In the document of Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Council Fathers described the Mass as the Source and Summit of the Catholic Faith. It is the source from which all other actions of life and faith flow and it is the high point, or climax, of the Christian heart. Today I would like to explain aspects of the Eucharist with a question and answer approach.
WHAT DOES OUR FAITH TEACH US ABOUT THE EUCHARIST? Our faith teaches us that what we proclaim in the Eucharist, Christ's Death and Resurrection, is also made present in that very action by the power of God's love and goodness. This is the heart of our faith in the Sacrament we call the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Real Presence of Christ.
WHAT DOES THE EUCHARIST TRULY MAKE PRESENT? In the Eucharist, Jesus has instituted the Sacrament in which the very Passion, Death and Resurrection He would undergo would be made present again in our lives in a way that enables us to share in the benefits of the Cross. The Church uses the word “represent" (make present again) to speak of what is happening in the Mass. The term "Holy Sacrifice" of the Mass is also exact because sacramentally the Death and Resurrection of Jesus are once again made present.
WHEN AND WHY WAS THE EUCHARIST INITIATED?The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, paragraph 47, teaches, “At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice as His Body and Blood. He did this to
perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His Death and Resurrection: A Sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, and paschal banquet in which Christ is received,
the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future life is given to us."
HOW DOES THE EUCHARIST MAKE US GOD'S PEOPLE? Just as individually we are brought into union with Christ through our participation in the Paschal Mystery and our share in the Consecrated Bread and Wine, so the Church as the new people of God comes to be in its celebration of the Eucharist. We are a people made one with Christ and one with each other, precisely in the Eucharist. It is for this reason that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being." (CCC1325)
WHAT ARE SOME WAYS IN WHICH THE EUCHARIST IS DESCRIBED? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC1321330) begins the section on the Eucharist with a reflection on the names by which the Sacrament is
identified. Here we read that each name evolves certain aspects of the Sacrament. It is called the "Eucharist" because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. It is sometimes referred to as “the Breaking of the Bread" because it makes present the one Sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering.
Next week we will continue this discussion in, The Holy Mass, Source and Summit - Part 2