He said this is my body and my blood—the night BEFORE He died. Was it the real body and blood BEFORE He even died? Or, wasn’t he speaking symbolically?
Yes. And more importantly he did not only say, this is my body, this is my blood, he said this is my body BROKEN, this is my blood POURED OUT FOR YOU.
Then he stresses to remember and break break and share wine in remembrance of Him.
Christ knew he would die. He offered the Last Supper, the forerunner of the Liturgy of the Eucharist so that he could be with us always as he promised in the Gospel of John.