symbolically. Later on, after the Resurrection of our Lord, we see something similar happen.
“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emma′us, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cle′opas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, 29 but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
(Luke 24: 13-35)
Would a symbol have the ability to open the eyes of the men who walked beside him and did not even recognize him? Only Jesus can do that. He blesses the bread, and suddenly He is present to them; their eyes are opened. This is because He had instituted the Eucharist just days before at the Last Supper. 2000 years later, the Catholic Church, the Church founded by Jesus himself, still does this daily.
“Who, but the devil, has granted such license of wresting the words of the holy Scripture? Who ever read in the Scriptures, that my body is the same as the sign of my body? or, that is is the same as it signifies? What language in the world ever spoke so? It is only then the devil, that imposes upon us by these fanatical men. Not one of the Fathers of the Church, though so numerous, ever spoke as the Sacramentarians: not one of them ever said, It is only bread and wine; or, the body and blood of Christ is not there present.
Surely, it is not credible, nor possible, since they often speak, and repeat their sentiments, that they should never (if they thought so) not so much as once, say, or let slip these words: It is bread only; or the body of Christ is not there, especially it being of great importance, that men should not be deceived. Certainly, in so many Fathers, and in so many writings, the negative might at least be found in one of them, had they thought the body and blood of Christ were not really present: but they are all of them unanimous.”
—Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation—Luther’s Collected Works, Wittenburg Edition, no. 7 p, 391
That’s very strange that even the leader of the Protestant Reformation professed the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, yet, Protestants today deny this. Even Martin Luther, the man who taught that the Body of Christ could be splintered into denominations, recognized this. He held to a view called consubstantiation, whereas the Church held to the dogma of Transubstantiation. But today, the majority of Protestants do not even recognize Luther's view and have rejected it altogether. Yet again, the Reformation produced horrible fruit, and along the way, man took the interpretation of Sacred Scripture into his hands and began to make literal things figurative, and figurative/symbolic things literal. Martin Luther also had no authority to distribute the Eucharist since he was not an apostolic successor. Protestants do not understand this, partially because they do not have a true Eucharist in their sects since only a church with apostolic succession can have valid sacraments. This is also due to the heresy of Sola Scriptura and Private Interpretation which we know is forbidden. Truth has been lost along the way, and people have no idea what they’ve truly lost. The truth remains inside the one true Church: The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We are to discern that this is truly Jesus’ Body and Blood. Let’s take a look at what St. Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 11: 23-32 regarding the Lord’s Supper:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is foryou. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Behold, The Lamb of God
The blood and the water that flowed from Christ’s side on the Cross are the Eucharist (the blood), and Baptism (the water). The Eucharist was prefigured by the Passover Lamb according to Church Doctor St. John Chrystosom. They are the Sacraments poured out from the Lamb of God (the perfect sacrifice). There are many events in the Old Testament that prefigure the Eucharist.
When Abraham returns from freeing his kinsmen who had been taken as captive, Abraham is met by Melchizidek, the priest king of Salem. Melchizidek blesses Abraham, and then offers a sacrifice to God in thanksgiving of Abraham’s success (Eucharist means thanksgiving). An offering of bread and wine were offered up instead of the typical animal sacrifice (Gen 14:17-20). The bread and wine in a Catholic mass are also changed into the body and blood of Jesus, and given to the members.
During the first Passover supper, God tells the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless and unblemished lamb as an offering to God. The lamb would be eaten by the people, and the blood placed over their doors as protection from the angel of death (Ex 12:1-13). In the Eucharist, Jesus, the Lamb of God, offers Himself as a sacrifice to the Father. We then consume his flesh and blood as protection against spiritual death and hell.
"For from the rising of the sun even to the
going down, my name is great among the
Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice,
and there is offered to my name a clean
oblation: for my name is great among the
Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts"
-Malachi I:II
The prophet Malachi foreseeing a Church with
a sacrifice. Thousands of Catholic (Catholic
means universal/according to the whole/all)
altars upon which the "clean oblation" is
offered daily up to the Most High.
“30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows[a] that he tells the truth.) 36 These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” 37 And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
Firstly, the Roman Empire loved to crucify people, and sometimes it would take days for them to die while hanging up on the cross. Jesus died as soon as He gave up His spirit, which shocked them. In the above clip you will see that when Jesus is pierced, the blood and water flow from his side, and the eyes of the centurion are opened to who is on that cross.
“54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54)
This also fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah from the Old Testament:
“10 And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one[a] whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10) Everyone from there on, wept over his death, but three days later he was resurrected.
Real Flesh and Real Blood
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:47-51)
Here Jesus wishes to differentiate between the manna (which was the prefiguration of the Eucharist), and the Eucharist which He will institute at the Last Supper. He says that the manna which came down from Heaven that their fathers ate of did not provide eternal life, it only gave earthly life by helping them survive in the wilderness. He then says He is the living bread that came down from Heaven which will give eternal life: and that this bread is his true flesh. “I am the bread of life.” Let’s continue:
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.) (John 6:52-71)
This excerpt shows a few very key things:
Even in those days, they had a hard time believing that bread could truly be transformed into the flesh and blood of Jesus. This is similar to how Protestant’s will claim, “That is cannibalism!” When you explain it to them 2000 years later. Not all believe, just as they did not in those days, and abandoned Jesus, leaving the twelve, who did believe. Even they were puzzled, but Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Protestants should note that to reject the teachings of the Lord, is to not believe in Him. This is not cannibalism and the only one changed is the recipient because He remains unchanged.
