Biblical Analogies Related to Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrifice of the Mass

Catholics believe that Jesus is specially, physically present in the Eucharist, and that He can, therefore, be worshiped and adored in the consecrated host, reserved in the tabernacle (eucharistic adoration). My present aim is to find some biblical indication of worship or at least reverence associated with physical objects that were thought to particularly be places where God was present in a special way.

There are important differences, of course. In the Old Covenant, God was in the pillar of fire and the cloud and burning bush and ark and tabernacle and temple (in the Holy of Holies), etc., whereas in Catholic eucharistic understanding, God (Jesus, God the Son) is literally present under the appearance of bread and wine.

The similarity (enough for an imperfect, but still useful analogy) is that God is worshiped in conjunction with something physical: something involving more than spirit only. In this manner, Catholics can show from the Bible that eucharistic adoration is not only not unbiblical, but in line with (in many, if not all respects) Old Testament Jewish practice, and not at all idolatry. There is continuity and development in some important respects. Worship was not only abstract and "spiritual." It had a relationship with the physical world. That is sacramentalism, and it is closely related to the very idea of an incarnation: where God takes on flesh.

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[entire original paper now available only in chapter 18 of my book, Biblical Catholic Eucharistic Theology]