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Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter?
Winner of a first-place award for popular presentation of the faith and second-place in pastoral ministry, catechetical resource from the Catholic Media Association.
Many Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Rather, they see the bread and wine of Holy Communion as mere symbols of Christ’s body and blood. Is that disbelief just a misunderstanding or is it a blatant rejection of one of the central beliefs of the faith? In Real Presence , University of Notre Dame theologian Timothy P. O’Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence. A 2019 study by the Pew Research Center found that almost seventy percent of Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. O’Malley offers a concise introduction to Catholic teaching on real presence and transubstantiation through a biblical, theological, and spiritual account of these doctrines from the early Church to today. He also explores how real presence enables us to see the vulnerability of human life and the dignity of all flesh and blood. O’Malley leads you to a deeper understanding and renewed faith in Catholic teaching about transubstantiation and real presence by helping you learn
Many Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Rather, they see the bread and wine of Holy Communion as mere symbols of Christ’s body and blood. Is that disbelief just a misunderstanding or is it a blatant rejection of one of the central beliefs of the faith? In Real Presence , University of Notre Dame theologian Timothy P. O’Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence. A 2019 study by the Pew Research Center found that almost seventy percent of Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. O’Malley offers a concise introduction to Catholic teaching on real presence and transubstantiation through a biblical, theological, and spiritual account of these doctrines from the early Church to today. He also explores how real presence enables us to see the vulnerability of human life and the dignity of all flesh and blood. O’Malley leads you to a deeper understanding and renewed faith in Catholic teaching about transubstantiation and real presence by helping you learn
160 pages, Paperback
Published March 12, 2021
40 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Timothy P. O'Malley
28 books9 followersDr. Timothy P. O'Malley, Ph.D. (theology and education, Boston College; M.T.S., Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame; B.A., Theology and Philosophy, Notre Dame), is Director of Education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and Academic Director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2023
Great read to better understand the amazing mystery of the Eucharist. I appreciated how the author guides the reader to think about the Eucharist from different lenses so as to more immersively participate in the Mass. The last chapter would really engage those with literary and poetic minds, but I personally had difficulty connecting with it. However, I got a lot out of all the rest of the chapters and am grateful for how it better shaped my understanding on this topic.
February 6, 2022
In 2019, a Pew Research Center study on the religious commitment and practice of American Catholics found a significant number of the faith did not have an accurate or complete understanding of the "Real Presence" of Christ in the Eucharist Sacrament. This prompted Cardinal Seán O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston to proclaim a "Year of the Eucharist" for 2020-2021 to help rehabilitate the faithful. The "Real Presence" by Dr. Timothy O'Malley could very well be required reading in support of that endeavor.
Chapter One tackles the "Obstacles to Real Presence" by identifying three (3) points of confusion: an over-reliance on a physical interpretation of presence, a lack of reverence and an apparent false dichotomy between reverence and recognition of Christ's presence in others. Along the way, Fr. Thomas Reese S.J. is thrown under the bus for declaring that he "find[s] the theology of transubstantiation to be unintelligible" and that we should just "accept it as a mystery and not pretend we understand it." Unfortunately if we do that, I think that we take away some of the power that particular sacrament is supposed to have.
Chapter Two looks at the Real Presence in the Scriptures. Here is where Dr. O'Malley really shines because he focuses on what we mean by presence. After that we move on to Chapter Three to examine how the early Church Father's developed the "doctrine of Eucharistic presence" where the terms Body and Blood are associated to the Bread and Wine. The language used here by the early Fathers is not easily understood and I think this is where most readers start to fall away. While I can acknowledge the mystagogical element of the real presence, my modern mind has trouble with the constant use of Body and Blood when I do not see an actual body or blood. Why must these be linked in the Eucharist? What do we mean when we say Body? Can we explain that term other than symbolically if we don't actually have [what we normally view as] a physical body?
