What Does It Mean to Believe in the Eucharist?
A presentation for the Seek the City to Come Lenten Pilgrimage
The following presentation was written for the Citywide Lenten Pilgrimage series organized by the Office of the Urban Vicar for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. We are moving to different parishes around Baltimore City each week, to receive catechesis on the Eucharist during these weeks of Lent. The following presentation, on the theme of ‘Believing in the Eucharist,’ draws significantly from Josef Pieper’s essay on Faith.
I
The other day I was driving north on Charles Street past the Washington Monument when a unicorn walked out around the corner from the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church. The whole episode was very strange. I had never seen a unicorn before—I never really thought they existed—and so at first, I questioned the sight there before my eyes. “Oh, that’s only a horse,” I told myself, a horse that somehow has lost its rider. But the ‘horse’ standing there in front of me had a horn, maybe about two feet long, and it looked as real as any other part of the animal.
I suppose that when you think of a unicorn, what you imagine is a creature with a pure white coat that shines and sparkles in the sunlight. The unicorn there on Charles Street looked nothing like what you see in the movies—its coat was a mottled grey. But the creature was still magnificent. I do not know where the unicorn came from or why it was running around loose in downtown Baltimore, but I pulled my car over to watch the drama unfold in front of me. A group of tourists ran over from the Monument hoping to get a picture with the animal. Someone must have called the police because before long a squad car arrived and the two officers—who looked as confused as the rest of us—called for backup with their radios. The crowd and the noise must have spooked the unicorn because it started to cry out and rear up on its hind legs and jump about in circles before it ran off heading east on Madison Street.
You would think that the sudden appearance of a unicorn on the streets of Baltimore would have featured prominently on the local news that night, or that you would find an article about the unicorn the next day in the Baltimore Sun or maybe in the Banner. But to my surprise, no one gave that unicorn any media attention. I wish that I could tell you more about what happened, but I only know what I know and can only tell you what I can tell you about what I witnessed.
My guess is that most of you—maybe all of you—do not believe that I saw a unicorn on Charles Street in downtown Baltimore. Let me ask you a question: What would it take for you to believe? And what would you be doing if you did believe me?
II
Five years ago, the Pew Research Center released a study claiming that only 1/3rd of Roman Catholics in the United States believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist: the teaching that the words of consecration prayed by a priest at Mass transubstantiates bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. A year later the world shut down for a pandemic and our churches closed and many people lost touch with their parishes and never returned and now we are wondering how we can better form the faithful to believe that Christ is present to us in the Eucharist because if we can help people understand what the Eucharist is then more people will want to go to church.
And so, the bishops are now calling for a Eucharistic Revival: we need to find ways to reach and engage and form the 66% of Roman Catholics who (apparently) do not believe Christ is present in the Eucharist and all the folks who aren’t coming to Mass anymore or think it is just fine to stay home and watch Mass on television.
I am contractually obligated to tell you that I think the National Eucharistic Revival is good and necessary, but I also think that we are confronted with a problem in the Church that goes deeper than the absence of belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Much of the talk about non-belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist has focused on the ‘real presence’ part of the equation. We tell ourselves that people need better formation on the Eucharist because if they understand what the Eucharist is then they will come to church more. But the deeper problem is that many of us—including me for most of my life—do not know what it means to believe; we do not know what belief is. We use the word in conversation, the Pew Research Center terrified us all with the news that so many Roman Catholics struggle with belief, but do we really understand what we are talking about when we talk about ‘belief’?
Maybe you can see my concern: what sense does it make to talk about belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist if we do not know what it means to believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ? So, that is my goal tonight, to send you home with a better grasp of what it means to believe because my hope is that if you better understand what it means to believe then you will get better at believing.
To accomplish my goal, I want to set to the side all talk about sacraments and Christ and religious faith and instead talk about something absolutely ridiculous and make several claims about belief and my experience of seeing a unicorn on the streets of Baltimore. And then, once we better grasp what it means to believe, what belief is, we will come back to sacraments and Christ and religious faith.