If Jesus had meant to be understood symbolically, He could have clarified as the disciples grumbled. He didn’t. Instead He explained that most would not believe. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” If it were easy to understand, it wouldn’t have caused the grumbling. ““How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” If you look in contrast with John 4:32, Jesus says: “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” The disciples then thought Jesus was referring to real food. The Lord clarifies in verse 34 and says: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work” (see Matthew 16:5-12 too).
Jesus says: “So the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” That is not to be taken symbolically. That is to be understood literally. It is His true and substantial flesh and blood. And they give eternal life.
Jesus is TRULY present in the Eucharist.
The Catholic Church gives the Eucharist in the daily Mass. Other names for it include “The Blessed Sacrament”, “The Daily Sacrifice”, or our “Daily Bread” in accordance with Matthew 6: 9-13:
“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
It is interesting to note a few things:
If Communion/the Eucharist is only a symbol, why do it at all? It is the same with Baptism. If they do not have eternal value, why did Jesus ask us to do them?
To not be taking Communion means you are out of communion with the Body (Common union)
Why do Satanists sneak into Masses to steal the Eucharist? This is why priests will chase down people who do not place it in their mouths. Because even Satanists discern that this is the Body and Blood of Jesus, yet most people do not. They sneak in and steal the Blessed Sacrament and desecrate it in their Black Mass - because even Satanists know that the Holy Mass is the most pure form of worship. Thus they invert it.
We are entering the Days of Noah again. You can already see them setting up abominations within the Vatican. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days” (Daniel 12:11). There will be an abomination so grand soon, and they will either try to cease the Eucharist, or something so blasphemous will occur where they attempt to replace the Eucharist. That is when the desolation will occur, because when you ban the presence of Jesus on earth, you will achieve the opposite of Heaven: You will get hell on earth. Desolation will occur, global holocausts, and absolute mayhem. That will begin the last half of the Seven Year Tribulation from Scriptures.
Francis of Rome with the Pachamama (Amazon Fertility goddess) in 2019. Two true Catholic men came and thew her into the Tiber river where she belongs. For more on how the gates of hell are trying to destroy the true Church: read The Plot to Destroy the Church from within by Dr. Taylor Marshall or read The Alta Vendita here.
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."
[Malachias (Malachi) 1:11] (prophecy of Malachi)
Without the Mass, we perish. The Mass is our sacrifice to God, which is why Jesus died on the cross for us- so we would have a spotless Lamb. The Eucharist is a sacrifice - it is truly the Body of Christ, as He said.
“And this food is called among us Eucharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, ‘This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;’ and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, ‘This is My blood;’ and gave it to them alone.”
—St. Justin Martyr, 155 AD
“For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” — St. Justin Martyr
“For all who belong to God and Jesus Christ are with the bishop; all who repent and return to the unity of the Church will also belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived, my brothers. If anyone follows a schismatic, he will not obtain the inheritance of God’s kingdom; if anyone lives by an alien teaching, he does not assent to the passion of the Lord. Be careful, therefore, to take part only in the one Eucharist; for there is only one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup to unite us with his blood, one altar and one bishop with the presbyters and deacons, who are his fellow servants. Then, whatever you do, you will do according to God.”
—St. Ignatius of Antioch, Disciple of St. John the Apostle of Jesus Christ
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that you should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils. See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.”
— St. Ignatius of Antioch, Disciple of John the Apostle of Jesus Christ
“Even of itself the teaching of the Blessed Paul is sufficient to give you a full assurance concerning those Divine Mysteries, of which having been deemed worthy, you have become of the same body and blood with Christ. For you have just heard him say distinctly, That our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it, and gave to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body: and having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, Take, drink, this is My Blood. Since then He Himself declared and said of the Bread, This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any longer? And since He has Himself affirmed and said, This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate, saying, that it is not His blood? He once in Cana of Galilee, turned the water into wine, akin to blood , and is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood? When called to a bodily marriage, He miraculously wrought that wonderful work; and on the children of the bride-chamber Matthew 9:15, shall He not much rather be acknowledged to have bestowed the fruition of His Body and Blood ? Wherefore with full assurance let us partake as of the Body and Blood of Christ: for in the figure of Bread is given to you His Body, and in the figure of Wine His Blood; that you by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, may be made of the same body and the same blood with Him. For thus we come to bear Christ in us, because His Body and Blood are distributed through our members; thus it is that, according to the blessed Peter, we become partakers of the divine nature 2 Peter 1:4 . Christ on a certain occasion discoursing with the Jews said, Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you. John 6:53 They not having heard His saying in a spiritual sense were offended, and went back, supposing that He was inviting them to eat flesh.” — St Cyril of Jerusalem, 4th Century
Check out Protestant preacher, Francis Chan, as he discovered that all Christians prior to the Protestant Reformation adhered to this:
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” John 6:56
Remember, you are what you eat. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He never left, and seeks to be in union with those who seek Him. “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
”And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)
