06-05-2026, 09:03 AM
Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908
FORTY-SIXTH OBJECTION. HOW CAN THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST BE REALLY PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!
Answer. Your stomach is changing bread and meat into flesh and blood every day. You do not understand how this change is brought about; but you know that the change is possible, from the fact.
Now, if God, by the power of the stomach which He gave you, can change bread, meat, and wine, into flesh, blood, bone and sinew, what is to prevent Him from using the delegated power of the priesthood to change bread and wine into His own body and blood?
You say the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is impossible!
I have but one thing to say in answer to you, but it is sufficient.
It is so; therefore it is possible.
It is so; therefore you ought to believe it, though you may not understand how it can be so.
I say, then, that it is so, that Jesus Christ is truly and really present in the Holy Eucharist, and that after the consecration in the Mass, it is no longer bread on the altar, in the priest's hands, but the living body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, veiled under the simple appearances of bread and wine.
To convince you of this, I shall not spread before your mind the history of all Christian ages, from the Apostles down to the present day, believing, adoring, loudly proclaiming this Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. It would, certainly, be a grand and convincing fact, to see the greatest geniuses, the most profound and learned doctors, adoring with the most full and lively faith the Sacred Mystery of the altar.
But besides that this course would lead us into developments too diffuse for the space of this work, I wish merely to trust to your candid judgment and honesty; to these, only, I now address myself, and I will only cite to you word for word, and almost without any comment, the very words of Jesus Christ, who declares that the Eucharist is Himself, His body, His flesh, His blood.
He speaks of the Eucharist on two occasions in the Gospel: the first to promise its institution (about a year before His Passion); the second (on the eve of His Passion), to institute it, and thus to accomplish His promise.
His first saying respecting it, is in Chapter VI. of St. John, 47th and following verses; it is this; I propose its consideration to your own good sense: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life." He first exacts faith in His words; for what He is about to say is the profoundest mystery of faith.
"I am the Bread of Life."
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give* is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews, to whom He spake, said to themselves what you say to yourselves, "How can He give us His flesh to eat?" How can that be? And they would not believe Him.
See how our Lord Jesus Christ affirms again His real presence in the bread which He promised to them: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day.
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in Me, and I in Him. . . . He that eateth this bread shall live for ever."
What do you say to this? Do you not believe Jesus Christ's own words, affirming to you that the Eucharist is His body and blood, and with an undeniable clearness of expression, so overwhelming, that Protestants have struggled vainly during three hundred years, and racked their brains in every way to escape from the evidence which these words carry with them?
2. If these first words relating to the promise are as clear as noonday, those relating to the institution of the Eucharist are not less so.
On the eve of His Passion, our Lord, after the supper, takes bread in His divine and venerable hands, blesses it, and gives it to His Apostles, saying: "Take ye and eat, this is My Body."
Is this clear or not? This which I hold and give to you, is, what? My Body.
Then He gives to His Apostles, who were His first priests, the command and the power to do what He had just done Himself, by adding these words, "And you, as often as you shall do these things, you shall do them in commemoration of Me."
A judge takes good care that jurymen understand the law, and the charge to the jury, before they hang a man. On the two occasions in question our Lord took good care that his hearers understood His meaning. Some of them said: "This saying is hard, and who can hear it?" . . . After this many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: "Will you also go away?" As if to say: You can go if you wish, but I mean what I say: "The bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world." And Simon Peter answered Him: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." This means: "Your words settle the matter for ever."
The apostles and other hearers evidently understood our Lord's meaning: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye and eat; this is my body which shall be delivered for you. . . . This chalice is the new testament in my blood. This do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. . . . Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." (1. Cor. xi. 23.)
Now, how could one be guilty of profanation of the body and blood of the Lord, if that body and blood be not there? This passage from St. Paul, as well as the above words of St. Peter, shows how the apostles understood our Lord.
Again; set up the whole Christian world as a jury in the case. All Christians for sixteen hundred years, and most Christians for nearly two thousand years, understood our Lord to mean a real presence in the Eucharist, and not a figurative presence. If they were wrong they were idolaters; and Christ would be the cause of that idolatry.
