Episode 1175: The Consecration

"Consecration" at Mass refers to the central moment when the bread and wine, by the words of Christ spoken by the priest and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1377). Faithful to the Lord's command, the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion.

By the consecration, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine, Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner, with his Body, his Blood, his soul and his divinity (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413). The Church calls this transformation “transubstantiation,” so we can properly say that, through the consecration, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ takes place.