Chapter Four - Savoring the Mystery of Transubstantiation, attempts to answer these questions. After spending a little time with a couple of quarreling monks to define the argument as reality vs symbolic, Dr. O'Malley spends the reminder looking at St. Thomas Aquinas ... an amazing doctor of the church whose theology builds upon the concepts of substance and accidents decried by the afore mentioned Fr. Reese when he states that he does not "believe in prime matter, substantial forms, substance and accidents." Ultimately we get little here other than the belief that the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the true Body and Blood of Christ because the Church says so. Score one for Fr. Reese.
Chapter Five - Eucharistic Devotion and Real Presence, doesn't really add much to the debate, but it does offer a look at how the [various] practices of adoration can enable us to recognize the Real Presence in the Eucharist. While this was not the slam dunk that I was looking for, it does give me plenty to meditate on ... YMMV
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#RealPresence #NetGalley #YearoftheEucharist
Chapter One tackles the "Obstacles to Real Presence" by identifying three (3) points of confusion: an over-reliance on a physical interpretation of presence, a lack of reverence and an apparent false dichotomy between reverence and recognition of Christ's presence in others. Along the way, Fr. Thomas Reese S.J. is thrown under the bus for declaring that he "find[s] the theology of transubstantiation to be unintelligible" and that we should just "accept it as a mystery and not pretend we understand it." Unfortunately if we do that, I think that we take away some of the power that particular sacrament is supposed to have.
Chapter Two looks at the Real Presence in the Scriptures. Here is where Dr. O'Malley really shines because he focuses on what we mean by presence. After that we move on to Chapter Three to examine how the early Church Father's developed the "doctrine of Eucharistic presence" where the terms Body and Blood are associated to the Bread and Wine. The language used here by the early Fathers is not easily understood and I think this is where most readers start to fall away. While I can acknowledge the mystagogical element of the real presence, my modern mind has trouble with the constant use of Body and Blood when I do not see an actual body or blood. Why must these be linked in the Eucharist? What do we mean when we say Body? Can we explain that term other than symbolically if we don't actually have [what we normally view as] a physical body?
Chapter Four - Savoring the Mystery of Transubstantiation, attempts to answer these questions. After spending a little time with a couple of quarreling monks to define the argument as reality vs symbolic, Dr. O'Malley spends the reminder looking at St. Thomas Aquinas ... an amazing doctor of the church whose theology builds upon the concepts of substance and accidents decried by the afore mentioned Fr. Reese when he states that he does not "believe in prime matter, substantial forms, substance and accidents." Ultimately we get little here other than the belief that the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the true Body and Blood of Christ because the Church says so. Score one for Fr. Reese.
Chapter Five - Eucharistic Devotion and Real Presence, doesn't really add much to the debate, but it does offer a look at how the [various] practices of adoration can enable us to recognize the Real Presence in the Eucharist. While this was not the slam dunk that I was looking for, it does give me plenty to meditate on ... YMMV
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#RealPresence #NetGalley #YearoftheEucharist
January 28, 2023
This is a great book on the concept of "real presence". The author makes available the doctrine available to non theologians. He also makes the world view that allows sacrament to be entered into as well. This is a book I would recommend to any believer.
April 7, 2023
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a three-year Eucharistic Revival on Corpus Christi Sunday of 2022. The revival is a response to widespread Eucharistic illiteracy in the United States, particularly when it comes to the core Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. Famously, a 2019 Pew study found that only 31 percent of Catholics professed faith that the bread and wine of the Eucharistic celebration become “the actual Body and Blood of Christ.” Conversely, seven out of ten Catholics believe that the bread and wine are merely symbols of Christ’s actual Body and Blood. Many have criticized the Pew study for its conceptual imprecision: Mark Gray observes that Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine become “the actual Body and Blood of Christ,” but rather declare faith in the real or substantial presence of Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the bread and wine. Nevertheless, Timothy O’Malley, a Catholic theologian at Notre Dame, concedes that the Pew poll reflects a shared sense within Catholic institutions that many Catholics do not understand the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation. Many do not, moreover, participate in practices like Eucharistic adoration that facilitate the spiritual formation needed to faithfully assent to these doctrines. In Real Presence, O’Malley strives both to retrieve and clarify the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation and, just as importantly, articulate how reverent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament can and has transformed the lives of Catholics.
