The Sacrament of the Eucharist

St Joan of Arc RCIA

An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit (CCC 774, 1131).

Hard Work Up-front

Read:

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)

What is Jesus saying to us in your own words? Why could it be important to the Ecclesia (Church Community) for Jesus to be “really present” in the Eucharist?

Discuss some possible answers in groups of four. Be

prepared to share you thoughts with others.

Eucharist - It is all in the name

Eucharist (Greek eucharistia = thanksgiving): The ritual, sacramental action of thanksgiving to God which constitutes the principal Christian liturgical celebration of and communion in the paschal mystery of Christ. The liturgical action called the Eucharist is also traditionally known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Church; the Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life . (CCC Glossary)

Thanksgiving – for Our Redemption and Sanctification Lord’s Supper - We remember, We Celebrate, We believe! Anamnesis Breaking of the Bread – “Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24 35) Holy Communion -

The reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist . More generally, our fellowship and union with Jesus and other baptized Christians in the Church, which has its source and summit in the celebration of the Eucharist. In this sense, Church as communion is the deepest vocation of the Church . (CCC Glossary)

Instituted by Christ Mark 14:22-24 - While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after

blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

John 6:51-64 (three Promises of the Eucharist) - I am the living bread that

came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

1 Cor 10:16 - The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the

blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

1st and 2nd Century Background

We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You madest

known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever.

Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered

together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from

the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the

power through Jesus Christ for ever. (Didache , Late 1st Century)

“For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like

manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God,

had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that

the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our

blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of

that Jesus who was made flesh." (St Justin Martyr, 1st Apology, 2nd Century)

“Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought

to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he

taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of

the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our

being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has

concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their

assent by saying Amen”.

The Ritual: Eucharist as Source and Summit

Anamnesis: …. Every Eucharistic Prayer contains an anamnesis or memorial in

which the Church calls to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glorious return of

Christ Jesus. (CCC Glossary)

• The Eucharist is the mysterious center of all the sacraments

• The historic sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is made present during the words of consecration in a hidden, unbloody manner.

• The celebration of the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 11).

• When we eat the broken Bread, we unite 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 unite 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

Your life must be woven around the Eucharist. Direct your eyes

to Him, who is the Light; bring your hearts very close to His

Divine Heart; ask Him for the grace to know Him, for the charity

to love Him, for the courage to serve Him.

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta(1910-1997)

The Sacrifice of the Mass: The Eternal Sacrifice Sacrifice: A ritual offering made to God by a priest on behalf of the people, as a

sign of adoration, gratitude, supplication, and communion.

The perfect sacrifice was Christ’s death on the cross; by this sacrifice, Christ

accomplished our redemption as high priest of the new and eternal covenant.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is commemorated and mysteriously made

present (represented) in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church.

We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of his

sacrifice. In so doing, we offer to the Father what he has himself given us: the

gifts of his creation, bread and wine which, by the power of the Holy Spirit

and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ. Christ

is thus really and mysteriously made present. (CCC1357)

If life is to live, it must nourish itself. If divine life is to

live, it needs its nourishment, for that we need the

Eucharist. (Bishop Fulton Sheen)

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of

God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

(Romans 12:1)

Real Presence

… the Fathers took special care to warn the faithful that in reflecting on this … Sacrament, they should not trust to their senses, which reach only the properties of bread and wine, but rather to the words of Christ which have power to transform, change and transmute the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. … the power that accomplishes this is that same power by which God Almighty, at the beginning of time, created the world out of nothing. (Mysterium Fidei)

The unique, true presence of Christ in the Eucharist under the species or appearances of bread and wine. (CCC Glossary)

Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross“ , but especially under the Eucharistic species. (SC, 7)

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains [meno-abide] in me and I in him. (John 6:53-56)

Matter and Form

The true vine is Christ who gives life and the power to bear abundant fruit to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ without whom we can do nothing. (Lumen Gentium I, 6)

Matter Form

A Holy Meal Bread Wine Heavenly Banquet

Introductory Rites: Entrance and Greeting; Gloria; Prayer of the Day (Collect). Liturgy of the Word: First Reading, Responsorial Psalm, Second Reading and / or Acclamation. Homily, Creed, General Intercessions Liturgy of the Eucharist: Offering, Eucharistic Prayer (Epiclesis, Institution Narrative, Great Amen. Communion Rite: Lord’s Prayer, Sign of peace, The Agnus Del (“Lamb of God”), Fracture, Holy Communion. Concluding Prayer Concluding Rite: Blessing and Sending; Recessional

Our Heavenly Nourishment – That we might bear much fruit… Incarnation: From the Latin caro, carnis = flesh, “becoming flesh”: God’s

act of becoming man in Jesus Christ.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just

as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the

one who feeds on me will have life because of me. (John 6:56-57)

Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am

the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear

much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-5)

To receive the Eucharist means to transform oneself into Christ, to remain in him, to live for him.

(John Paul II, Homily, August 19, 1979)

Receiving Holy Communion

In the Eucharist, we 'break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.' (Saint Ignatius of Antioch)

• The Church recommends that the faithful, if they have the required dispositions, receive Holy Communion whenever they participate at Holy Mass.

• The Church obliges them to receive at least once a year during the Easter season.

• To receive Holy Communion one must be fully incorporated into the Catholic Church and be in the state of grace, that is, not conscious of being in mortal sin.

• Also important for those receiving Holy Communion are a spirit of recollection and prayer, observance of the fast (1 hour before) prescribed by the Church, and an appropriate disposition of the body (gestures and dress) as a sign of respect for Christ.

Not … Receiving Holy Communion

A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess. A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the Eucharistic celebration in which the person participates Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness…“ It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible.

We adore God present among us …

Christ is the vine, planted in the chosen vineyard, which is the People of God, the Church. Through the mystery of the Eucharistic bread the Lord can say to each of us: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" (Jn 6:56). His life flows to us as the life-giving sap of the vine flows to its branches to make them live and bear fruit. Without true union with Christ -in whom we believe and who nourishes us - there can be neither supernatural life in us, nor fruit. (John Paul II, Homily, June 12, 1993)

The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn. We are to become the Body of Christ, his own Flesh and Blood. … We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one. In this way, adoration … becomes union. God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world. (Pope Benedict XVI , Homily, XX World Youth Day Eucharistic Celebration) Amen!!

The Sacrament of the Eucharist

St Joan of Arc RCIA

An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit (CCC 774, 1131).