Saint Ignatius of Antioch (35AD-107AD) was the third Bishop of Antioch. He was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle and is one of the first Church Fathers. The Church Fathers are, “saintly writers of the early centuries whom the Church recognizes as her special witnesses of the faith.”[1] The Church Fathers spanned eight centuries and provide an important link to Jesus and the Apostles. This link is important because people ask, “Where is the Eucharist in the Bible?” The Eucharist is in the Bible, and it is important to illustrate this. However it is also vital to understand what the disciples of the Apostles believed and wrote about the Eucharist.

Some propose that the Catholic Church began in 325AD with the Council of Nicaea. If this is the case, what was going on from 33AD to 325AD? What community of believers existed during those 292 years? What did they believe? What did they do? A study of this period, brings one to the realization that those who claimed to follow Christ were talking and writing about topics such as the priesthood, bishops, the Eucharist, Mary, etc. Saint Justin Martyr (100-165AD) for example, gives a clear account of the Church in the second century, almost 200 years prior to the Council of Nicaea.

We do not receive these gifts as ordinary food or ordinary drink. But as Jesus Christ our Savior who was made flesh through the word of God, and took flesh and blood for our salvation; in the same way the food over which thanksgiving has been offered through the word of prayer which we have from him – the food by which our blood and flesh are nourished through its transformation – is, we are taught, the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh.[2]

This testimony shows that the early Christians prayed, believed and lived as Catholics of present day. Let’s go back farther, just in case Saint Justin Martyr didn’t get it right. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, mentioned earlier, whose life bridged the First and Second Centuries writes:

"Meet together in common – every single one of you – in grace, in one faith and one Jesus Christ (who was of David’s line in his human nature, son of man and son of God) that you may obey the bishop and priest with undistracted mind; breaking one bread, which is the medicine for immortality, our antidote to ensure that we shall not die but live in Jesus Christ for ever."[3]

What does Saint Ignatius mean by “breaking bread”? The answer is found in Acts 2:37-42. Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to Heaven. Jesus had promised the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would be sent, so the Apostles stayed in the city remaining faithful and awaiting the promise. The day of Pentecost, when the promised Paraclete had descended, Saint Peter proclaimed the Gospel and the crowd were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37). Three thousand accepted the Gospel.

They asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?”  Peter said to them, “repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit…Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day. (Acts 2:37-38)

Baptism however was not the end for the believers, but rather a door into the Life of Christ. We are told that the new converts, “…devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42). The breaking of bread in scripture is in reference to the Eucharist – to the Mass. The bread which the early Christians broke was not seen as mere bread, it was not a symbol but the flesh of Jesus Christ. Saint Justin Martyr writes “…the food by which our blood and flesh are nourished through its transformation – is, we are taught, the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh.”[4]

Saint Justin Martyr doesn’t say “we teach” but rather “we are taught”. Who taught Saint Justin Martyr? Saint Justin Martyr converted to Christianity due to the faithful teaching of those who lived just before and during his time, people like Saint Polycarp (69-155AD), Saint Ignatius of Antioch (35-107AD) and Saint Clement of Rome (30-101AD). Who taught these men? The Apostles. Saint John the Apostle was the teacher of both Polycarp and Ignatius. And who taught Saint John the Apostle? Jesus Christ taught John! He was at the Last Supper laying his head upon the chest of Christ and he was at the Crucifixion. How do we know that he didn’t get it wrong? When you hear Our Lord say, “This is my Body” and you know He is not speaking symbolically, you can’t get it wrong. This is the Apostolic Faith.

How do we know that what has been taught is not tainted? The following analogy might be helpful. If a person were to start a restaurant, they would want to make sure recipes were protected, copyrighted, etc. The owner/chef may desire to make a recipe just like he remembered his mother and grandmother making it, to preserve the integrity of the recipe. Perhaps two hundred years from the founding of the restaurant the same recipe could be prepared just as grandma had made it. This is the case in many restaurants. In the course of 200 years there may have been hundreds of chefs prepare the meal, but only one recipe. If this much care is put into preserving the passing on of a temporal thing, how much more care has been taken in the passing on of an eternal reality, given by God Himself. Jesus passes on His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to every generation. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority give to the bishops and priests that the Eucharist is passed on with integrity to every generation. The following pages are filled with quotes from these generations.

