I find it interesting that a lot of people, and not just Protestants, but Catholics as well, don't realize that the celebration of the Mass as we know it today has roots that go back to the earliest days of Christianity. Of course, as Catholics we believe that the first Mass was indeed celebrated by Jesus at the Last Supper on the night before He died. We also believe that when He instructed the apostles to "do this in remembrance of me" [Lk 22:19], they did just that in what they called "the breaking of the bread". This command of Jesus was also accompanied by a promise, that He would be present in the bread and wine offered by the Apostles and their successors: "This is my body...This is my blood." St. Paul certainly believed in the reality and fulfillment of this promise, a belief evident in his First Letter to the Corinthians:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. [1 Cor 11:23-29]
Were the bread and wine simply bread and wine, how could one eat and drink unworthily? How could one be called to answer for the body and blood of the Lord?
And it was also Paul who helped the Jews of his time understand the nature of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice on the Cross. Again, in First Corinthians, he makes sure his readers understand that it is through the Last Supper, that first Mass, that Jesus makes His death a sacrifice in which his sacrificial blood establishes the New Covenant.
And if you've read any of the early Church Fathers, you find that their understanding of the Eucharist is consistent with that of the Catholic Church throughout the ages. One of the more interesting descriptions of the Mass in the early Church was written by St. Justin Martyr in approximately 155 A.D. This particular work of Justin's, his First Apology, was written to the Roman Emperor to prove that Christians were upright, moral people and good citizens. During the course of the letter, Justin describes the Mass as it was celebrated in the Church. Note how today's Eucharistic Celebration mirrors what Justin describes. He begins with a baptism, followed by Mass.
But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said,This do in remembrance of Me, [Luke 22:19] this is My body;and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said,This is My blood;and gave it to them alone.
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration. [St. Justin Martyr, The First Apology, 65-67]
Once again, echoing St. Paul, Justin proclaims the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ present under the appearances of bread and wine. This belief, held dear by the Church for 2,000 years, has not wavered and is manifested daily in the Celebration of the Eucharist in every Catholic Church throughout the world.
Here are two excellent and very readable books that should whet your appetite to dig more deeply into the subject:
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, Brant Pitre, Doubleday, 2011
The Mass of the Early Christians, Mike Aquilina, Our Sunday Visitor, 2001
I often find myself completely overwhelmed by just the thought of the Eucharist, that our Lord and Savior, the Creative Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity is actually present -- Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity -- in the bread and wine we share in Communion at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Eucharist is God’s most special gift to His people, and what a marvelous gift it is! First and foremost it is a sign of His total and everlasting love; for in the Eucharist God gives us the gift of His Son, making Jesus truly present to us and in us. And what a special way for God to fulfill the promise Jesus made as He ascended to the Father: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." [Mt 28:20]. Is it any wonder why the Church calls the Eucharist "the source and summit of the Christian life."
Eucharist is real food for the soul, and “preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism.” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1392] Indeed, the more we share in the Eucharist, receiving the living Christ within us, the more difficult it is to break away from Him through sin.
The Eucharist also unites us as members of Christ’s Mystical Body. It strengthens and renews the Church, uniting the faithful to each other, to the Church, and to Christ. And it helps us recognize the presence of Christ in all His people, particularly in the poorest of His brethren. To see Jesus in the poor, the weak, the persecuted, the homeless, the hungry and thirsty, the imprisoned takes on new meaning when we realize that, through the Eucharist, Christ is truly present in them.
And lest I forget, here's an interesting video I came across a while back. It presents the words of St. Justin Martyr that relate to the Mass in the 2nd century.
What a gift we have in the Eucharist!
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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