In a short yet snappy book, O’Malley covers an immense amount of theological and historical territory. In the first chapter, he clarifies the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation with respect to a set of widespread confusions. Especially helpful is his emphasis that one need not embrace Aristotle's physical or metaphysical worldview to understand the doctrine of transubstantiation, even if the doctrine employs an Aristotelian conceptual vocabulary (7). Transubstantiation, he notes, is the explanation of the doctrine of real presence that employs the terms “substance” and “accidents” (or “species”). In the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine is transformed into the total and real presence of Jesus Christ while “the species or appearance—that is, the accidents of the bread and wine—remain available to our senses, sustained only by a miracle” (8). Hence transubstantiation is “not a technical or physical explanation of what happens at Mass”; rather, it offers the conceptual means by which “to avoid an overly physical account of Christ’s presence, as well as a merely symbolic one” (8, 7). Put simply, transubstantiation is the most efficacious and appropriate way to articulate the doctrine of real presence, a doctrine with deep scriptural roots that developed as the Church came to understand what happens in the Eucharistic celebration (xvi).
In the second to fourth chapters, O’Malley traces the foundations for and expressions of real presence in the life of the Church. The second chapter examines the scriptural foundations of Eucharistic presence; the third chapter describes how various Church Fathers came to articulate the doctrine; and the fourth chapter offers a summary of Thomas Aquinas’s conception of the Eucharist as well as a commentary on Thomas’s Eucharistic sequence for the Feast of Corpus Christi, “Lauda Sion.” O’Malley’s historical approach to his explanation of real presence is extremely instructive: it not only demonstrates the centrality of the doctrine to the life of the Church across many centuries, but also contextualizes how and why the doctrine of transubstantiation offered a way to avoid theological pitfalls that perverted the notion of real presence. Specifically, transubstantiation “avoids the nonobjective presence that often comes with a symbolic account of the Eucharist while also shunning a cannibalistic account of the Eucharist” (93). Moreover, O’Malley’s presentation appropriately stresses the communal elements of Eucharistic theology. He notes how Augustine, for example, understands Eucharistic presence as inextricably related to membership in Christ’s body. For Augustine, “Christ’s presence is made known through that concrete form of love shared among believers who participate in the Eucharistic presence and sacrifice of the Church” (58). In this point of emphasis, O’Malley corrects for an overly individualistic focus evident in how the American bishops have thus far characterized the Eucharistic Revival.
Finally, in the fourth chapter, O’Malley examines how Eucharistic devotion transformed the lives of medieval and modern Catholic women. For the medieval mystics Mechthild of Magdeburg, Mechthild of Hackeborn, and Gertrude the Great of Helfta, and for the twentieth-century visionaries Flannery O’Connor, Simone Weil, and Dorothy Day, “Eucharistic devotion does not lead one away from the material world but toward a deeper recognition of the presence of a sacrifice of love that orders all things toward God” (96). It is, of course, of no small importance that the Eucharistic adorers whom O’Malley discusses are all women—and women from quite different temporal eras as well. That each woman stresses the sensorial and imaginative aspects of Eucharistic devotion may be more than a mere coincidence. These Catholic women, O’Malley intimates, can instruct the faithful in Eucharistic theology in ways often overlooked by male theologians.
Real Presence is an eminently accessible and instructive book for Catholics and non-Catholics in search of clarity about the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation. O’Malley’s articulation and defense of the doctrines may not be exhaustive, but he references a wide array of resources to assist those keen to learn more. While I am skeptical about how successful the Eucharistic Revival in the United States can and will be, the bishops would do well to promote and draw from Real Presence in their efforts to educate the faithful in Eucharistic theology.
