Cathal BarryThe Church teaches that at the Last Supper Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning, writes Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that at the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “faithful to the Lord’s command the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion”.
“The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation,” the Catechism says.
Human hands
Thus in the Offertory, Catholics give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine, fruit of the “work of human hands,” but above all as “fruit of the Earth” and “of the vine” – gifts of the Creator.
The Catechism notes that at the Last Supper, knowing that his hour had come to leave this world, Jesus washed the apostles’ feet, gave them the command of love, and then instituted the Eucharist. When he commanded the apostles to “do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19), “he constituted them priests of the New Testament” (Council of Trent).
The key teaching document of the Church states that the three synoptic Gospels and St Paul have “handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist”.
At Passover, Jesus gave the apostles his body and blood. Luke writes that on “the day of Unleavened Bread” Jesus sat at table with his apostles.
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, the Catechism states that Jesus “gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning”.
“Jesus’ passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfils the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom,” the document says.
The Church insists that Catholics must remember all that Jesus did.
However, his command to repeat his words and actions “until he comes” is directed also to the liturgical celebration of this memorial of his life, death, Resurrection, and intercession before the Father.
From the beginning, the Catechism states, the Church “has been faithful to the Lord’s command”.
Immediately after Pentecost, the earliest believers “devoted themselves… to the breaking of the bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). On Sunday, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection, Christians met for Eucharist. Since then, the Eucharist has been the centre of Church life.
By celebrating Eucharist, the Church proclaims these mysteries of Jesus “until he comes” and leads the elect to the table of the kingdom.