The Eucharist Is NOT A Symbol

March 14, 2026

Jesus also said, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail” (John 6:63), not because the Eucharist is merely a symbol. (He didn’t say, “My flesh is of no avail.”) Jesus said this because his disciples still doubted that he could give them his body as food. They were stuck in man-focused “fleshy” ways, as opposed to spiritual ways of thinking that recognize God’s almighty power. The latter way of thinking would have allowed them to trust Jesus when he said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” 

Another reason to believe that Jesus’ words were not symbols is that the phrase “eating my flesh” was symbolic . . . of cursing someone (Micah 3:1-3). And even if Jesus didn’t mind that he was echoing cursing language to symbolize spiritual nourishment that comes from belief in him, why did he talk about drinking blood? There are a thousand better forms of nourishment Jesus could have used to make a merely symbolic point . . . especially since drinking blood had been forbidden since the time of Genesis (9:6). 

Through the Eucharist given to us at every Mass, we receive the risen, glorified new Passover sacrifice, whose death takes away the sins of the world. We receive him in a miraculous, unbloody way, under the form of bread and wine.  

The Eucharist is not a symbol—it is Christ himself, given for our salvation.