Gilbert C.
Gamboa
Propadeutic Department
Fundamentals of Faith and Prayer
Article Reflection: Transubstantiation
Only Hearts Can See
The article Transubstantiation by Frank J. Sheed gives us a glimpse of our doctrine on
transubstantiation, it is when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Frank Sheed said, in order to properly understand transubstantiation at this point, we
must be satisfied with the most basic definition of substance and the distinction between it and
accidents. While keeping in mind once more that what is mentioned in general also applies to
wine, we will focus on the bread.
In the Sacrament, we examine the bread the priest uses. It is soft, round, and white. The
bread's whiteness, roundness, and softness are all characteristics that it possesses; they are not
characteristics of the bread itself. There is something there that possesses all of these
characteristics, traits, and features, which philosophers refer to as accidents. Whiteness and
roundness draw our attention, while softness arouses our sense of touch. We may smell bread,
and the aroma of freshly made bread is delightful, but the aroma is not actually a characteristic of
the bread. When we attempt another sense, the sense of taste, the same thing has that unique
impact on our palate. The substance that is white, soft, and round has a smell.
It simply says that whatever the senses perceive—even with the help of the tools people
are always creating to extend the range of the senses—is always of this same kind, a quality,
property, or attribute; no sense picks up the item itself, which contains all these qualities. The
other things it has are just accidents; this something is what philosophers refer to as substance.
Accidents are visible to our senses, but only the intellect can discern the substance. This holds
true for both bread and every other produced creature. If left to its own devices, the mind
assumes that the substance is the one that has been discovered to have that specific combination
of accidents in all of its prior experiences.
Frank J. Sheed simply tells us that the doctrine of transubstantiation is the process where
the bread and wine become Christ’s body and Christ’s blood. The bread may not transform
physically and the qualities of bread and wine will remain but the substance of it will change into
a new substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
I remember when I was in my third grade in elementary it was the time when I first
receive the sacrament of the Eucharist and receive Christ in the Holy Communion in a form of
bread. First, I thought it was just ordinary bread, bread that is tasteless. I didn’t believe in our
catechist who taught us that the bread which we are about to receive at that time is the body of
Christ. I have plenty of questions in my mind about how could that bread become the body of
Christ, and how it became possible. I can’t really understand how that thing happened, does that
priest has magic and powers to make the bread a body of Christ? All these questions remained in
my mind but I still received communion even though I had thought that it was just ordinary
bread.
There is a time when I was convinced that the bread, I received is the body of Christ. It so
happened that I made my own reason for how the bread become Christ’s body. I thought it is
because of the chasuble of the priest that gave him the power to turn the bread into the body of
Christ. But this thing was mere reasoning of a normal child who seeks explanation for things that
he can’t understand. And as time passed by, I have been engaged in the church and its ministry
and started to study about few doctrines of the church. This made me realize how such an
impossible thing became possible.
Now that I have the capacity of the mind to understand things and the capacity of my
heart to believe in my faith, I have found answers to my questions before. Transubstantiation is
the answer that all this time I’m looking for. It is really the bread and wine who became Jesus in
the Eucharist, and the priest does not only signify Christ during consecration but it is Christ who
consecrates the bread and wine to become His body and blood. It is the mystery of faith that our
naked eyes cannot see. This reminds me that our minds cannot understand everything alone, but
also there are our hearts that can see things in a different manner.
What is amazing now is even though I cannot see that the bread and wine are the real
flesh and blood of Christ, I feel with all my heart that the bread that I always received in the
Eucharist is Jesus Himself. It is Jesus that is truly present in the Eucharist. Every time I was
contemplating Jesus in Blessed Sacrament, my tears always finds their way to drip and it always
happened to me unconsciously. I know every time I received Christ in a form of bread in the
Eucharist, I know that I am not worthy to have Him but behind my unworthiness, He always
gives and offers Himself to us so He could share us Heaven and His grace. Maybe there are
things that our reasons and mind cannot understand or explains but I know for sure that our
hearts can. And if there is something that I learned and realize from this article, it is the body and
blood of Christ that is one hundred percent and truly present in the Eucharist in a form of bread
and wine. We can see that it has the same properties as bread and wine but if we let our hearts
see the mystery behind it, it is really Jesus in the Eucharist.