Jesus has used symbols without directly saying it was symbolic; for example > where He says to take His "yoke" upon us and learn from Him > Matthew 11:28-30.
Also, our Apostle Paul says we in Christ are "members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones", in Ephesians 5:30. And Paul does not say this is symbolic; so, if you want to make a literal interpretation out of this > because our flesh is Jesus Christ's flesh and Jesus in John chapter six says we need to eat His flesh in order to have life, ones could claim that you can have everlasting life by eating our flesh. After all, there is no symbolism claimed, here in Ephesians 5:30.
So, I do not think God wants cannibalism, of course; but I think we can see how there are items not spelled out, one way or another, in the Bible, and people use what they find to be common sense or revealed interpretation in order to handle certain scriptures.
It is possible, then, that Catholic authorities have not agreed to consider the Eucharist to be Christ's body, because of literal interpretation of the Bible, but because they claim the Holy Spirit has revealed this to be the correct application. But there are Catholic apologists who claim it is obviously the only possible literary interpretation. But, to my knowledge, there are scholars who understand that one can communicate with symbolism and not have to make it clear that he or she is doing this. For another example, Paul says that whoever is "joined" to Jesus is "one spirit with Him", in 1 Corinthians 6:17; "joined", according to one Greek authority, can mean "glued". But no effort is made to make it clear if this word is meant to be physical in meaning or if it is spiritually intended.
I can see how ones could be using super-glue to attach a Eucharist to their bodies, if they got into demanding literal applications whenever the Bible does not make a clear distinction about what is symbolic and what isn't.
But we ourselves are the body of Christ, and we all are able to minister God's own grace . . . according to what I see our Apostle Peter saying in 1 Peter 4:9-10. We each have the presence of Jesus Himself in us, growing in us > Galatians 4:19. So, Jesus lives in us, and Jesus is "life-giving" (1 Corinthians 15:45), in us making us giving of the grace of God's own love and the life of God's love ministered to one another.
But there are people claiming that Jesus is living in metal housings in church buildings. But Paul says we ourselves are His body, of His flesh and of His bones; and Paul also says we can minister God's own grace > Ephesians 4:29 . . . this with Ephesians 4:11-16.
