There have been many interpretations over the years about what happens in the sacrament of Holy Communion. For instance, back in the Middle Ages, many pious Christians saw what happened here as a kind of magic. The faithful were sitting out in the nave, where you are sitting, and up here, what was called the "east wall" in gothic architecture, the priest faced the altar, his back to the people, reading the service in Latin, a language the people couldn't understand. They knew, though, that a miracle was taking place up there. That is why they had come to church, to witness a miracle.

It happened when the priest lifted the host, and said in Latin, "This is my body given for you." Hoc est corpus meum is the phrase in Latin. To the communicants, the priest, way up in the front, his back to …