From Multiplication to Transubstantiation

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday of Year B

by Fr. Tommy Lane

We learn in different ways. Some learn better visually from charts and diagrams. Some learn better by listening. Some learn by reading texts. For most of us it is probably a combination of all three and possibly even more learning styles. When Jesus wanted to teach us about the Eucharist, he began with something we can see: the miracle in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15), the multiplication of loaves and fish. Seeing the laws of nature overcome by multiplying bread is a step on the road to help us believe in Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist which we will hear in the coming Sundays. If we accept that Jesus multiplied bread, then we can move to believe an even bigger miracle: his presence with us in the Eucharist.

God started long before Jesus’ multiplication miracle to prepare us to be able to believe in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. After the Hebrews left Egypt, God gave them manna in the desert. In today’s first reading (2 Kings 4:42-44), we heard how God gave food to one hundred people when the prophet Elisha asked to have twenty barley loaves distributed. Before asking to have the loaves distributed, Elisha’s helper objected because there would not be enough for one hundred people, but Elisha insisted. Afterwards there was food left over. (There are two other multiplication miracles in the Old Testament: 1 Kings 17:1-16; 19:5-8) That multiplication miracle obviously anticipates Jesus’ miracle in today’s Gospel where 5000 men, and God alone knows how many thousands of women and children, were fed from only five barley loaves. The scraps left over filled twelve baskets. Even what was left over after the five barley loaves was much more than what they had before the miracle. Jesus’ miracles were never just miracles but were always miracles to teach us something. For example, when Jesus cured the paralytic man let down through the roof after forgiving him his sins, this showed that not only could Jesus cure him, but that Jesus also had the power to forgive sins (Matt 9:1-8). When Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41), it showed that he was God. When Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, it prepared for an even greater miracle, the miracle of the Eucharist.

During the Last Supper, Jesus said over the bread, “This is my Body” and over the chalice he said, “This is my Blood.” At the consecration of Mass, the substance of the bread changes into the substance of the body of Jesus while maintaining the appearance of bread, and the substance of the wine changes into the substance of the blood of Jesus while maintaining the appearance of wine (DS 1642, Catechism #1376, 1413). We call this transubstantiation, trans-substance, the substance changes. We can only understand this by faith. Every time you receive Holy Communion, when the priest or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion says, “The Body of Christ,” you respond, “Amen.” Your “Amen” is saying you believe what looks like bread has changed its substance into the Body of Jesus. We also show our belief that the bread has transubstantiated into the Body of Jesus in many other ways. We have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We have the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and its Eucharistic Processions. Some parishes have annual Forty Hours (Quarantore) of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, remembering the approximate forty hours from Jesus’ burial to his resurrection. Because the Eucharist is so important, we interrupt our reading of Mark this year to read John 6 which is Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist (17th–21st Sundays in Ordinary Time). We manage to read only about 60% of Mark’s Gospel every third year when we read it during Sunday Mass, yet we interrupt our reading of Mark every third year to hear Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist in John 6 because it is so important. So, in many ways we say “Amen” to believing that the bread has transubstantiated into the Body of Jesus. Jesus’ miracle of multiplying the bread was preparing us so that we could understand and accept the greater miracle, the transubstantiation of the bread into his Body.

We can understand this only by faith. What if we don’t have faith? Jesus in his mercy has given us Eucharistic Miracles, as we call them. They are miracles that occurred during Mass, often in a time of doubt or crisis of faith. Not only did the substance of the bread change into the Body of Jesus but also the appearance changed into human flesh, and not only did the wine change into the substance of the Blood of Jesus but also the appearance changed. Many have occurred all over the world, but one famous Eucharistic Miracle is in Lanciano in Italy and visited by many pilgrims because you pass by it on the motorway from Rome to St. Padre Pio’s Shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo. The flesh, the Body of Jesus, can be seen in a monstrance, and the Blood of Jesus, now congealed, can be seen in a glass chalice. Without being told in advance what it was, hospital lab tests in 1971, confirmed by a university in 1981, showed that the flesh is myocardium, heart muscular tissue, and the blood is AB but there was no preservative of any kind even though this miracle about 1300 years ago. This is one of many authenticated Eucharistic Miracles, love gifts from Jesus to help us believe that at the consecration the bread transubstantiates into his Body and the wine into his Blood.

O Sacrament Most Holy,
O Sacrament Divine,
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be every moment Thine.

© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021

This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.

More Homilies for the Seventeenth Sunday of Year B

Multiplication anticipates Eucharist 2024

God offers us more than we can imagine 2006

Jesus expands our small vision to his limitless vision

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