The hard saying
In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus says something that loses Him most of His followers. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53). The crowd murmurs. Many walk away. Jesus does not soften it. He turns to the Twelve and asks if they want to leave too. Peter answers, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68).
The Catholic Church has held to the literal sense of those words for two thousand years. At every Mass, when the priest says over the bread and wine the words Christ Himself spoke at the Last Supper, Catholics believe the bread and wine become the Body and Blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ. The Catechism calls this the Real Presence (CCC §1374).
What the words actually mean
The Real Presence is not a feeling. It is not the bread reminding us of Jesus. It is not Jesus being a little bit more available during Mass than at other moments. The Church teaches that what was bread is now Christ Himself, even though every test we could run, taste, look, weight, would still report bread. The reality has changed; the appearances have not. The Church calls this transubstantiation.
St John Henry Newman, who knew the Anglican tradition from the inside before becoming Catholic, wrote about the moment this teaching landed in him.
He is not past, He is present now. And though He is not seen, He is here.
Saint John Henry Newman, quoted by Bishop Mark Davies in his Pastoral Letter on Saint John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church, All Saints 2025
Bishop Mark Davies has made the Real Presence the steady note of his preaching across the Diocese of Shrewsbury. He returns again and again to one phrase, drawn from Newman.
We are to find in the Eucharist the Church's entire spiritual wealth, Christ Himself.
Bishop Mark Davies, Chrism Mass Homily
The witness from Stockport
On 22 October 2022, the Feast of Pope St John Paul II, Bishop Davies dedicated St Joseph's, Stockport, as a Eucharistic Shrine of Perpetual Adoration. That means the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar there day and night, and someone is always praying before it. It is the only such shrine in the diocese.
Bishop Davies was clear about the reason. The shrine exists, he said, so that people might come through the doors and have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ; so that men considering the priesthood might find the call confirmed by hours spent before the Eucharist; so that the diocese might be reminded, every hour of every day, of what stands at its centre. St Joseph's was designated one of two pilgrim churches for the Jubilee Year 2025, alongside Shrewsbury Cathedral.
What scripture and the early Church say
The Catholic teaching is not a medieval invention. The earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament already speak of the Eucharist in the same terms.
- St Paul, around AD 55. Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgement on himself (1 Corinthians 11:29). Paul does not say the symbol of the body.
- St Ignatius of Antioch, around AD 107. He calls the Eucharist the medicine of immortality and warns against those who deny that it is the flesh of Jesus Christ.
- St Justin Martyr, around AD 155. He describes the Sunday gathering of Christians and writes that the bread and wine, after the prayer of thanksgiving, are the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.
This is the unbroken witness of the Church. St Polycarp, whose relics now rest inside the new altar at Shrewsbury Cathedral, knew the apostle John personally and was martyred holding this faith in AD 155.
What it changes
If the Real Presence is true, three things follow.
- Mass is not optional. If Christ Himself is given at the altar, no other Sunday activity competes with it.
- Adoration makes sense. Sitting in silence before the tabernacle is sitting with the Lord. The diocese has staked its life on this at St Joseph's, Stockport.
- Receiving Communion is serious. Catholics fast for an hour beforehand and approach the Sacrament of Confession when they have fallen into serious sin, because they believe the One they are receiving is the Risen Christ.
Your next step
Cardinal Newman called the Eucharist a Treasure unutterable. Bishop Davies says we will never have far to go to find Christ, because He is in the tabernacle of the lowliest church on earth.
Test the claim where it is most concentrated. Sit at St Joseph's, Stockport, for ten minutes. The address is St Joseph's, Higher Hillgate, Stockport SK1 3PS. The doors are open. The Lord is exposed on the altar. Bring whatever you carry. See whether the Catholic Church has been telling the truth.