The Last Supper – Gospel of Matthew 26:26-28
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

The Bread of Life Discourse - Gospel of John Chapter 6
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven.”

The Road to Emmaus – Gospel of Luke Chapter 24
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?”

St. Paul Letter to the 1 Corinthians Chapter 11
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way He also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This 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 this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.

St. Ignatius of Antioch – Bishop, martyred in 107 AD
Meet together in common – every single one of you – in grace, in one faith and one Jesus Christ (who was of David’s line in his human nature, son of man and son of God) that you may obey the bishop and priest with undistracted mind; breaking one bread, which is the medicine for immortality, our antidote to ensure that we shall not die but live in Jesus Christ for ever.

St. Justin Martyr – 165 AD
We do not receive these gifts as ordinary food or ordinary drink. But as Jesus Christ our Savior who was made flesh through the word of God, and took flesh and blood for our salvation; in the same way the food over which thanksgiving has been offered through the word of prayer which we have from him – the food by which our blood and flesh are nourished through its transformation – is, we are taught, the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh.

Tertullian – 200 AD
The flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ that the soul may be fattened on God.

St. Irenaeus – Bishop of Lyons – 202 AD
For as the bread, which comes from the earth, receives the invocation of God, and then is no longer common bread but Eucharist, consists of two things, and earthly and a heavenly; so our bodies after partaking of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of eternal resurrection.

St. Gregory of Nyssa – Bishop of Nyssa – 335 AD
The God, who was manifested, mingled himself with the nature that was doomed to death, in order that by communion with the divinity, human nature may be deified together with him. It is for this purpose that by the divine plan of his grace he plants himself in believers by means of that flesh, composed of bread and wine, blending himself with the bodies of believers, so that man also may share in immortality by union with the immortal.

St. John Chrysostom – Bishop of Constantinople – 350 AD
For what is the bread? The body of Christ. And what do they become who partake of it? The body of Christ: not many bodies, but one body. For as the bread, consisting of many grains, is made one, so that the grains nowhere appear; they exist indeed…so are we, joined with each other and with Christ: there not being one body for you, and another for your neighbor to be nourished by, but the very same for all.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem – Bishop of Jerusalem – 350 AD
Therefore, when he has spoken and says about the bread, “This is my Body,” who will have the nerve to doubt any longer? And when he affirms clearly, “This is my Blood,” who will then doubt, saying that it is not his Blood?

St. Ambrose – Bishop of Milan – 350 AD
The sacrament which you receive is affected by the words of Christ. Now if the words of Elijah had the power to call down fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:38), will not the words of Christ have the power to change the character of the elements? You have read, in the account of the creation of the universe: ‘He himself spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.’ (Ps 33:9). The words of Christ, then, could make out of nothing that which did not exist, can it not change things which do exist into what they are not?

St. Augustine of Hippo – 350 AD
Recognize in the bread what hangs on the Cross; recognize in the chalice the water and blood trickling from his side.

St. Faustus of Riez – Monk & Bishop – 500 AD
…so when you approach the holy altar to be nourished by the food from heaven, contemplate, adore and marvel at the sacred body and blood of your God, grasp it with your mind, take it to heart, and above all absorb it into your interior being.

St. John of Damascus – 700 AD
Let us partake of the Divine Coal…in order that we may be inflamed and divinized by our share in the divine fire. Now coal is not simple wood but rather wood united with fire. So also the Bread of Communion is not simple bread but bread united with the Divinity.

Stephen – Bishop of Autun – 1139 AD
Common bread is lifted up from the altar; the immortal Flesh of Christ is set down upon it. What was natural food has become spiritual food. What was the momentary refreshment of man has been made the eternal and unfailing nourishment of angels.

Lateran Council IV – 1215AD
In order to complete the mystery of unity, we receive from Him what He received from us.

St. Clare of Assisi – 1200 AD
By your most cruel death give me lively faith, a firm hope and perfect charity, so that I may love you with all my soul and strength. Make me firm and steadfast in good works and grant me perseverance in your service so that I may be able to please you always.

St. Francis of Assisi – 1221 AD
Our whole being should be seized with awe, the whole world should tremble and heaven rejoice, when Christ the Son of the living God is present on the altar in the hands of the priest. What wonderful majesty! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, would humble
like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation.

