The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

by Fr. Jeff Wilson  |  06/22/2025  |  From the Clergy

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ; it is the Catholic celebration of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Jesus instructed the apostles to consecrate the bread and wine to become His true body and blood as the Holy Sacrifice in the Mass. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, as the catholic faithful participate in his one sacrifice, represented at Calvary, continuously, every hour at all Masses throughout the world. This has always been the teaching of the Catholic Church, though its understanding had become less known in recent generations.

In 2019 the Pew Research Center surveyed 69% self described Catholics in the U.S. that didn’t believe in the real presence, that it was just a symbol; while 31% did believe in the real presence. In 2022 CARA reported similar percentages, i.e. 65% as symbolic, while 35% in the real presence. Naturally, the belief in the real presence is much higher among faithful church goers 90+%. There appears to be two reasons for the unbelief; the more secular society becomes, the less believing. The Culture of Death is pervasive to the point of ‘normalizing’ a more worldly view of life, than the spiritual life.

Secondly, the founding principles of the U.S. with its constitutions were grounded in Christianity of the more Protestant Tradition. Protestantism, from the mid-sixteenth century, was brought about through excommunication by Martin Luther, a catholic priest who fell away from the Roman Catholic Church due to some abuses which eventually led to the Church’s Reformation. Protestantism was the rise of the ‘Christian’ church which had no catholic priest or bishop with the proper faculties to validly consecrate bread and wine, since it separated itself from the Catholic Church, and its apostolic successions.

Today non Catholics believing in Christ, correctly believe their Communion is a symbol, for ‘theirs’ is not consecrated by the hands of the catholic priest, ordained from the Traditions of the Acts of the Apostles. This non-Catholic mindset and understanding have pervaded the minds of many nominal Catholics today. Fortunately, the Western Church has been actively re-evangelizing her faithful, with many returning to the Real Presence. Lately, France, (including in the US), has seen a surge of youth and young adults seeking to immerse themselves in Christ, the transcendence of the Church as sacrament and in the Eucharist. Let us immerse ourselves in His real presence, the risen and ascended Christ who is with us Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Fr. Jeff Wilson