208 JESUS GIVES HIS BODY AND BLOOD IN THE EUCHARIST

YOUCAT Lesson 208

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

The Sacrament of the Eucharist

208 What is the Holy Eucharist?

Holy Eucharist is the sacrament in which Jesus Christ gives his Body and Blood—himself—for us, so that we too might give ourselves to him in love and be united with him in Holy Communion.  In this way we are joined with the one Body of Christ, the Church.  [1322, 1324, 1409, 1433]

…….Painting above: …..* We did not invent this ritual.  Jesus himself celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples and therein anticipated his death; he gave himself to his disciples under the signs of bread and wine and commanded them from then on, even after his death, to celebrate the Eucharist.  “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). …..208

After Baptism and Confirmation, the Eucharist is the third sacrament of initiation of the Catholic Church.  The Eucharist is the mysterious center of all these sacraments, because the historic sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is made present during the words of consecration in a hidden, unbloody manner.  Thus the celebration of the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium , [LG], 11).  Everything aims at this; besides this there is nothing greater that one could attain.  When we eat the broken Bread, we unit ourselves with the love of Jesus, who gave his body for us on the wood of the Cross; when we drink from the chalice, we united ourselves with him who even poured out his blood out of love for us.  * We did not invent this ritual.  Jesus himself celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples and therein anticipated his death; he gave himself to his disciples under the signs of bread and wine and commanded them from then on, even after his death, to celebrate the Eucharist.  “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).

“God would have given us something greater if he had had something greater than himself.”  St. John Vianney (1786-1859, the Cure of Ars)

“The actual effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God.”  St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Eucharist (Greek eucharistia=thanksgiving): Eucharist was at first the name for the prayer of thanksgiving that preceded the transformation of the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood in the liturgy of the early Church.  Later the term was applied to the whole celebration of the Mass.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  James 4:8

The Eucharist has been a key theme in the depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art, as in this 16th-century Juan de Juanes painting.

THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

…….1322   The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

THE EUCHARIST - SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF ECCLESIAL LIFE

…….1324   The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."(Lumen Gentium 11)¹³⁶    "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."(Presbyterorum Ordinis 5)^{137 --CCC}

IN BRIEF

…….1409   The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, that is, of the work of salvation accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical action. --CCC

…….1433   Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong about sin,"(compare  John 16:8-9)²⁹   i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him whom the Father has sent. But this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion.(compare John 15:26; Acts of the Apostles 2:36-38; John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificanum 27-48)³⁰ --CCC