In a short yet snappy book, O’Malley covers an immense amount of theological and historical territory. In the first chapter, he clarifies the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation with respect to a set of widespread confusions. Especially helpful is his emphasis that one need not embrace Aristotle's physical or metaphysical worldview to understand the doctrine of transubstantiation, even if the doctrine employs an Aristotelian conceptual vocabulary (7). Transubstantiation, he notes, is the explanation of the doctrine of real presence that employs the terms “substance” and “accidents” (or “species”). In the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine is transformed into the total and real presence of Jesus Christ while “the species or appearance—that is, the accidents of the bread and wine—remain available to our senses, sustained only by a miracle” (8). Hence transubstantiation is “not a technical or physical explanation of what happens at Mass”; rather, it offers the conceptual means by which “to avoid an overly physical account of Christ’s presence, as well as a merely symbolic one” (8, 7). Put simply, transubstantiation is the most efficacious and appropriate way to articulate the doctrine of real presence, a doctrine with deep scriptural roots that developed as the Church came to understand what happens in the Eucharistic celebration (xvi).
In the second to fourth chapters, O’Malley traces the foundations for and expressions of real presence in the life of the Church. The second chapter examines the scriptural foundations of Eucharistic presence; the third chapter describes how various Church Fathers came to articulate the doctrine; and the fourth chapter offers a summary of Thomas Aquinas’s conception of the Eucharist as well as a commentary on Thomas’s Eucharistic sequence for the Feast of Corpus Christi, “Lauda Sion.” O’Malley’s historical approach to his explanation of real presence is extremely instructive: it not only demonstrates the centrality of the doctrine to the life of the Church across many centuries, but also contextualizes how and why the doctrine of transubstantiation offered a way to avoid theological pitfalls that perverted the notion of real presence. Specifically, transubstantiation “avoids the nonobjective presence that often comes with a symbolic account of the Eucharist while also shunning a cannibalistic account of the Eucharist” (93). Moreover, O’Malley’s presentation appropriately stresses the communal elements of Eucharistic theology. He notes how Augustine, for example, understands Eucharistic presence as inextricably related to membership in Christ’s body. For Augustine, “Christ’s presence is made known through that concrete form of love shared among believers who participate in the Eucharistic presence and sacrifice of the Church” (58). In this point of emphasis, O’Malley corrects for an overly individualistic focus evident in how the American bishops have thus far characterized the Eucharistic Revival.
Finally, in the fourth chapter, O’Malley examines how Eucharistic devotion transformed the lives of medieval and modern Catholic women. For the medieval mystics Mechthild of Magdeburg, Mechthild of Hackeborn, and Gertrude the Great of Helfta, and for the twentieth-century visionaries Flannery O’Connor, Simone Weil, and Dorothy Day, “Eucharistic devotion does not lead one away from the material world but toward a deeper recognition of the presence of a sacrifice of love that orders all things toward God” (96). It is, of course, of no small importance that the Eucharistic adorers whom O’Malley discusses are all women—and women from quite different temporal eras as well. That each woman stresses the sensorial and imaginative aspects of Eucharistic devotion may be more than a mere coincidence. These Catholic women, O’Malley intimates, can instruct the faithful in Eucharistic theology in ways often overlooked by male theologians.
Real Presence is an eminently accessible and instructive book for Catholics and non-Catholics in search of clarity about the doctrines of real presence and transubstantiation. O’Malley’s articulation and defense of the doctrines may not be exhaustive, but he references a wide array of resources to assist those keen to learn more. While I am skeptical about how successful the Eucharistic Revival in the United States can and will be, the bishops would do well to promote and draw from Real Presence in their efforts to educate the faithful in Eucharistic theology.
July 29, 2025
This isn't an easy book to read. You'll have to read numerous passages over and over again to get its full meaning. But, this is an engaging, thought-provoking and important book. "The Real Presence: What it means. And why does it matter? It matters because a person's eternal soul is at stake. And, if you read the Gospel of John -- Jesus Christ explicitly says "Unless you eat my body. And drink my blood -- you don't have eternal life within you.'
