What is meant by transubstantiation?
In explaining this doctrine of the faith the Catechism quotes the Council of Trent as it summarized our Catholic belief. “Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation” (1376). Why is the Eucharist kept in the tabernacle? The real presence endures after the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy. It is for this reason that there is a tabernacle in Church. Once communion has been distributed, the remaining hosts are placed in the tabernacle to provide viaticum for those who turn to the Church in their final hour
