the real presence

He told his disciples "This is my body," and said to them, "This is my blood." Was he serious? He often spoke in parables. But a parable is a story that embodies a teaching, e.g., once a farmer went out to sow, etc., so this is not a parable. Is it a simile? He did not say "This is like my body." Is it a metaphor? Are we to take it literally?

From John 6:48-60 (RSV):

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"

He insisted on the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. He said "truly, truly," which indicates that what follows is of grave importance. But many departed that day, and they left because they realized he was not speaking in parables any more. His flesh is real food, and his blood is real drink. This is a hard teaching, who can accept it? The apostles accepted it; they did not leave, for Peter replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (68).

From 1 Cor 11:20-29 (RSV):

When you meet together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

Paul rebukes the Church of Corinth. They gathered to celebrate and remember the Lord's Supper, but as though it were a common meal like any other. They were eating and drinking in an unworthy manner: they did not discern the Lord's body. Notice the words of Christ he choses to quote: hoc est meum corpus. As if it were enough to rebuke them, he reminds them what is happening. As often as we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death; the mass is a reverberation of the sacrifice of Calvary.