Does it not seem strange that a small section of Christians, who appeared on earth sixteen hundred years after Christ, should be the first to whom Christ revealed His true meaning? For history shows that the doctrine of the Real Presence was always believed in the Catholic Church.
The same argument holds for the Infallibility, and every other doctrine of the Church.
Men of honesty and truth, hear and judge: This is My Body!!!
For myself, I declare this one saying is sufficient for me, and not only is it to me the convincing proof of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but it proves to me, in a no less irrefragable manner, His divinity. No man has ever said, or ever could say such a thing!
A very simple observation will perhaps facilitate your belief in the Eucharistic mystery; it is this:
Nature offers to our sight numerous examples of the so-called impossible change of one substance into another.
The most striking of all is that of corporal nourishment. The bread which I eat is changed, by the mysterious process of digestion, into my body, my flesh and blood. The substance of bread is changed into that of my body.
That which God causes daily to take place in us in a natural manner, why can He not cause to take place supernaturally in the mystery of the Eucharist?
You see, then, that it is not impossible that, through divine Omnipotence, the bread and wine should be changed upon our altars into the substance of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that the Church, in teaching the doctrine of His real presence in the Blessed Sacrament, does not teach, as the ignorant and unthinking declare, an absurdity, or that which is impossible and revolting to reason.
Now, how does this wonderful prodigy come to pass? I do not know, and the greatest doctors do not know any more than others. It is the mystery of faith, the secret of the Almighty. What we do know is, that it is so, and that is sufficient.
Through this adorable presence, Jesus Christ, the King of souls, the Life of Christians, the Head of the Church, the refuge of sinners, the merciful Saviour, the Consoler of all griefs, is ever in the midst of His people. God and Man at the same time, He is the living bond which unites us to His Father and our Father. He adores Him perfectly and supplies the imperfections of our homage. He asks mercy for the continual sins of the world.
He is present during all the generations of mankind, whom he loves and has saved alike, so as to receive from each succeeding one, to the end of the world, the homage of its faith, of its adoration, of its worship, and of its prayers.
If the Blessed Sacrament is the mystery of faith, it is, also, and still more so, the mystery of Love!
Let us, then, believe, love, and adore.
FORTY-SIXTH OBJECTION. HOW CAN THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST BE REALLY PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!
Answer. Your stomach is changing bread and meat into flesh and blood every day. You do not understand how this change is brought about; but you know that the change is possible, from the fact.
Now, if God, by the power of the stomach which He gave you, can change bread, meat, and wine, into flesh, blood, bone and sinew, what is to prevent Him from using the delegated power of the priesthood to change bread and wine into His own body and blood?
You say the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is impossible!
I have but one thing to say in answer to you, but it is sufficient.
It is so; therefore it is possible.
It is so; therefore you ought to believe it, though you may not understand how it can be so.
I say, then, that it is so, that Jesus Christ is truly and really present in the Holy Eucharist, and that after the consecration in the Mass, it is no longer bread on the altar, in the priest's hands, but the living body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, veiled under the simple appearances of bread and wine.
To convince you of this, I shall not spread before your mind the history of all Christian ages, from the Apostles down to the present day, believing, adoring, loudly proclaiming this Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. It would, certainly, be a grand and convincing fact, to see the greatest geniuses, the most profound and learned doctors, adoring with the most full and lively faith the Sacred Mystery of the altar.
But besides that this course would lead us into developments too diffuse for the space of this work, I wish merely to trust to your candid judgment and honesty; to these, only, I now address myself, and I will only cite to you word for word, and almost without any comment, the very words of Jesus Christ, who declares that the Eucharist is Himself, His body, His flesh, His blood.
He speaks of the Eucharist on two occasions in the Gospel: the first to promise its institution (about a year before His Passion); the second (on the eve of His Passion), to institute it, and thus to accomplish His promise.
His first saying respecting it, is in Chapter VI. of St. John, 47th and following verses; it is this; I propose its consideration to your own good sense: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life." He first exacts faith in His words; for what He is about to say is the profoundest mystery of faith.
"I am the Bread of Life."
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give* is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews, to whom He spake, said to themselves what you say to yourselves, "How can He give us His flesh to eat?" How can that be? And they would not believe Him.
