The distinction between the words “real” and “true” may seem to be pedantic and unimportant. I disagree, and I base my judgment on the far more intelligent judgments of two very important figures in my life: JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis (the latter having learned this distinction from the former).
Lewis probably expressed this most clearly in a couple of places: the end of his allegorical novel The Pilgrim’s Regress, and his essay “Myth Became Fact.” Tolkien, on the other hand, was very clear in his crucially important essay “On Fairy Stories.” Their argument: the truth of the meaning is more important than the truth of the event. But this needs some unpacking (especially from the point of view of Tolkien, a fervent Catholic).
Lewis (once he returned to belief in God) thought that stories like those about Jesus were like every other myth of dying/rising—Balder, Osiris, Dionysius… They were “lies, though breathed through silver.” But Tolkien assured him that was not the case. All these myths (= stories expressing a glimmer of truth, by the way: NOT “made up falsehoods”) contain elements of truth that are critical. The difference in Christianity is that the “myth” of Jesus actually happened. A “myth” (with its attendant “truth”) became a “fact,” a “reality.” “In that case,” Lewis said, “I begin to understand…”
What are the other (“pagan”) myths, then? They are “…a real though unfocussed gleam of divine truth falling on the human imagination. The Hebrews, like other peoples, had mythology: but as they were the chosen people so their mythology was the chosen mythology—the mythology chosen by God to be the vehicle of the earliest sacred truths…” (CS Lewis, Miracles). So there needs to be a coherence between them and the final expression of reality/truth since they partake to some degree in that reality/truth.
But in Jesus reality becomes truth (or, as Lewis and Tolkien before him put it, “Truth Became Fact”). And that brings us to the Eucharist. We all need nourishment/strength for our bodies; we all need joy (see Psalm 104:14-15). Wine and bread in and of themselves supply that. But with Jesus’ word (and remember: the Resurrection is true, therefore the Eucharist is true), bread becomes Bread; wine becomes Wine—the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation. Myth becomes absolute Fact for us in Him.
Does the Eucharist look like flesh/blood? No, and thanks be to God for that! But if His word can calm the seas and raise the dead and forgive sins, it can make this transformation as well. And why? It’s very simple—because He loves us. Would you reject the gift of Someone who loves you? I don’t think so—so come to the table and do not pretend you don’t want to be loved.