Zwingli believed that Christ wasn't truly present in communion; to him, the Eucharistic host was only symbolic of his presence. But Luther maintained otherwise. In the middle of their meeting, when Zwingli was insisting on his point of view, Luther swept aside the table's velvet cloth to reveal the words of Christ that he had written earlier: "This is my Body." "These are the words of Scripture," he declared, "They're still there; we don't need new ones." So stating his belief in the Real Presence, Luther stormed out.

Since that time, the issue of Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist has remained unresolved among different Protestant denominations. Some churches embrace Zwingli's outlook and view the consecration of the host as a simple remembrance. Other denominations maintain Luther's belief in the Real Presence, which is also the belief of the Roman Catholic Church.

Looking back through history to the beginnings of the Christian faith, one doesn't find such differences. The early Christians definitely took Jesus' words "This is my Body" literally. They were so convinced about it; they condemned as a heretic anyone who said differently.

Even today in the Catholic Church, sharing the Body and Blood of Christ in communion also means believing what Christ taught. Saint Justin wrote in the second century: "No one may take part in it unless he believes that what we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives in keeping with what Christ taught."

If the early Christians taught the believers of today anything about the mystery of the Eucharist, it is that the Body and Blood can only be seen with the eyes of faith, "Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith," said Saint Cyril of Alexandria.