ve loaves of bread by
which He fed five thousand persons. After this miracle He told them that
He would give them bread superior to that which they had eaten, and that
this bread was His own flesh and blood. "The bread that I will give is
My flesh, for the life of the world." It is almost impossible to
understand these words of Our Lord in any other than a literal sense. He
was so understood by those who heard Him. "How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?" they said, and many withdrew from Him. It is but
reasonable to believe that if He did not wish to be understood in a
literal sense He would have told His hearers so, rather than have them
leave Him.

This promise of a doctrine so difficult to understand was fulfilled at
the Last Supper.

Then Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to His
disciples, and said: "Take ye and eat. This is My body." And taking the
chalice He gave thanks; and gave to them, saying: "Drink ye all of this.
For this is My blood of the new testament which shall be shed for many
for the remission of sins."

"Do this for a commemoration of Me."

These are substantially the words of SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and of the
apostle Paul.

In the 10th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul
says: "The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it
not the partaking of the body of the Lord?"

Any one of these texts abundantly proves the Catholic doctrine of the
Real Presence, and shows the reasonableness of the Catholic practice
regarding the Blessed Sacrament. Reflect upon them. Reflect especially
upon the words of Christ, "This is My body." Think what an insult it is
to the divinity and veracity of Christ to doubt His word, because you
can not understand how what appears to be bread is in reality His own
body and blood.

If you remember that Jesus Christ is God, that He had the power to make
this change, that He could confer this power on others, as the apostles
and their successors, that He did so when He said: "Do this in
commemoration of Me," and that this change at the present time as at the
time of the apostles is made by His almighty power, you will have no
difficulty in believing it.

The belief and practice of the Catholic Church of to-day regarding the
Blessed Sacrament is the same as it was in every age since the time of
Christ. The history of every century tells us this. The F