Ever since our children were little, I’ve strived to explain to them the mystery of transubstantiation — the point at which, under the appearance of bread and wine, the substance of the Eucharist becomes the Body and Blood of Christ.
Because it’s a mystery, I know my human explanations are limited.
And the children have come to accept — as I have as an adult — that yes, because it is a mystery, we will never be able to truly understand it. That’s what “mystery” means.
But something happened the other day at Mass that enlightened my own understanding and might help my children get a little closer to grasping the mystery.
Seeing the unseen
While I was sitting in the front pew, I noticed the candles my son, the altar server, had just lit.
I saw the flame atop the candle, wavering and dancing in its own light.
When I lowered my eyes in prayer, I saw the shadow of that same candle on the floor.
There I saw heat energy gushing from the flame, invisible heat you could only see in shadows on the floor.
The shadows of the heat poured from the flame shadow on the floor, radiating forth in endless streams.
I looked up at the candle again and saw no such stream. Only through the shadows on the floor could I see the invisible action around the flame.
For a moment — indirectly — I could see visibly what was happening invisibly.
Invisible graces
Immediately a metaphor for transubstantiation came to mind.
The flame I could see is like the appearance of the Eucharistic host, for instance, and the “invisible” shadows of heat pouring forth from the flame is like the grace of God pouring forth from the Eucharist once it has become the Body of Christ.
This grace, this miracle, is invisible to us, and yet, even though outwardly we can only see the appearance of bread and wine, we know that — by the Holy Spirit acting through the priest at consecration — the Eucharist has become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.
And when we are aware of what is happening and properly disposed to receive Him, He pours forth on us — invisibly — all the graces we need in our lives.
Real Presence
Without true belief, we just see the flame, we just see bread and wine.
It takes the supernatural eyes of faith to see and truly believe and open our hearts to the unseen and trust and know without a doubt that He is truly present.
Jesus said, “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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53-58).
Jesus Himself has told us that we need to receive Him physically in the Eucharist in order to live.
Confession required
But only with a clean heart — free of mortal sin cleared away in Confession — can we receive Him.
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord,” said St. Paul. “Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1 Corinthians 11: 27-29).
Worthy reception of the Eucharist — which requires regular examination of conscience and regular Confession — is necessary in order to progress on our spiritual journeys, survive this world, and proceed to the next.
Without Him, we are just candles whose flames sputter without the necessary streams of grace that can come only from Him alone.
Visibly in the Eucharist, we receive what invisibly we believe.
Julianne Nornberg, mother of four children, is a member of St. John the Baptist Parish, Waunakee.