Transubstantiation!

August 14, 2020

by Pedro A. Moreno, O.P.

I recently visited one of my favorite bookstores. The “sale” sign caught my eye so I moved toward a table with some famous book titles. One of the books on sale was a Bible, or so I thought. It was a beautiful black leather edition with gilded edges and a marker ribbon was also visible.

I picked it up to see which translation of the Bible was on sale and when I opened it up, surprise!!! This was not an actual Bible, just a journal with blank pages.

I immediately thought of the great Dominican Saint, among the most revered members of the Order of Preachers, Saint Thomas Aquinas and said, “This is an example of negative, or reverse, transubstantiation!”

Let me explain. One way of looking at everything around us is to distinguish between what we see, appearances or accidental aspects of any given thing, and what we don’t see but know it is there, the inner reality, inner truth or substance. In other words, we know that there could be a difference between what we see and what we get.

Here are a couple of examples. A car might look great on the outside but if the engine is blown and it needs a new transmission, then the substance of that car does not match the flashy exterior. Here’s another: A person might look great, smell great and dress sharply, but if that person has a horrible personality and is incapable of having an honest conversation, then we have a person with something substantially wrong with them.

In regard to the previously mentioned Bible, I had a simple expectation, to find God present in his word within the leather covers. The substance of what a Bible is, God’s word, was moved or taken out, a negative or reverse transubstantiation. From having substance, it now had none.

Saint Thomas originated this idea, transubstantiation, in a positive way to explain what happens at Mass at the consecration, when Christ, through the priest, says the words of the Last Supper over the bread and wine. The appearance of the bread and wine stay the same while the inner reality is moved or changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. “Trans” means to change or move, and “substance” is the inner reality or truth of something. The inner reality, the substance, of the bread and wine are now the Body and Blood of Christ while we still see, smell and taste (accidental qualities) bread and wine.

Regarding the supposed Bible that was on sale, I call it reverse or negative transubstantiation because it went from having the substance of God present in his word to having a zero substance. The outside implied there was a lot within the covers but the printer changed it and gave us nothing.

Here are the actual words from Saint Thomas Aquinas’s most famous theological manual the “Summa Theologiae,” part three, question 75, article four, the end of his answer:

“…the whole substance of one thing be changed into the whole substance of another. And this is done by divine power in this sacrament; for the whole substance of the bread is changed into the whole substance of Christ's body, and the whole substance of the wine into the whole substance of Christ's blood. Hence, this is not a formal, but a substantial conversion; nor is it a kind of natural movement: but, with a name of its own, it can be called ‘transubstantiation.’”

Many people are afraid of this word, some have tried to use other words or even avoid using it as if it were a bad word, but it is the best word, when understood correctly, to explain what happens on each altar during the consecration. Children might not get it because it is an abstract concept, but everyone else should. Understanding this idea doesn’t take the place of our faith but it does show how reasonable our faith is and it gives us a solid foundation to believe firmly in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

So, I invite you to visit the tabernacle and just enjoy being loved by Jesus Christ. He truly is there! All thanks to that wonderful word, transubstantiation. Transubstantiation… Yes, I said it!