What is the Eucharist?

[Dimmesdale]

I want to ruminate a little about the Eucharist (Real Presence). Without ridicule, condescension, or arrogance as to my own position. I feel now I should be more respectful regarding these topics, despite there being, to my mind, serious issues with this particular subject.

How would I begin? There are so many angles you can look at this.... I will start from the most common sense perspective, at least what I think it to be, properly....

Jesus is said to be "Substantiality Present" "Soul, Body and Divinity" within the consecrated elements. (Or AS the elements?)

Now wait a minute. How could Jesus, or Jesus' body, become? How could this change be effected. Isn't God eternal? So how could something pre-existing come about, "spring" from a created being, entity; namely, bread and wine? What happened to the original bread and wine? The substratum?

But it is said that Jesus adopted a human nature. Okay, but Jesus' SOUL, his Original Eternal Being, was already pre-existing. So how could his eternal self "become" in, (or Rather, AS consecrated elements?)

Is the Eucharist spirit or is it a mere lump of matter? Is matter "SOUL, Body, AND DIVINITY?" (By the way, I am not being sarcastic, I just want to emphasize these points, for even my own clarity).

It seems as though we need to be backed into a bit of a corner. The Eucharist is Either/OR Spirit or Matter, or Spirit merely ATTENDS the matter, or there may be a Both/And (If Body and Soul are "Absolutely" United -- As I have heard Christ having a "glorified body.").

So does that mean that God's flesh is Divinity, but not a lock of his hair? A lock of his hair is after all a part of his body.....

(To be cont'd)