Can a Catholic Priest Change the Bread and Wine?

Note: This was copied from a FB discussion, so some of it may be disjointed, as I was responding in part to comments and questions... But I have a turkey in the oven and can't take up too much time. :) Merry Christmas! The bread and wine do become the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the original Greek, teh word "eat" at the end of The Bread of Life Discourse Ends with the word "trogo", "to chew or gnaw". He says "...unless you /trogo/ (literally chew/eat) my flesh...you will have no life in you." The disciples start to walk away.

If Jesus were speaking metaphorically, wouldnt he have explained it as he did with other metaphors and symbols? Instead, he lets them walk away, turns to His Apostles (and remaining disciples) and says "Will /you/ walk away from me, too?" To which Peter says "Lord, to whom will we go?

You, alone, have the words of everlasting life." So Peter, for all his many mistakes and errors, again gets it right. "I do not understand.

But I know that You are the Christ, and I will obey." As to Priests alone having this authority, this, also, comes to us from the earliest days. Justin Martyr, the first public apologist, describes it in his descriptions of the Mass.

They read scripture. Those who are not fully initiated leave. Then the presider distributes the body.

Consider, as well, about 390 when the Emporer Theodosius massacred 1000 Thessalonians, Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, bars him from entering the Church or recieving Communion until he is repentant. If the Church did not have authority to bar someone from Communion, wouldnt the Roman Emporer simply have done it, himself? Or chosen someone else to do it?

Matt. 26:26-29, JB: “Now as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat;’ he said ‘this is my body.’

Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them. ‘Drink all of you from this,’ he said ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. From now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father.’”

Regarding the expressions “this is my body” and “this is my blood,” the following is noteworthy: Mo reads, “it means my body,” “this means my blood.” (Italics added.) NW reads similarly. LEF renders the expressions, “this represents my body,” “this represents my blood.” (Italics added.) These renderings agree with what is stated in the context, in verse 29, in various Catholic editions. Kx reads: “I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine again, until I drink it with you, new wine, in the kingdom of my Father.” (Italics added.) CC, NAB, Dy also show Jesus referring to what was in the cup as being “this fruit of the vine,” and that was after Jesus had said, “This is my blood.”

Consider the expressions “this is my body” and “this is my blood” in the light of other vivid language used in the Scriptures. Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world,” “I am the gate of the sheepfold,” “I am the true vine.” (John 8:12; 10:7; 15:1, JB) None of these expressions implied a miraculous transformation, did they? At 1 Corinthians 11:25 (JB), the apostle Paul wrote concerning the Last Supper and expressed the same ideas in slightly different words.

Instead of quoting Jesus as saying regarding the cup, “Drink all of you from this . . .

For this is my blood, the blood of the covenant,” he worded it in this way: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Surely that did not mean that the cup was somehow miraculously transformed into the new covenant. Is it not more reasonable to conclude that what was in the cup represented Jesus’ blood by means of which the new covenant was validated?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.