The Eucharist – The Source And Summit Of Our Faith

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IN BRIEF

1406 Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; . . . he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:51, 54, 56).

1407 The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church’s life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.

1408 The Eucharistic celebration always includes: the proclamation of the Word of God; thanksgiving to God the Father for all his benefits, above all the gift of his Son; the consecration of bread and wine; and participation in the liturgical banquet by receiving the Lord’s body and blood. These elements constitute one single act of worship.

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.

1410 It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.

1411 Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord.

1412 The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: “This is my body which will be given up for you. . . . This is the cup of my blood. . . .”

1413 By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).

1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.

1415 Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.

1416 Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.

1417 The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion when they participate in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so at least once a year.

1418 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. “To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord” (Paul VI, MF 66).

1419 Having passed from this world to the Father, Christ gives us in the Eucharist the pledge of glory with him. Participation in the Holy Sacrifice identifies us with his Heart, sustains our strength along the pilgrimage of this life, makes us long for eternal life, and unites us even now to the Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints.

133 SC 47.
134 LG 11.
135 PO 5.
136 Congregation of Rites, instruction, Eucharisticum mysterium, 6.
137 Cf. 1 Cor 15:28.
138 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 18, 5: PG 7/l, 1028.
139 Cf. Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24.
140 Cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22.
141 Cf. 1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9.
142 Cf. Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 8:6, 19.
143 Cf. Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24.
144 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
145 Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11.
146 Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17.
147 Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34.
148 Heb 13:15; cf. 1 Pet 25; Ps 116:13, 17; Mal 1:11.
149 Cf. 1 Cor 1016-17.
150 Apostolic Constitutions 8, 13,12 PG 1,1108; Didache 9, 5; 10:6: SCh: 248,176- 178.
151 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2 SCh 10, 76.
152 Cf. Ps 104:13-15.
153 Gen 14:18; cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 95.
154 Cf. Deut 8:3.
155 1 Cor 10:16.
156 Cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39.
157 Cf. Jn 2:11; Mk 14:25.
158 Jn 6:60.
159 Jn 6:67.
160 In 6:68.
161 Cf. Jn 13:1-17; 34-35.
162 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740.
163 Cf. Jn 6.
164 Lk 22:7-20; Cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26.
165 Cf. 2 Cor 11:26.
166 Acts 2:42, 46.
167 Acts 20:7.
168 AG 1; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
169 St. Justin, Apol. 1, 65-67: PG 6, 428-429; the text before the asterisk (*) is from chap. 67.
170 SC 56.
171 Cf. DV 21.
172 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
173 Cf. 1 Thess 2:13.
174 1 Tim 2:1-2.
175 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 18, 4: PG 7/1, 1027; cf. Mal 1:11.
176 Cf. 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8:9.
177 St. Justin, Apol. 1, 67: PG 6, 429.
178 Cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 90.
179 Jn 6:51.
180 St. Justin, Apol. 1, 66,1-2: PG 6, 428.
181 1 Cor 11:24-25.
182 Cf. Ex 13:3.
183 Cf. Heb 7:25-27.
184 LG 3; cf. 1 Cor 5:7.
185 Lk 22:19-20.
186 Mt 26:28.
187 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf. 1 Cor 11:23; Heb 7:24, 27.
188 Council of Trent (1562) Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2: DS 1743; cf. Heb 9:14, 27.
189 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8:1; SCh 10, 138.
190 PO 2 # 4.
191 Council of Trent (1562) DS 1743.
192 St. Monica, before her death, to her sons, St. Augustine and his brother; Conf. 9, 11, 27: PL 32, 775.
193 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5, 9. 10 PG 33, 1116-1117.
194 St. Augustine, De civ Dei, 10, 6: PL 41, 283; cf. Rom 12:5.
195 Rom 8:34; cf. LG 48.
196 Mt 18:20.
197 Cf. Mt 25:31-46.
198 SC 7.
199 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 73, 3c.
200 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.
201 Paul VI, MF 39.
202 St. John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6: PG 49, 380.
203 St. Ambrose, De myst. 9, 50; 52: PL 16, 405-407.
204 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1642; cf. Mt 26:26 ff.; Mk 14:22 ff.; Lk 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor 11:24 ff.
205 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641.
206 Paul VI, MF 56.
207 Jn 13:1.
208 Cf. Gal 2:20.
209 John Paul II, Dominicae cenae, 3.
210 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 75, 1; cf. Paul VI, MF 18; St. Cyril of Hopkins.

211 St. Thomas Aquinas (attr.), Adoro te devote; tr. Gerard Manley Hopkins.
212 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 2, 7: PL 16, 447C.
213 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4, 2, 7: PL 16, 437D.
214 Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus: iube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae: ut, quotquot ex hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione caelesti et gratia repleamur.
215 Jn 6:53.
216 1 Cor 11:27-29.
217 Roman Missal, response to the invitation to communion; cf. Mt 8:8.
218 Cf. CIC, can. 919.
219 Cf. CIC, can. 917; The faithful may recieve the Holy Eucharist only a second time on the same day [CF. Pontificia Commissio Codici luris Canonici Authentice Intrepretando, Responsa ad proposita dubia, 1:AAS 76 (1984) 7461.
220 SC 55.
221 Cf. OE 15; CIC, can. 920.
222 GIRM 240.
223 Jn 6:56.
224 Jn 6:57.
225 Fanqith, Syriac Office of Antioch, Vol. 1, Commun., 237 a-b.
226 PO 5.
227 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4, 6, 28: PL 16, 446; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
228 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1638.
229 St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Contra Fab. 28, 16-19: CCL 19A, 813-814.
230 Cf. 1 Cor 12:13.
231 1 Cor 10:16-17.
232 St. Augustine, Sermo 272: PL 38, 1247.
233 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 27, 4: PG 61, 229-230; cf. Mt 25:40.
234 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 26, 13: PL 35, 1613; cf. SC 47.
235 UR 15 # 2; cf. CIC, can. 844 # 3.
236 UR 22 # 3.
237 UR 22 # 3.
238 Cf. CIC, can. 844 # 4.
239 Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus.
240 Mt 26:29; cf. Lk 22:18; Mk 14 25.
241 Rev 1:4; 22 20; 1 Cor 16 22.
242 Didache 10, 6: SCh 248,180.
243 Roman Missal 126, embolism after the Our Father: expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi; cf. Titus 2:13.
244 EP III 116: prayer for the dead.
245 2 Pet 3:13.
246 LG 3; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2: SCh 10, 76.
NT Cf. CIC, can. 916.