St. Thomas Aquinas – 1250 AD
Nothing more health-giving, for in this Sacrament sins are purged away, strength renewed, and the mind fortified with generous spiritual gifts. Offered in the Church for the living and the dead, it is meant for all, and all gain its benefits. Christ’s true body, born from the Virgin Mary, is contained in the sacrament of the altar. To profess the contrary is heresy, because it detracts from the truth of Scripture, which records our Lord’s own words, ‘This is my body.’ The noblest sacrament, consequently, is that wherein his body is really present. The Eucharist crowns all the other sacraments. That Christ’s true body and blood are present in this sacrament can be perceived neither by sense nor by reason, but by faith alone, which rests on God’s authority. On the text, “This is my body which is given for you.

St. Catherine of Siena – 1350 AD
Jesus’s words to St. Catherine: Dearest daughter, contemplate the marvelous state of the soul who receives this bread of life, this food of angels, as she ought. when she receives this sacrament she lives in me and I in her. Just as the fish is in the sea and the sea is in the fish, so am I in the soul and the soul in me, the sea of peace.

St. Margaret Mary – 1650 AD
I desire but this one grace, and long to be consumed like a burning candle in His holy Presence every moment of the life that remains to me. For that I would be willing, I think, to suffer all the pains imaginable till judgment day, if only I should not have to leave His sacred presence. My motive would be to be consumed in honoring Him and to acknowledge the burning love He shows us in this wonderful Sacrament.

St. Alphonsus Liguori – 1750 AD
Jesus Christ finds means to console a soul that remains with a recollected spirit before the Most Blessed Sacrament, far beyond what the world can do with all its feast and pastimes.
You must also be aware, that in a quarter of an hour’s prayer spent in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, you will perhaps gain more than in all the other spiritual exercises of the day.

St. John Vianney – 1850 AD
Do not say that you are sinners, that you are too wretched, and that is why you dare not approach the Eucharist. You might just a well say that you are too ill, and that is why you will not try any remedy nor send for the doctor.

By Communion, indeed, Jesus makes us all his own body, and identifies us with himself as the body with the head. He is not content with showing himself to us. He puts himself into our hands, into our mouth, mingling his substance with our substance, that we may become one spirit with him. We ought to visit him often. How dear to him is a quarter of an hour spared from our occupation or from some useless employment, to come and pray to him, visit him, and console him for all the  ingratitude he receives!

St. Therese the Little Flower – 1880 AD
It is not to remain in a golden ciborium that He comes down to us each day from heaven; it’s to find another heaven, infinitely more dear to Him than the first: the heaven of our soul, made to his image, the living temple of the adorable Trinity.

Oh, my darling, think, then, that Jesus is there in the Tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone; He is burning with the desire to enter your heart.

Pope Leo XIII – 1890 AD
In a word this Sacrament is, as it were, the very soul of the Church.

St. Faustina Kowalska – 1920 AD
After Communion today, Jesus told me how much he desires to come to human hearts. ‘I desire to unite myself with human souls; My great delight is to unite myself with souls. Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all sorts of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat me as a dead object.’

Saint Jose Maria Escriva – 1950 AD
When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.

If you don’t keep in touch with Christ in prayer and in the bread, how can you make him known to others?
The Second Vatican Council – 1963 AD
The Eucharistic sacrifice is the source and the summit of the whole of the Church’s worship and of the Christian life.

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta – 1980 AD
That is why Jesus made himself bread, to satisfy our hunger for God. See the humility of God. He also made himself the hungry one to satisfy our hunger for God through our love, our service. Let us pray that none of us will be unfaithful. Let us pray for our poor people. They are also hungry for God.

When communicating with Christ in your heart – the partaking of the Living Bread – remember what Our Lady must have felt when the Spirit overpowered her and she, who was full of grace, became full with the body of Jesus. The Spirit in her was so strong that she immediately rose in haste to go and serve.

Saint John Paul II – 2005 AD
The Eucharist educates us to this love in a deeper way; it shows us, in fact, what value each person, our brother and sister, has in God’s eyes, if Christ offers himself equally to each one, under the species of bread and wine. If our Eucharistic worship is authentic, it must make us grow in awareness of the dignity of each person.

Place the Eucharist at the center of your life.

Pope Benedict XVI
In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. It is source of comfort and light, particularly to those who are suffering.

Pope Francis
The Eucharist is Jesus who gives himself entirely to us. To nourish ourselves with Him and abide in Him through Holy Communion, if we do it with faith, transforms our life into a gift to God and to our brothers.