Origin of the Eucharist and the possible intervention of other factors. One key consideration in this is the problem of the Jewish prohibition of drinking blood (see below). Professor Robert J. Daly, S.J., argues that Jesus did indeed institute the Eucharist, though it took generations and centuries of guidance from the Holy Spirit for the Eucharist to reach its current form. "What Jesus did at the Last Supper is obviously at least the generative moment of the institution of the Eucharist." But it was not the Eucharist as we know it. "The Eucharist that Christians now celebrate is what the Church, under the guidance
Eucharist in the Catholic Church into the body and blood of Christ is called "μετουσίωσις". The doctrine of transubstantiation is thus independent of Aristotelian philosophical concepts, and these were not and are not dogmata of the Church. The only minister of the Eucharist (someone who can consecrate the Eucharist) is a validly ordained priest (bishop or presbyter). He acts in the person of Christ, representing Christ, who is the Head of the Church, and also acts before God in the name of the Church. Several priests may concelebrate the same offering of the Eucharist. Others, who are not priests, may act as extraordinary Ministers of