Transubstantiation

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

+JMJ+

Hello!

I was just wondering when the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ. I've heard a few different answers, and the Baltimore Cathecism says it happens after it is blessed individually and elevated, or something like that. I know there are two different times I've heard it happens. I'd just like to know the accepted belief. Thank you!

Yours in the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

FutureNunJMJ

[cappie]

These quotes from the Catechism should answer your question. I am aware that there is a theory that the whole of the Eucharistic Prayer is a prayer of consecration but I think that the Catechism answer is the best.

1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."206

1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.

1412 The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my body which will be given up for you. . . . This is the cup of my blood. . . ."

1413 By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651)