III
Claim #1: To believe and to know signify different realities. Imagine that I told you my story about the unicorn and you told me that “I will believe your story if I can see the unicorn for myself.” Your response would make much sense, but you would no longer be talking about ‘belief.’ If you saw the unicorn for yourself and told me that now you believe, I would correct you and tell you that now you know my story is truthful. To see reality for yourself—to witness something—means that you are familiar with whatever you see or experience and so now you know something. You do not believe the Orioles play baseball in Camden Yards, and it would make no sense to say they do. You know the Orioles play baseball in Camden Yards because you are a witness to that fact.
St. Augustine says that belief is credentur absentia: to believe what is absent, what is not present to us. St. Thomas Aquinas says that “belief cannot refer to something that one sees, and what can be proved likewise does not pertain to belief.”
Claim #2: To believe and to suppose signify different realities. I tell you my story about the unicorn and you tell me “Your story makes plenty of sense, I think there is a chance you are mistaken, but I believe you.” If you doubt my story, if you lack conviction, then you are not believing—you are supposing, telling me that my story might be truthful but that you are not sure. Real belief means unqualified and unconditional acceptance of a stated truth.
St. Thomas says that “It is part of the concept of belief that man is certain of that in which he believes.” St. John Henry Cardinal Newman says that “A person who says, ‘I believe at this very moment but I cannot answer for myself that I shall believe tomorrow,’ does not believe.”
Claim #3: To believe always means to believe someone about something. I tell you my story about the unicorn and you say you believe. Well, what exactly would you be believing? Maybe the first answer that comes to mind is that you believe my story. Maybe a second answer that comes to mind is that you believe the fact that unicorns exist. Both of those answers are right, but those answers come second. I tell you my story about a unicorn and you say you believe and what you are believing first and most importantly is me. Real belief is always in the person who testifies to the fact; real belief is always in the person who tells the story. The reality of belief means that you lack knowledge—there is something that you do not know—but you meet someone who possesses the knowledge that you don’t have for yourself, and you believe them; that is real belief.
St. Thomas says that “everyone who believes assents to the testimony of someone.” Martin Luther says that “belief is always addressed to a person.”
Claim #3.3: To believe means to accept the truth of a claim for the simple reason that a trusted person says it. I tell you my story about the unicorn and you tell me that you believe me because you yourself have been studying unicorns for some time now and are not surprised at all by my testimony. The story I told you goes along with what you already know, my story is probable to you, it makes sense, it fits into your picture of the world, it helps you make sense of reality, and so you tell me that you believe me. What you say is belief is a kind of belief, but the belief you talk about is weak because your act of belief is not in me; what you really believe in is the system, the narrative, the story, the way that my story conforms to your knowledge and your expectations. Real belief is a matter of placing your confidence completely in me and my words for the simple reason that I said them; what you believe is me.
St. Thomas says that pure belief is achieved not when you accept the truth of a statement but when you accept the truth of a statement for the simple reason that a trusted person says it.
Claim #3.7: To believe a person means to believe everything else they have ever or will ever say. Imagine that I tell you my story about the unicorn and you tell me that you believe me. Then I tell you that two years ago the president called me to ask for my advice. You tell me that you do not believe me about the president calling me but that you still believe me about the unicorn. What kind of sense does that make? You trust me enough to believe my testimony about the unicorn but not my claim about the president asking for my advice? If your belief is real and true, then your belief is in me first and only secondarily in my testimony. And if you believe in me, then you must believe every other claim I make about my knowledge and experiences; you can’t pick and choose how you trust me. You either trust me or you do not.
Maybe at this point it is helpful to say that the kind of pure belief I am talking about can only be placed in God. No human person possesses the kind of perfection of knowledge and wisdom needed to serve as an absolutely valid authority in all cases and circumstances. Belief in God can be perfect, but belief in a human person will always be imperfect; we do not know everything, and we do not possess perfect wisdom.
