In the Eucharist, we know that the bread becomes Jesus’ flesh for the life of the world (cf. John 6:33). The Israelites were to eat the flesh, and be filled with bread.

Fr. Jordan Zajac, a Dominican friar and assistant professor at Providence College in Rhode Island, shared his faith belief that Jesus does not mince words in The Bread of Life Discourse.

1106. "Together with the anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most especially of the Eucharist:  You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the ...

The Eucharist, he said, shows "the strength to love those who make mistakes" because Jesus gave the world the bread of life on the night he was betrayed.

Ultimately, the eucharist is considered the path to salvation: “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever,” Jesus told his disciples in the Gospel of John.

Just 31% of U.S. Catholics believe that the bread and wine used in Communion become the body and blood of Christ. Nearly seven-in-ten say the Eucharist is symbolic.

Metro The sacrament of the Eucharist, sometimes referred to as Holy Communion, is steeped in tradition. One such tradition concerns the bread used during the administration of the sacrament.

“The breaking of bread and the prayers” refers not to little informal holy potlucks by believers who just like to get together to share lunch but to the liturgy of the Eucharist.

Signs of the Times: There has been a lot of clerical hand-wringing of late about Catholics who don’t believe what the church teaches about Christ's presence in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

Of course, asking Catholics what they believe about the bread and wine used for Communion is not the only potentially important question that might be asked about the Eucharist.

Maybe the crisis of disbelief in the Eucharist is not as dire as previously thought.

The two elements of the Eucharist are bread and wine—simple gifts laden with enormous symbolic significance reaching right back to the roots, not only of Israel’s revelation, but to our own ...