Cathal BarryThe Church teaches that the Eucharist completes Christian initiation, writes Cathal Barry
“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,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states.
“At the Last Supper, on the night when he was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to 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, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Second Vatican Council).
The Eucharist, according to the Church, is “the source and summit of the Christian life”.
The decree on the ministry and life of priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, states:
“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.”
In brief, according to the Church, the Eucharist is the “sum and summary” of the Catholic faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking” (St Irenaeus).
The “inexhaustible richness” of this sacrament is expressed in the different names given to it, the Church teaches. Each name evokes certain aspects of it.
The Catechism notes that it is called:
- Eucharist, because “it is an action of thanksgiving to God”. The Greek words eucharistein and eulogein recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim – especially during a meal – God’s works: creation, redemption and sanctification.
- The Lord’s Supper, because of “its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion”.
- The breaking of bread, because “Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread”, above all at the Last Supper. It is by this action, according to the Church, “that his disciples will recognise him after his Resurrection and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him”.
- The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), “because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church”.
The Catechism also notes that it is called the “memorial” of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, The “Holy Sacrifice”, the “Holy and Divine Liturgy”, “Holy Communion” and finally, “Holy Mass”.