The 5 Senses and the Catholic Faith: Taste and the Eucharist
- Catholic Country Chronicles
- Aug 8
- 4 min read
I have had the joy of witnessing five different kids make their 1ˢᵗ Communions.
One of the funniest parts is watching the reactions of all the 2nd graders after receiving an unconsecrated host and tasting the unconsecrated wine during practice.
My daughter assured me this spring that after her 1ˢᵗ Communion that coming Sunday, she was NEVER going to drink wine again.
I've heard kids holler, "yuck!" while walking back to their pews, as their flustered parents try to silence their outbursts.
I've heard kids comment on how the host was "way grosser" than they were expecting.
But I've also heard, "Hmm... that's actually pretty good!"
As a whole, most kids aren't a fan of the taste of wine, except those who love the shock factor and claim to enjoy the taste.
The host is generally met with more neutral comments, sprinkled in with some mild disappointment.
I think kids think the host should be sweet because it's small and round like a cookie? Who knows.
Either way, it's good to get their honest reactions about the physical form of the bread and wine out of the way at practice, so we can focus on the reality of the Transubstantiation at their First Communion.
The Eucharist is a crazy thing.
Bread, a pantry staple used to sustain and nourish even the poorest for millennia, is the physical form.
Jesus said, “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.” John 6:53-56
Jesus uses 2 Greek words here in John. "Phago," which means to eat, or to consume, and switches to "Trogo," which is a much more visceral term, meaning to gnaw, chew, or crunch.
Based on this passage, if I were an early disciple, I'd be kind of grossed out. I wonder if I would have been like the hundreds that left Jesus after saying this.
It's easy to follow a prophet when they hand out free food (the multiplication of the loaves & fishes), but when he makes absurd demands, like gnawing on his flesh, that's a bit odd.
But what is fascinating to me, with all this primal talk about gnawing on flesh, wouldn’t it make more sense to use a tender filet mignon? But yet, Jesus chose to present Himself to us in the absolute poorest form of food choices.
I suppose it's the same reason He chose to be born into poverty.
Heck, it’s the same reason He chose to humble Himself to become man in the Incarnation.
Why would One so mighty and awesome condescend to our level?
In choosing bread, He made Himself accessible to everyone, rich or poor.
"The taste of eternity is here on our lips.” Sings the refrain of one of my favorite songs.
We are both physical and spiritual beings. But we can use our physical truths to reveal the spiritual ones.
So when the priest, in persona Christi, consecrates the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ (Transubstantiation), we use our sense of taste to experience "eternity here on our lips”. It may taste like regular bread, but it is Jesus himself- body, blood, soul & divinity.
In fact, every microscopic crumb contains His Real Presence, so many of us choose to receive Him on our tongues so we don't accidentally lose a tiny piece in the process.
God gave us our five senses to find pleasure and meaning in the world around us. The source and summit of our faith is the Eucharist. We quite literally get to taste the Savior of the world each and every time we receive Him in the Eucharist.
Join us these next couple of weeks as we explore how we experience the Catholic faith through our senses.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for the gift of our 5 senses. Let us use them in a way that brings glory to You! I praise You for the gift of taste. Through this sense, I get to experience the flavors of the world that You created. Thank you, Lord, for the pleasure of a sweet, juicy peach, or the sharp tang of a dill pickle, or the tantalizing savor of that mouth-watering filet mignon steak.
Lord, I give you my mouth. Protect it from the poison of evil. Use it to smile and never complain. Let it joyfully sing Your praise and never raise in anger.
Make my mouth worthy to receive You, so that I may taste eternity on my lips now, and forever.
Amen.
Until next time, your sister in Christ,
Leah
Here's a link to the song "Taste of Eternity"-
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