On The Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist – that most incomprehensible gift of love from Jesus and the Father – is vitally important to salvation. 

 
Christ himself instituted this sacrament of love at the Last Supper.  He empowered his Apostles and through them, bishops and priests throughout the ages to our present day to provide this sacrament of love to us. 

 
St. Matthew’s Gospel records what transpired at the Last Supper:

 
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.”  (Matthew 26:26-28). 

 
As recorded in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus explained exactly what the Most Blessed Sacrament is before he instituted it at the Last Supper.  Jesus did this during his Bread of Life Discourse in Chapter Six.

 “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 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 6:54-57)

 
We know that Jesus was not speaking figuratively or symbolically or metaphorically because some who heard his words could not accept them and left (John 6:60-6).  Jesus made no attempt to clarify his words or modify them or walk them back as so many modern-day politicians are apt to do.  Jesus meant exactly what he said.  

Seeing some of his disciples leaving him on account of his words about the Eucharist, Jesus turned to the Twelve Apostles and asked them if they wanted to leave too.  Answering on behalf of the other Apostles, St. Peter said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (See John 6:67-71)

 St. Peter’s answer to Jesus’s question to the Twelve is essential to our understanding of the Eucharist and the Church’s teachings about it.  St. Peter is the first Pope and the Apostles (minus Judas Iscariot) are the first bishops of the Church.  St. Peter’s answer establishes two very important truths about the Church’s teachings on the Eucharist.  First, it establishes that St. Peter and the Apostles understood Jesus’s teachings about the Eucharist in the Bread of Life Discourse and second it establishes that St. Peter and the Apostles accepted Jesus’s teachings about the Eucharist as presented in that Discourse. The Apostles knew what Jesus had said and what he meant by those words and they continued to believe in him.  Their understanding of the Eucharist would be more fully realized at the Last Supper.  Indeed the Bread of Life Discourse prepared them for Jesus instituting the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper.  Thus, these first leaders of the Church accepted Jesus’s teachings as he taught them and committed themselves to transmitting those teachings through the Church.  

Since St. Peter and the Apostles, the Church has continued to expound upon and transmit the truth about the Eucharist.  Pope St. John Paul II in particular wrote and spoke extensively about the Eucharist.   In his 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia,  Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “In the humble signs of bread and wine, changed into his body and blood, Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey, and he enables us to become, for everyone, witnesses of hope.” ( http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_20030417_eccl-de-euch.html )

At the Mass concluding World Youth Day 1997 in Paris, France, Pope St. John Paul II expounded on the importance of the Eucharist.  He said, 

"Rabbi, where are you staying?". Each day the Church responds: Christ is present in the Eucharist, in the sacrament of his death and resurrection. In and through the Eucharist, you acknowledge the dwelling-place of the living God in human history. For the Eucharist is the sacrament of the love which conquers death; it is the sacrament of the Covenant, pure gift of love for the reconciliation of all humanity. It is the gift of the real presence of Jesus the Redeemer, in the bread which is his body given up for us, in the wine which is his blood poured out for all.”  (See http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19970824_youth-paris.html  )

 
In these ever more challenging times, times which seem to indicate that we are approaching the End of the End Times, the Holy Eucharist is becoming ever more essential to our spiritual and physical well-being.  

 
I cannot overstate the importance of the Holy Eucharist as a means of salvation.  The dogmas of the Holy Eucharist are among the most important of the Roman Catholic Church.  Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist; this is one of the essential beliefs of the Catholic Church.  Those who do not believe in the Real Presence are not fully Catholic.

Jesus gives us an incomparable opportunity for salvation through the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.  But we must receive that sacrament worthily, that is free from mortal sin and we ought not be promoting acts like abortion and the homosexual lifestyle which are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic Church.   

 
In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote in detail about the Eucharist and the necessity of receiving it worthily: 

“For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.  Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.”  (1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also declared the importance of receiving the Eucharist worthily.  In paragraph 1415, the Catechism declared:  “Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace.  Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.” 

Jesus who died for us wants to unite with us through receiving the Eucharist.  He offers himself to us through this sacrament and he also offers us the means to receive him worthily:  the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

As we begin a new year, may the Holy Spirit increase our love and devotion to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.  Let us show our appreciation for this Most Blessed Sacrament by receiving him worthily and lovingly.