Eucharist

The word Eucharist means “thanksgiving.”

¨The Catechism lists several terms to describe the Eucharist: Lord’s Supper, Breaking of Bread, Eucharistic assembly, memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, the Holy Sacrifice, the Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Most Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, and Holy Mass. (CCC, 1328 – 1332)

Just as we need food to sustain us through the long hard climb that we know as life, so in the climb to the spiritual goal we need sustentation. This is the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, the Cup of Eternal Salvation

The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of Christian Life

The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” in that the Eucharist is the culmination of God’s saving actions in Jesus Christ and of our worship and union with Him who leads us to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

¨All the other sacraments are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it

At the Last Supper Jesus instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood that perpetuates and continues His sacrifice on the Cross through the ages

¨He entrusts to the Church the memorial of his death and resurrection in this sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.