"At every Mass during the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest, in the name of all, prays the words of Christ," says Eliot Kapitan, director of the diocesan Office for Worship and the Catechumenate.

According to the new translation, during the consecration, the priest holds the bread in his hand and says: "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body which will be given up for you."

And, taking the cup of wine, the priest says, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me."

The church has always believed that, with these words of institution, common food and drink become the Body and Blood of Christ.

Proof of that firm belief can be found in a letter of St. Justin Martyr, written in the year 150 A.D., just decades after the death of the apostles. In his explanation of what Christians do on Sunday, he said: "We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Savior became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving."

Taking Jesus' words literally, Catholics today are again encouraged to receive both the Body and Blood of Jesus during holy Communion, Kapitan says.

"After Vatican Council II and the reform of the liturgy, holy Communion under both kinds has been so expanded that it should be a rare Mass at which the cup of salvation is not offered," Kapitan says.

Kapitan said that the General Instruction of the new Roman Missal promotes reception of both the Body and Blood in Holy Communion: "Holy Communion has a fuller form as a sign when it takes place under both kinds. For in this form the sign of the Eucharistic banquet is more clearly evident and clearer expression is given to the divine will by which the new and eternal Covenant is ratified in the Blood of the Lord ... ." (281)

"Without doubting that the whole Christ is present and received under the form of consecrated bread alone, there is something precious when Communion is received under both kinds," says Kapitan. "Body and Blood complete the holy meal. The more the faithful listen to the Eucharistic Prayer and attend to the command of Christ, the more each is driven to join the procession to Communion from both paten and chalice."

Kapitan also stresses the importance of language when referring to the action of the Mass. After the Eucharistic Prayer, Catholic should never refer to "bread" alone, but always use phrases such as "consecrated bread" or the "Body of Christ." Similarly, the wine becomes the "Blood of Christ" or "Precious Blood."

"This careful use of language helps us never doubt or infer anything different than what God has done and who the dead but risen Christ the Lord is for us — sacrifice, sacred meal, Body and Blood that sustains and preserves the life of the church and all the members," Kapitan says.

"Just as bread and wine is transformed to something more, so too, those who pray the Eucharistic Prayer and share in holy Communion under both kinds are also transformed into Christ."