Claim #4: To believe is to think with assent. I tell you my story about the unicorn and although you do the best you can to make sense of my testimony, you cannot understand how what I say is possible, but you say that you trust me and so you believe me. What has happened? From where did your belief come? Your belief came from your freedom, from your free will, from a choice you made to place your confidence in me even though my testimony makes little sense to you and is beyond your understanding. The act of belief is the use of our free will to close the gap between what we cannot understand, and the witness given to us by a person whom we trust. The root and foundation of all belief is a choice made in freedom to say Yes to a truth that we do not know for ourselves but only experience through the life of another person.
St. Augustine says that no one believes except of his own free will. St. John Henry Cardinal Newman says that “for directly you have a conviction that you ought to believe, reason has done its part, and what is wanted for faith is not proof, but will.”
Claim #4.2: To believe is to desire what is good. You tell me you believe me about the unicorn, and I ask you why. You take a moment to think and then tell me that you believe me about the unicorn because you think it is good to believe me and that you want to believe me. You want for yourself the knowledge that I possess, but you can’t have that knowledge for yourself, so what you need to do is believe. I congratulate you because you have arrived at a place of real belief, and you finally understand the power that motivates your choice to believe me. What compels you to believe me is not your experience of the truth (the way that your visit to Camden Yards compels you to say you know that the Orioles play baseball there) but your desire to know what I know because you decide that what I know is good and you want what I know.
Josef Pieper says that “we believe not because we see, perceive, deduce something true, but because we desire something good.”
Claim #4.5: To believe is to will a union with the person who is believed. We can say more about your desire for something good. What you want the most is to know for yourself what I have experienced on the streets of Baltimore; I am the middle term that connects you to the truth you want to possess for yourself. You want what I have, and what that means is that your greatest desire is to share with me my experience of the truth; what you desire the most when it comes to belief is a spiritual union with the person who testifies. You want to stand with me and see reality the way that I see reality. What you want the most is the deep goodness of relationship.
Fr. Matthias Joseph Scheeben says that “assent of the intellect to a witnessed truth takes place only to the extent that the will seeks and wishes to bring about consent or agreement with the judgment of the speaker, participation in and communion with his insight, or, in other words, a spiritual union with him.” St. John Henry Cardinal Newman says that “we believe because we love.”
Claim #5: To believe means to participate in the knowledge of a knower. You tell me that you believe me about the unicorn, and I tell you that your belief depends on my knowledge, my experience, what I have witnessed. If I told you that I never saw the unicorn for myself, but the story was told to me so I believe the story and then I ask you to believe me, your only response must be: “I cannot believe you because you do not know anything, my belief cannot depend on your belief. I can only believe in someone who knows, who sees, who understands, who has experienced.” The foundation for belief is the knowledge of a knower, and to believe is to share in the knowledge of someone who knows the truth.
Josef Pieper agrees with St. Thomas that “belief cannot establish its own legitimacy; it can only derive legitimacy from someone who knows the subject matter for himself.”
Claim #6: To believe means the reality of mental unrest. You tell me that you believe me about the unicorn but no matter how hard you look you cannot find a unicorn for yourself, and you cannot really picture how the story I tell is possible. You tell me that your mind is racing and swirling trying to make sense of my testimony. You believe me, but to believe me is hard. Your mind keeps telling you to demand proof that you will never find. You tell me that your mind is not at rest, you lack peace in your mind, and you ask me if what you are experiencing is doubt.
I tell you ‘No,’ what you experience is not doubt. The root of your mental unrest—the cause of your racing mind—is belief. If you did not believe, you would not experience your mental unrest. The problem for you is that your mind cannot make sense of what your free will has made a choice to believe. But that does not mean that your belief is weak or that you experience doubt! It means that your belief is real and true and that your mind is trying to catch up to what you desire, what you want for yourself, the commitment you have made to a person who speaks the truth.
St. Thomas says of belief that “the movement of the mind is not yet stilled; rather, there remains in it a searching and a pondering of that which it believes—although it nevertheless assents to what is believed with the utmost firmness.”
IV
Those are my claims about belief. If you get those claims right, commit them to memory, and think about what you are doing every time you say, ‘I believe,’ you will discover for yourself exactly how much of a believer you really are. Maybe your belief is strong. Maybe your belief is weak and needs help. But at least now you have an idea of what real belief looks like.
What I want to do now is tell you a real story—a story about something that really happened—and start talking about belief and sacraments and Christ and religious faith.
A man named Jesus feeds a large crowd and people gather around him and ask him what they need to do to perform the work that God requires. Jesus tells them: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” What does that mean? The people ask for a sign to help them to believe. They talk about Moses and the bread that God fed the Israelites lost in the desert. They ask Jesus for the same sign. He tells them that he is the Bread of Life. What does that mean? He talks about doing the will of God for some time, but the people continue to complain and question the words that Jesus speaks.
But Jesus will not change his teaching. He tells the people that he is the Bread of Life, that their ancestors ate bread in the desert and died, but that those who eat the Bread of Life will not die and will live forever. Jesus tells them again that he is the Bread of Life, that the bread is his flesh that he will give for the life of the world. The people still do not understand; they continue to question him. But Jesus will not change his teaching. His language gets stronger: I am the Bread of Life, and you must eat my flesh and drink my blood because whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever and I will remain in you, and you will remain in me.
Many people are upset with Jesus. They say that his teaching is hard. Who can accept it? Many of his disciples leave him. Jesus turns to the Twelve apostles and asks them: “You do not want to leave too, do you?”
And Peter responds: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
What just happened? What is Peter saying? What does Peter mean when he tells Jesus that he believes and knows that Jesus is the Holy One of God? What does Peter mean when he tells Jesus that there is nowhere else for him to go because only Christ speaks the words of eternal life?
V
Claim #1: To believe and to know signify different realities. Peter is saying: Lord, I do not know what you are talking about, I do not understand your words, there is no way for me to make sense of eating your flesh and drinking your blood, but I believe anyway—what you say is true. I believe you about what I do not know and what I do not understand and what I cannot make sense of.
Claim #2: To believe and to suppose signify different realities. Peter is saying: My belief is unqualified and unconditional, I am holding nothing back, I am completely convicted.
Claim #3: To believe always means to believe someone about something. Peter is saying: I believe you, Jesus. I believe you. Your words make little sense to me, but I believe your words because I believe you. The other people who left, I do not know what they were looking for or expecting from you, but I believe you and so I am staying. My faith is in you.
Claim #3.3: To believe means to accept the truth of a claim for the simple reason that a trusted person says it. Peter is saying: I believe what you say, Jesus, because you said it. I have my own thoughts and feelings about the world and God and how to pray and what eternal life means and how we get there. I know about the Israelites in the desert and the bread from heaven. The teaching you give us, there is a way in which it fits together with other things I know and other things I believe and other things I feel. But those are not the reasons why I believe. I believe what you say because you say it—that is all the reason I need for my belief. I believe what you say because you say it.
Claim #3.7: To believe a person means to believe everything else they have ever or will ever say. Peter is saying: These words about eating your flesh and drinking your blood are hard for me to hear, but I believe you. And because I believe you, I will believe everything you ever tell me or teach me: I will believe you about the Father and the Holy Spirit and the work of love and forgiveness and mercy and judgment and salvation and evil and sin and repentance and the Church and money and wealth and possessions and going on mission and telling other people about the Gospel and waiting for you to return to us after you have died and risen from the dead and ascended to the Father. I will believe it all, Jesus. I will not pick my spots and believe what I want to believe and abandon the rest of your teachings. I believe you, and that means I believe everything you will ever tell me or teach me because you are God, and I am not.
Claim #4: To believe is to think with assent. Peter is saying: You tell me about eating your flesh and drinking your blood and those words are hard for me to understand and I do not know what you are talking about, but I am making a choice to believe you. I am a free person, no one will force me to believe you. I am making a commitment to hold onto the truth you tell me even though it is hard and even though my mind is saying I don’t have enough proof and I need more evidence. I make the choice to believe you anyway.
Claim #4.2: To believe is to desire what is good. Peter is saying: The reality you tell me about, Jesus, eating your flesh and drinking your blood, I do not understand it, but I know that it is good because you are good, and you are the one saying these words and you talk about salvation and eternal life, and I know that salvation is good and eternal life is good. I want what is good, and what you say is good, so I am making the choice to believe you. You have the words of eternal life and I want them for myself.
Claim #4.5: To believe is to will a union with the person who is believed. Peter is saying: I am making the choice to believe you, Jesus, because I want to be with you. I want to see the world the way that you see the world. I want to share with you what you know and what you understand. I want a relationship with you and so I will trust you and I will believe you. Those other people have left you because what they want the most is not a relationship with you. If they wanted a relationship with you the most, then they would have stayed. I am staying with you. You have the words of eternal life and there is nowhere else for me to go.
Claim #5: To believe means to participate in the knowledge of a knower. Peter is saying: You know, Jesus, about salvation and eternal life and how to get there. You know what I do not know and so I am going to believe you. There are other people out there in the world, all kinds of religious figures or people saying they are prophets and politicians and rulers, and they tell me all the time about what they believe, and they tell me that I need to believe what they believe. But you are not like those other people, Jesus, because you do not believe at all; you know. You know the truth, and I am making the choice to believe in what you know so that I might know it too.
Claim #6: To believe means the reality of mental unrest. Peter is saying: I will spend the rest of my life trying to make sense of what you say, Jesus. I might never understand. Your words are hard for me to hear. My mind is racing right now because I do not know what to think about eating your flesh and drinking your blood but I believe you that I need to eat your flesh and drink your blood and so I am going to do it. My mind might never be at rest, Jesus, and I might get things wrong sometimes. But I want you to know that I will never doubt you. The reason my mind is unable to rest is because I believe, my belief is the cause of my thinking and wondering and searching and struggling, but I will always believe you because you have the words of eternal life.
VI
I think that Peter shows us what real belief is. He did not, at the time of the Bread of Life discourse, have an experience of the last supper or of Christ’s passion or resurrection. Have you ever thought about that fact? Maybe if the Bread of Life discourse happened after the last supper, then Peter would have understood what Christ was doing with the Eucharist. Peter knew nothing of the Church or the sacraments when Christ talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Peter possessed no real framework for making sense of Christ’s teaching. And yet Peter believed Christ, and his belief was wholehearted.
The Church teaches us that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, and the reason the Church teaches us that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ is because that is the teaching that Christ gave to Peter and the apostles and then Christ built his Church on the rock of Peter and told the apostles to go out and make disciples of all nations and bring them into the Body of Christ, which is the Church. We are members of the Church that Christ built on the rock of Peter and if we commit ourselves to Christ and live the life Christ wants us to live and eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of Christ then we will inherit eternal life and Christ will remain in us and we will remain in Christ.
What does it mean to say that we are members of the Church that Christ built on the rock of Peter? It means that we share in the reality that Peter experienced; his life is our life, his experience of belief is our experience of belief, and we are all bound together in Christ. We are standing on the shores of Galilee and Christ is asking us if we are going to leave like the other people who have left him because his teachings are hard.
We get to make a choice to believe or not, to accept what we do not understand without condition or qualification, to believe in Christ, to commit ourselves to every single one of his teachings, to want what is good, to want a friendship with him that will change our lives, to share in what he knows about salvation and eternal life, and to hold onto our belief in Christ even though our mind will struggle to make sense of the life that Christ is asking us to live.
We get to stand there on the shores of Galilee and say to Christ, as really and as truly as did Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
And that is what it means to believe.
Presentation given at St. Bernadine’s Parish on Wednesday, February 28th