In-Depth Track – Just Teach Sheet

November Week 1
Theme: The Mass & the Eucharist
Focus: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist – Biblical, Historical, and Theological Foundations
Audience: Catechists, apologists, and serious adult learners

Weekly Goal

To grasp why the Church professes that the Eucharist is truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; to see how this belief runs through Scripture, the Fathers, the Councils, and reason; and to learn how to explain and live it with confidence.

What You’ll Need

Bible

Catechism (CCC 1322 – 1419)

Notebook for reflections or quotes

Optional: read Lumen Gentium 11, Mysterium Fidei, or St Thomas Aquinas Summa III q. 75-83

Opening Prayer (Daily)

Lord Jesus Christ,
You promised, “I am with you always.”
Give me faith to adore Your hidden presence in the Eucharist.
Let this study increase my love for Your sacrifice
and make me a living tabernacle of Your glory. Amen.

Day 1 – Biblical Roots of the Real Presence

Teaching:
The Eucharist begins in the words of Christ Himself and in the whole sacrificial pattern of Scripture.

Old Testament prefigurations

Melchizedek offers bread and wine (Gen 14:18).

The Passover Lamb is eaten (Ex 12).

The Manna in the wilderness (Ex 16) prefigures the true Bread from heaven.

The words of Jesus

John 6:51-58 – “My flesh is true food, My blood true drink.”
When disciples murmured, Jesus did not soften His claim; He confirmed it.

Luke 22:19-20 – “This is My Body… This is My Blood.”
The covenant meal completes what Calvary will seal.

Apostolic witness

1 Cor 10:16-17 – “Participation (koinōnia) in the Body and Blood of Christ.”

1 Cor 11:27-29 – warns against “profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord,” which would make no sense if it were mere symbol.

Apologetic Insight:
The Bible never speaks of symbolic eating. “Do this in memory of Me” (Luke 22:19) uses the Hebrew sense zikkaron—a sacramental remembrance that makes present what it recalls.

Reflection:
Christ’s words are clear; unbelief does not arise from ambiguity but from difficulty.

Day 2 – The Faith of the Early Church

Teaching:
From the first generation, Christians proclaimed the Eucharist as the Body and Blood of Christ.

St Ignatius of Antioch (c. A.D. 107): “They abstain from the Eucharist because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Smyrn. 7)

St Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 155): “We do not receive these as common bread and drink, but as Jesus Christ made flesh.” (Apology I 66)

St Irenaeus (A.D. 180): “The bread which is the Body of Christ… nourishes our flesh.” (Adv. Haer. 4.18.5)

St Cyril of Jerusalem (4th c.): “Since He Himself declared and said of the bread, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt it?”

Councils and Creeds:

Lateran IV (1215): first use of the term transubstantiation.

Trent (1551): defined that “by the consecration, the whole substance of bread and wine is changed.”

Apologetic Insight:
The “symbol-only” interpretation arose in the 16th century; for 1500 years every Christian community confessed the Real Presence.

Reflection:
Continuity is credibility. The Church believes today exactly what the first disciples celebrated in secret rooms of Rome and Antioch.

Day 3 – Understanding Transubstantiation

Teaching:
“Transubstantiation” does not describe a physical or chemical change but a metaphysical one—change in substance, not in appearance.

Substance = what a thing is in itself.

Accidents = what we perceive (colour, taste, weight).

At consecration, the substance becomes Christ’s Body and Blood; the accidents remain bread and wine.

CCC 1376 – “By the consecration there takes place a change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ.”

Theological Parallels:

Incarnation: the Word truly became flesh without ceasing to be divine.

Resurrection: Christ’s glorified body passes through closed doors—matter obeys spirit.

Apologetic Responses:

“It still looks like bread.” → Faith perceives beyond sense. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)

“It’s impossible.” → With God, the Creator of matter, no transformation is impossible.

Reflection:
Miracle begins where sensory certainty ends. The Eucharist demands both humility and wonder.

Day 4 – The Mass: The One Sacrifice Made Present

Teaching:
The Eucharist is the same sacrifice as Calvary—offered once in history, made present sacramentally in every age.

Hebrews 9:24-28 – Christ’s eternal priesthood.
CCC 1367 – “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice.”

At Mass, the priest acts in persona Christi Capitis—“in the person of Christ the Head.” It is Christ who offers, Christ who is offered, and Christ who gives Himself to us.

Apologetic Clarifications:

“You re-sacrifice Jesus.” → No; His sacrifice is once for all (Heb 10:10). The Mass makes that eternal act present to us; it does not add to it.

“Why involve priests?” → Because Christ instituted a ministerial priesthood to perpetuate His sacrificial memorial (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:23-24).

Reflection:
Every Eucharist is a meeting point of time and eternity. To attend Mass is to stand at the foot of the Cross with Mary and John.

Day 5 – The Fruits of Holy Communion

Teaching:
Receiving the Eucharist unites us to Christ, forgives venial sins, increases charity, and commits us to live what we celebrate.

John 6:56 – “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
CCC 1391–1397 – The effects of Holy Communion.

Spiritual Effects:

Union with Christ’s life and power.

Deeper unity within the Church.

Increase of grace and charity.

Commitment to serve the poor and forgive others.

Moral Preparation:
Confession of grave sin before Communion (CCC 1385).
Fasting and prayer to awaken hunger for God.

Reflection:
To receive Christ worthily is the highest moment of Christian life; to live what we have received is true worship.

Weekend Wrap-Up – Doctrinal Synthesis

Reality: Christ is truly, really, substantially present.

Continuity: Believed from the Apostles to today.

Mode: Presence through transubstantiation.

Meaning: Participation in the one sacrifice of Calvary.

Mission: Those who receive must become what they receive—Christ in the world.

Study Exercise:
Write a one-page defence of the Real Presence using:

John 6 and 1 Cor 11,

at least one Father (Ignatius or Justin Martyr),

one Catechism quote,

one modern application.

Journal Prompts

“When I kneel at the altar, I am standing at Calvary because…”

“How does believing in the Real Presence change the way I worship?”

“What obstacle to Eucharistic faith still lingers in me?”

Apologetics Corner

Common Objection	Catholic Response
“It’s only a memorial.”	In Scripture, memorial (zikkaron) makes the saving act present again (Ex 12; Luke 22:19).
“Early Christians didn’t teach this.”	See Ignatius of Antioch (AD 107) and Justin Martyr (AD 155): both call it the Flesh of Christ.
“You can’t worship bread.”	We worship not bread but Christ veiled under sacramental signs (CCC 1378).
“Science disproves it.”	The change is at the level of being, not chemistry; science measures accidents, not substance.
“Faith alone is enough.”	Faith draws us to the sacraments Christ instituted; to refuse them is to refuse His chosen means of grace.

Catechism Deep Dive

CCC 1322 – 1419 – The Eucharist in full.

CCC 1365 – 1377 – Sacrifice and Real Presence.

CCC 1374 – 1377 – Transubstantiation explained.

CCC 1384 – 1390 – Invitation and preparation.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus,
You hide Your glory in the humble form of bread and wine.
Strengthen my faith, deepen my love,
and make me a witness to Your Real Presence.
May I carry Your light from the altar into the world.
Amen.

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Just Teach Sheets – In-Depth November Week 1 2025