Body of Christ

[3][4] A belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is taught in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, the Moravian Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism and Reformed Christianity, though each tradition teaches a unique view of the doctrine.

[9] It rejects the Lollard doctrine of "consubstantiation", which suggests that the substance or reality of the bread remains after the consecration, instead of being converted or changed into that of the body of Christ.

At the same time, the Church holds that all that can be examined either directly or by scientific investigation – what in Aristotelean philosophy are called the "accidents" (as opposed to the reality) – remains quite unchanged.

Since the consecrated bread is believed to be the body of Christ and sacred, what remains of the host after celebration of Mass is kept in the church tabernacle.

This is primarily for the purpose of taking Communion to the sick, but also to serve as a focal point for private devotion and prayer.

The Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters", said Pope Francis on launching the World Day of the Poor.

[10] The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes that the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ.

Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a bishop of the Moravian Church, stated that Holy Communion is the "most intimate of all connection with the person of the Saviour.

When we eat and drink the bread and the wine of the Supper with expectant faith, we thereby have communion with the body and blood of our Lord and receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

[7] The Congregationalist theologian Alfred Ernest Garvie explicated the Congregationalist belief regarding the pneumatic presence in The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View:[16] He is really present at the Lord's Supper without any such limitation to the element unless we are prepared to maintain that the material is more real than the spiritual.

[16]Methodists teach the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but maintain that the way He is made present to be a Holy Mystery.

[17] The Discipline of the Free Methodist Church thus teaches:[18] The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death.

[citation needed] This term was used as the first words, and so as the title, of the encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi of Pope Pius XII.