See how our Lord Jesus Christ affirms again His real presence in the bread which He promised to them: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day.
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in Me, and I in Him. . . . He that eateth this bread shall live for ever."
What do you say to this? Do you not believe Jesus Christ's own words, affirming to you that the Eucharist is His body and blood, and with an undeniable clearness of expression, so overwhelming, that Protestants have struggled vainly during three hundred years, and racked their brains in every way to escape from the evidence which these words carry with them?
2. If these first words relating to the promise are as clear as noonday, those relating to the institution of the Eucharist are not less so.
On the eve of His Passion, our Lord, after the supper, takes bread in His divine and venerable hands, blesses it, and gives it to His Apostles, saying: "Take ye and eat, this is My Body."
Is this clear or not? This which I hold and give to you, is, what? My Body.
Then He gives to His Apostles, who were His first priests, the command and the power to do what He had just done Himself, by adding these words, "And you, as often as you shall do these things, you shall do them in commemoration of Me."
A judge takes good care that jurymen understand the law, and the charge to the jury, before they hang a man. On the two occasions in question our Lord took good care that his hearers understood His meaning. Some of them said: "This saying is hard, and who can hear it?" . . . After this many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: "Will you also go away?" As if to say: You can go if you wish, but I mean what I say: "The bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world." And Simon Peter answered Him: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." This means: "Your words settle the matter for ever."
The apostles and other hearers evidently understood our Lord's meaning: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye and eat; this is my body which shall be delivered for you. . . . This chalice is the new testament in my blood. This do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. . . . Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." (1. Cor. xi. 23.)
Now, how could one be guilty of profanation of the body and blood of the Lord, if that body and blood be not there? This passage from St. Paul, as well as the above words of St. Peter, shows how the apostles understood our Lord.
Again; set up the whole Christian world as a jury in the case. All Christians for sixteen hundred years, and most Christians for nearly two thousand years, understood our Lord to mean a real presence in the Eucharist, and not a figurative presence. If they were wrong they were idolaters; and Christ would be the cause of that idolatry.
Does it not seem strange that a small section of Christians, who appeared on earth sixteen hundred years after Christ, should be the first to whom Christ revealed His true meaning? For history shows that the doctrine of the Real Presence was always believed in the Catholic Church.
The same argument holds for the Infallibility, and every other doctrine of the Church.
Men of honesty and truth, hear and judge: This is My Body!!!
For myself, I declare this one saying is sufficient for me, and not only is it to me the convincing proof of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but it proves to me, in a no less irrefragable manner, His divinity. No man has ever said, or ever could say such a thing!
A very simple observation will perhaps facilitate your belief in the Eucharistic mystery; it is this:
Nature offers to our sight numerous examples of the so-called impossible change of one substance into another.
The most striking of all is that of corporal nourishment. The bread which I eat is changed, by the mysterious process of digestion, into my body, my flesh and blood. The substance of bread is changed into that of my body.
That which God causes daily to take place in us in a natural manner, why can He not cause to take place supernaturally in the mystery of the Eucharist?
You see, then, that it is not impossible that, through divine Omnipotence, the bread and wine should be changed upon our altars into the substance of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that the Church, in teaching the doctrine of His real presence in the Blessed Sacrament, does not teach, as the ignorant and unthinking declare, an absurdity, or that which is impossible and revolting to reason.
Now, how does this wonderful prodigy come to pass? I do not know, and the greatest doctors do not know any more than others. It is the mystery of faith, the secret of the Almighty. What we do know is, that it is so, and that is sufficient.
Through this adorable presence, Jesus Christ, the King of souls, the Life of Christians, the Head of the Church, the refuge of sinners, the merciful Saviour, the Consoler of all griefs, is ever in the midst of His people. God and Man at the same time, He is the living bond which unites us to His Father and our Father. He adores Him perfectly and supplies the imperfections of our homage. He asks mercy for the continual sins of the world.
He is present during all the generations of mankind, whom he loves and has saved alike, so as to receive from each succeeding one, to the end of the world, the homage of its faith, of its adoration, of its worship, and of its prayers.
If the Blessed Sacrament is the mystery of faith, it is, also, and still more so, the mystery of Love!
Let us, then, believe, love, and adore.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre