Dear Joan,

The physical properties of the consecrated host remain. It is the substance that is changed. Substance does not mean what it means in common English parlance, which is "stuff." Substance means a being's individual "whatness".

Just as the consecrated host tastes like bread, it also has other physical properties that are like bread, including its chemical reactivity. Nevertheless, the biochemistry and physics of the consecrated host are now signs of a different reality than the reality of bread. They are now signs of the reality that IS Christ.

Mary Ann

Hi Joan,

Along the lines of what my colleague has said, I wanted to share with you one of the first postings we had on this issue.

Is consuming the consecrated Host (the Eucharist) permissible for one who is a vegetarian?

Hope it helps,

Mike

Hi, Joan —

Just to clarify what my colleagues have said, from a perspective of chemistry and physics, that is, of anything material, visible, measurable, and so forth, the characteristics of bread and wine after consecration remain just that — the characteristics of bread and wine.

Just as you can get drunk on consecrated wine, so you can have an allergic reaction to the gluten in consecrated hosts, because what changes is not the material properties but the unseen philosophical reality. This is hard for a 21^st century person, in a first world country, to understand because we tend to only think in terms of material properties.

Eric