Both Flesh and Blood

As was discussed in the last article, the Sacrifice to God is not completed fully by simply offering it to God, but by the consumption of the lamb’s flesh by the people for nourishment and anointing the lintels of the door of their dwelling with the lamb’s blood. When Christ became that sacrificial lamb for us, the manner of the sacrifice accordingly changed, as we are now able to offer an unbloody sacrifice, and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is re-presented, or renewed before God by the priest. Similar to the ancient Israelites, we complete the sacrifice through consuming the Precious Body of the Lamb, the host. We may also anoint the lintel of the door of the dwelling of our soul, the lips of our mouth, when we consume the Precious Blood.

Now, the Israelites were sacrificing merely an animal, but in the Sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrificial lamb is Christ: God himself. We know God cannot be divided, and yet in the Eucharist we have the Body and the Blood visibly distinct from each other, and referred to as the two species of the Eucharist. To answer this apparent conflict, we turn to the Catholic doctrine of Concomitance. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains the doctrine by stating that “It should never be construed, therefore, that Communion under the form of bread alone or Communion under the form of wine alone is somehow an incomplete act or that Christ is not fully present to the communicant. The Church’s unchanging teaching from the time of the Fathers through the ages—notably in the ecumenical councils of Lateran IV, Constance, Florence, Trent, and Vatican II — has witnessed to a constant unity of faith in the presence of Christ in both [species] elements.

Even in the earliest days of the Church’s life, when Communion under both species was the norm, there were always instances when the Eucharist was received under only the form of bread or wine. ...Thus, the Church has always taught the doctrine of concomitance, by which we know that under each species alone, the whole Christ is sacramentally present and we receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace.”

No matter if one receives the Eucharist just under the species of the bread, and even just a small crumb, or just under the species of the wine, and even just a small drop, because God is indivisible, you receive completely his body, blood, soul and divinity. In either species of the Eucharist, down to the smallest fragment, a droplet or crumb, God is truly and completely present!