The short version is: through a miraculous intervention God alters the essential nature of the bread and wine without (necessarily) changing the accidents of the bread and wine.
Now, since I get the impression @MitchGoldwyn wouldn't know philosophy if he took it at the 200 level, I will go into more detail.
What is this?
A chair, right?
So - all chairs are black, wooden, and have a straight back, right?
But what is this?
OOOoooooh! All chairs are black, but some are hard plastic. OK!
Huh. Still a chair, but not black, not hard, not wood or ...
What is going on?
There is an essential thing called a "chair". This essence is the same even if a particular chair is black, or red, or wood, or plastic, Those aprticulars, the things not directly assocaited with the essence, are called 'accidents', a philosophical term that kinda' means 'not important to the essence of a thing'.
The essence of a thing is separate from the thing. For example, if I took an axe to the first chair very soon it would cease to be a chair and become kindling (the *particular* chair ceased to exist) but the essence or idea of Chair still exists, unchanged.
If I change the accidents of a thing I don't change its essence. If I spray paint the first chair red it remains a chair. If I staple a pillow to it it remains a chair.
Pretty simple so far, right?
So what does this have to do with transubstantiation? Everything!
What happens in transubstantiation is that the essence of the Eucharist and the wine are changed from bread and wine into the flesh and blood of Christ without affecting the accidents. They look, smell, etc. the same (the accidents) but their essence, their substance, has been altered - that is what the word 'transubstantiation' means.
So this is, in very, very simple language and with pictures and examples, what transubstantiation means.
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