Many people -- practicing Catholics, fallen-away Catholics and other Christian denominations think Jesus is speaking symbolically. But that is clearly not the case. Believe it or not -- transubstaniation is real. We consume Jesus' body and blood in the form of bread (unleavened host) and wine. The Catholic priest -- through apostolic succession -- invokes a special prayer. And the power of the Holy Spirit changes the host and wine into Jesus's body and blood. Transubstantiation is the process of the appearance of something remains the same. However, its substance is substantially different. This process is the Eucharist.
Timothy P. O'Malley is a Catholic theologian, author and speaker. In five chapters covering 127 pages -- he covers subjects such as obstacles to the real presence, the real presence in the scriptures, savoring the mystery of transubstaniation. Along with eucharistic devotion and real presence.
The real presence of Christ in the scriptures go all the way back to the Old Testament to the cries of the people of Israel for salvation to the formation of the people. And, then on to the gift of the law and the manna from heaven. Then we come to the Temple cult. On to the pain of absence. And finally the hope of restoration. In the New Testament -- Jesus Christ is the presence of God made flesh. The Eucharist functions as a way to bring Christians into union with the sacrifice of Christ.
Many people -- practicing Catholics, fallen-away Catholics and other Christian denominations think Jesus is speaking symbolically. But that is clearly not the case. Believe it or not -- transubstaniation is real. We consume Jesus' body and blood in the form of bread (unleavened host) and wine. The Catholic priest -- through apostolic succession -- invokes a special prayer. And the power of the Holy Spirit changes the host and wine into Jesus's body and blood. Transubstantiation is the process of the appearance of something remains the same. However, its substance is substantially different. This process is the Eucharist.
Timothy P. O'Malley is a Catholic theologian, author and speaker. In five chapters covering 127 pages -- he covers subjects such as obstacles to the real presence, the real presence in the scriptures, savoring the mystery of transubstaniation. Along with eucharistic devotion and real presence.
The real presence of Christ in the scriptures go all the way back to the Old Testament to the cries of the people of Israel for salvation to the formation of the people. And, then on to the gift of the law and the manna from heaven. Then we come to the Temple cult. On to the pain of absence. And finally the hope of restoration. In the New Testament -- Jesus Christ is the presence of God made flesh. The Eucharist functions as a way to bring Christians into union with the sacrifice of Christ.
April 29, 2021
I truly enjoyed Timothy O'Malley's book, Real Presence. As a Catholic revert who is re-learning the faith, O'Malley gave clear and in-depth explanations for the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I especially liked the connections he drew to the manna in the desert from the book of Exodus and the writings of the early Church Fathers on the Eucharist. It made the New Testament teachings hold more meaning for me. And I am looking forward to going to Mass, knowing all I have available to me in the Bread and Wine.
October 26, 2023
This book is not for the average Catholic looking for more insight into the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Rather, it's a deeper theological dive into real presence. To that end it may or may not have hit its mark, I may never know.
I'm not sure that it answered the two questions in the subtitle.
I'm not sure that it answered the two questions in the subtitle.
November 27, 2022
Concise but it does catechize on the Real Presence. It could be a little more detailed and it would be nice to have a set of questions at the end of each chapter to make it suitable for a group discussion.
April 19, 2021
I found the book to have some good information but the presentation did not stick with me. Full review https://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/202...
August 3, 2021
A good argument in favor of restoring the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of Christians.
October 30, 2024
Timothy O'Malley discusses the hows and whys of the real presence and the mystery of transubstantiation.
July 9, 2022
The Best Book on this Topic I have Read
I am a Catholic priest, so the Eucharist is the center of my life. I have read many books on Eucharistic theology but this is the best. Rich in theology, yet very personal, how to encounter Christ experientially in the Eucharistic. A must read during this time of Eucharistic Revival.
I am a Catholic priest, so the Eucharist is the center of my life. I have read many books on Eucharistic theology but this is the best. Rich in theology, yet very personal, how to encounter Christ experientially in the Eucharistic. A must read during this time of Eucharistic Revival.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews