The Catholic Church has long assigned special devotions to each month of the year. April is for honoring the Holy Eucharist.
This practice of monthly devotions actually began back in the Middle Ages. Today many monthly devotions have become traditional practices. For example, May traditionally honors Mary, and November is for the souls in Purgatory. March is for honoring St. Joseph and June pays special honor to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
April honors the Holy Eucharist because historians believe it is most likely the month of Christ’s Passion. It includes Holy Thursday when Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper.
The hope is April will be a special month for Catholics to begin to strengthen their understanding of and devotion to the truth of the Eucharist. The consecrated Bread and Wine at Mass is the real body and blood of Jesus Himself.
Transubstantiation
The Real Presence doctrine of “transubstantiation” means the body and blood of Jesus Christ replaces the substance or qualities of bread and wine. This occurs each time the priest at Mass, obeying Christ, speaks the words of consecration:
“Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you…Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood…”
At this time, the “bread-ness” and “wine-ness” at Communion become the living Jesus. Transubstantiation describes how the color, texture, and taste of the bread and wine remain, but they lose their substance. Transubstantiation is truly a mystery because it means the Real Presence of Christ and the absence of bread and wine.
As the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” teaches, “1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood.”
Non-Catholics Do Not Believe
Almost all other Christian religions believe that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are just symbols. Catholicism is the only religion that believes and proclaims the Real Presence. Jesus Christ comes to us in the Eucharist to nourish us.
The Church may proclaim this, but sadly too many people who identify as Catholic do not believe it. A 2019 Pew study stated that only 31% of U.S. Catholics believe that during Mass the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.
Another study in 2023, by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), used came up with worse results. It used a different methodology and came up with a slightly higher – but still embarrassing – number. According to the CARA survey 38% of Catholics do not believe in and/or understand what the Church teaches about the Real Presence.
When a Catholic receives Holy Communion, the priest presents the sacred Host and says, “The Body of Christ,” and the person responds, “Amen.” That word amen translates to mean, “I give you my solemn agreement.” By saying, “Amen,” the recipient affirms before God the belief that he or she is receiving, in fact, the Body of Christ hidden under the appearances of bread.
If a Catholic has any doubts about the Real Presence, he or she must refrain from Communion at Mass. This is because it is actually is a sin to receive “The Body of Christ” at Mass but not truly believe it is the Body of Christ. Such a “doubting Thomas” should pray for the grace to become a believer in the Real Presence.
It was St. Paul who chastised, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” And “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27/29).
Paul’s warning would seem cruel if indeed what a person is consuming in the Eucharist is simply a piece of bread. His cautious counsel only makes sense if Jesus is really present.
It Is Not Symbolic or Metaphorical
Most non-Catholics – and regrettably, too many Catholics-in-name-only – do not believe Jesus really meant for us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. But He emphasized nine times (John 6:35-56) that His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink.
Both His disciples and Christ’s Jewish audience understood what He was saying was literal, not metaphorical. Many responded, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” and “This is a hard saying; who can accept it?” (John 6:52/60).
If these people were mistaken in taking Jesus literally, Jesus would most certainly have corrected their misunderstanding. But He did not do that. Jesus doubled down. He repeated over and over that He is the bread of life and people are to eat His body.
In other Gospel accounts (such as John 4:31-34, Matthew 16:5-12, Luke 8:9-15), after using analogies and parables, Jesus explained to His disciples the point he was trying to get across. But in John 6, He doesn’t give any sort of explanation to ease the difficulty His disciples are having with the teaching of the Real Presence. He allows many to walk away in disbelief because what He was proclaiming was literal and could not be explained away as a figure of speech.
He also repeats the corroboration, “Amen, amen (Truly, truly) I say to you!” three times in this chapter. Our Lord only used that phrase in the Gospels when He was resolutely making a point.
Start This April
Knowing how significant and miraculous the Eucharist is, Catholics might want to consider partaking in several of these suggested actions, not just in April, but all year-long.
- Attend Mass not just Sunday, but, if possible, weekday Masses as well so you may receive Communion more than once a week.
- If you cannot receive Communion, express a heartfelt desire to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. The most common way is to recite a “Spiritual Communion.”
- Increase the minimally required 1-hour time to fast from food and drink prior to receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to at least 3-hours.
- Being in the state of grace is a necessary condition if one is to receive Communion. As such, it wouldn’t hurt to increase your participation in the Sacrament of Penance by going to Confession at least once a month.
- Read about the “Body and Blood of Christ” in the Bible. Read John Chapter 6 as well as the Last Supper accounts in the other three Holy Gospels.
- Attend your parish’s Eucharistic Adoration occasions. During these times, sit or kneel in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament, and be aware of the presence of the Lord. Contemplate how much He loves you, and profess your desire to love Him and be with Him forever.
- Read “The Sacrament of the Eucharist” section in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
- Increase the time you spend in prayer prior to receiving Holy Communion and in thanksgiving immediately after receiving. Some suggested prayers can be found here.
Receive the Host Most Reverently
Finally, if a Catholic does not already receive Communion on the tongue and kneeling, he or she might want to consider moving to this most reverential gesture. The preferred manner throughout most of Church history is to receive kneeling and on the tongue. It has only been since the 1970s that the Church re-adopted the very ancient practice of receiving while standing and in the hand.
When the Church began allowing reception of Jesus in the hand, it stipulated that care and reverence were necessary. St. Cyril, in the fourth century described this ancient practice as literally moving the mouth down to the palm of the hand on which the priest places the host and eating directly from this hand.
Today, however, “those who receive in the hand have the right hand under the left. The priest puts the host in the communicant’s left hand, and the communicant, with his right hand, transfers the host from his left hand to his mouth.”
Even so, communicants must take care not to let small particles fall to the ground. These particles are Jesus’s body!
Throughout most of Church history, however, communicants received Holy Communion upon the tongue. This is because the Eucharist is no common food but our very Lord and God. Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s new Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith, states:
“We believe, adore, and submit to the ineffable divine Majesty hidden in the little host, allowing ourselves to be fed by the good God like little children, since this supernatural food is His alone to give, and we cannot earn it or be ‘equal’ to it.”
My own preference is a return to the once universal practice of receiving the Blessed Sacrament on the tongue. It should be obvious that a sign of adoration and reverence is to kneel when receiving. The Magi, for instance, after arriving at the infant Jesus’s manger, did not stand around while in the company of the newborn King. “They prostrated themselves and did him homage” (Mathew 2:11). So too, should we the faithful when in the company of our King and are about to receive Him in Communion.
Does it make sense to kneel before Mass in silent prayer, during the Consecration, and just before and after receiving Communion, yet not kneel at the exact moment of actual, physical union with Christ?
Kneeling is the most solemn way to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Kneeling expresses humility and deference to our Savior. Similarly receiving directly on the tongue also expresses humility and submissiveness. Most importantly, kneeling embodies a profound encounter with the living Christ. The recipient is showing that he or she believes, “Jesus is truly present, I am going to literally consume Him, and His life will now mix with mine!”
Christ Nourishes Our Souls
Nothing creates more intimacy with Jesus than literally receiving Him in the Eucharist, where He is truly present and living. When you receive Holy Communion, you make an act of faith. Your consuming of His body is proof of your belief that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
One of the most wonderful things about being Catholic is the ability to receive the gift of the Eucharist. It is amazing to think that God is hidden under the appearance of the Host and is present in all the tabernacles of the world.
Our Lord becomes present to us at every Mass, asks us to consume him, and promises us eternal life when we do. As Archbishop (soon to be Saint) Fulton Sheen once said, “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host!”
