Lesson Twenty-Second is the first of two lessons in the Baltimore Catechism No. 2 that discusses the Holy Eucharist.
Unlike most Protestant churches, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. What appears to be bread and wine are, after the consecration by the priest at Mass, the Body and Blood of Christ. Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper and granted the power to His apostles to perform the sacrament.
The questions are numbered consecutively with Lesson Twenty-First. For more information and links to other resources, click on each question below.
A. The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament which contains the body and blood, soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine.
A. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the night before He died.
A. When our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist the twelve Apostles were present.
A. Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist by taking bread, blessing, breaking, and giving to His Apostles, saying: Take ye and eat. This is My body; and then by taking the cup of wine, blessing and giving it, saying to them: Drink ye all of this. This is My blood which shall be shed for the remission of sins. Do this for a commemoration of Me.
A. When our Lord said, This is My body, the substance of the bread was changed into the substance of His body; when He said, This is My blood, the substance of the wine was changed into the substance of His blood.
A. Jesus Christ is whole and entire both under the form of bread and under the form of wine.
A. After the substance of the bread and wine had been changed into the substance of the body and blood of our Lord there remained only the appearances of bread and wine.
A. By the appearances of bread and wine I mean the figure, the color, the taste, and whatever appears to the senses.
A. This change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord is called Transubstantiation.
A. The substance of the bread and wine was changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ by His almighty power.
