📖Overview

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. In the Eucharist, the whole spiritual good of the Church is contained: Christ Himself, our Paschal Lamb. The Eucharist is the sacramental re-presentation (making present) of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross; it is not a new sacrifice but makes the one sacrifice of Calvary present in an unbloody manner. At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, Christ instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood, commanding His Apostles to celebrate it until His return. The Church believes that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood. This change is called transubstantiation. 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. The Eucharistic celebration is both a sacrifice and a sacred meal, a memorial of the Lord's Passover, and the primary act of worship of the Catholic Church. Reception of Holy Communion deepens union with Christ, forgives venial sins, and strengthens charity.

💡Key Points