The Eucharist

Diana Rivas
Jun 19, 2025
3 min read

This isn’t just a symbol. It’s Jesus.

If you’re Catholic, you’ve heard of the Eucharist. You’ve probably seen it celebrated every Sunday at Mass. But do you really know what it is?

Let’s talk about it. Really talk.

Because too many people... even Catholics, have reduced the Eucharist to just a symbol… a little wafer, a sip of wine, a ritual to check off. But the Eucharist is so much more than that. It is the real, true, and living presence of Jesus Christ—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

🕊 What Did Jesus Actually Teach?

Jesus didn’t leave this up to interpretation. In John 6, He said:

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life… For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:54-55)

And when people walked away because it sounded too radical, too much like cannibalism... He didn’t correct them. He didn’t say, “Wait! I meant that symbolically!”

He let them walk. Because He meant what He said.

At the Last Supper, Jesus broke the bread and said, “This is my body… this is my blood.” Not “This represents…” Not “Pretend this is…”He said, “IS.”

⛪ The Church Has Always Taught This

From the very beginning, the Catholic Church has believed and taught that the Eucharist is not a symbol, but Jesus Himself.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop and martyr from the first century, wrote:

“The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins.”

That’s not modern language. That’s ancient faith.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest minds in Church history, said:

“The presence of Christ’s true Body and Blood in this sacrament cannot be detected by the senses, but only by faith, which rests on divine authority.”

This belief has never changed—not in the 1st century, not in the 13th, and not today.

🧒 Saint Carlo Acutis Got It

Saint Carlo Acutis, a modern teenager who loved Jesus deeply, created a website cataloging Eucharistic miracles from around the world. He called the Eucharist his “highway to Heaven.”

And he wasn’t just poetic, he meant it. He went to daily Mass, loved Adoration, and believed with all his heart that Jesus was physically present in the Blessed Sacrament.

At just 15 years old, he said:

“The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven.”

Carlo didn’t need decades of study... he had faith and love. And sometimes, that’s all we need too.

🎙 Fr. Mike Schmitz Doesn’t Hold Back

You may have heard Fr. Mike Schmitz say this:

“If the Eucharist is just a symbol, then to hell with it.”

It sounds shocking, but it’s meant to wake us up.

Because if it’s just a symbol, why bother kneeling? Why go to Adoration? Why risk your life (as so many saints have) to receive it?

But if it is Jesus…

Then it changes everything.

✝️ Why This Matters

You can’t fall in love with someone you don’t know is there.

If people think the Eucharist is just bread and wine, they won’t treat it with reverence. They won’t receive it with awe. And they certainly won’t be transformed by it.

But when you know… when you believe that He is here...in every tabernacle, in every Mass, in every Hos, then your whole world shifts.

The Eucharist is the greatest gift Jesus ever gave us: Himself. Fully. Completely. Every time.