The Eucharist
The Eucharist is referred to as the source and summit of Christian life. It is one of the biggest reasons many converts come into the Catholic Church. Just as God wants us to be His sons and daughters through Baptism, He strongly desires us to receive His familial love and life into ourselves, ongoing. We join in the Heavenly liturgy, getting our Daily Bread as Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
The Eucharist is just that. God’s Life, in us.
Basis for the Eucharist
The primary purpose of sacrifice in the Old Testament was for the atonement of the sins of the people, both intentional and non-intentional. It demonstrates that sin could be forgiven, but not without cost. So, we offer something of high value to us as a sign of repentance. Sacrifice offerings existed in the early days leading up to (and through) the time of Moses.
In Exodus, the passover meal was the pinnacle on which the Israelites’ freedom from slavery was delivered. There is a stunning list of typological similarities between Moses and Jesus (see graphic) but the passover lamb is clearly of highest importance as it points forward to Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of God that delivers us from the slavery of sin. This freedom is available not just to the Israelites, but to all of mankind.
Jesus went through great lengths to convey this to His disciples. For example, He said “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”. He timed His death and resurrection to be aligned with the Jewish celebration of passover. By this, He fulfilled the old covenant passover, and at the same time, instituted the new. We call this Eucharist (meaning “Thanksgiving”)
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Jesus, a new Moses
Breaking Open the Word
Jesus is the Lamb of God
Jn 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” who takes away the sin of the world.
Jn 1:36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
Exodus 12:8, 46 the lamb had to be eaten and with no broken bones.
Jn 19:33-36 Although is was customary to break the legs of a person being crucified, Jesus‘ bones were not broken, thus fulfilling Scripture.
Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb” 28 times in the book of Revelation.
Keeping the Feast
Jesus institutes the Eucharist at the last supper
Mt 26:26-28 Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a chalice, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Lk 22:19-20 after taking the bread, giving thanks and breaking the bread, giving it to them, Jesus said “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me". And likewise the chalice after supper saying “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Connecting the Old and New Passover
Throughout His ministry, Jesus asked people not to tell anyone about the miracles He was performing. This can be seen partly as making sure His death and resurrection didn’t happen until passover. Once the feast of Passover was at hand, in Jn13:27, Jesus says to Judas “What you are going to do, do quickly”.
Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist on Passover was no accident. He was fulfilling the old covenant while, at the same time instituting a new.
Apostles understood the connection from Passover to Eucharist
1Cor 5:8 For Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us , therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
True Presence
The Bread of Life Discourse, where people eager to see Jesus, traveled in boats to Capernaum to see Him. Jesus said He is the true manna from Heaven and the bread He gives us is His flesh. The Jews disputed this saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus doubles down saying:
Jn 6:22-71 “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
Many disciples said “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” Jesus points out, as He does many times elsewhere in scripture that man’s carnal, earthly and sinful way of seeing things will be of no avail as He is speaking of spirit and life, which is supernatural, heavenly and of the divine realm. After this, many of his disciples left Him, and He let them leave. If Jesus was only speaking symbolically, it would have been necessary of Him as a Teacher, to stop them and clarify the teaching or soften His words. Also, if Jesus was speaking symbolically, there would have been no reason for many people to walk away. This is the only time in the Gospels where followers abandon Him at such a large scale, and yet Jesus lets them walk away because He said what He meant, and meant what He said. Jesus is substantially, spiritually, literally, truly present in the Eucharist, the Lamb of the new Passover.
The Early Church
St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD110)
He was a disciple of the apostle John, appointed bishop of Antioch by the apostle Peter. Wrote letters to several churches while being transported to Rome to be eaten by lions because of his faith.
Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1
“Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes”.
Letter to the Romans 7:3 (answering to those seeking to rescue him from martyrdom when he arrives in Rome)
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.”
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St. Irenaeus of Lyons (AD195)
Bishop noted for the development of Christian theology by opposing Gnostic interpretations of Christian Scripture. He had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp who in turn was said to have learned from the apostle John. He is also believed to have been martyr’d during the persecution by Emperor Septimius Severus.
Document: Against Heresies 5:2:2-3
“When, therefore, the mixed cup and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the lord…receiving the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ…”
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St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. AD350)
A distinguished theologian, Saint and Doctor of the Church, wrote Mystagogic Catecheses for the newly baptized preparing for Holy Communion
Document: Mystagogic Catecheses 4, 6
“Do not, therefore, regard the bread and the wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm.”
St Justin Martyr (c. AD150)
An early Christian apologist and philosopher who provided various ethical and philosophical arguments to convince the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius to abandon the persecution of the Church. Greek philosophers (including Socrates and Plato). He was beheaded for his faith.
Document: First Apology 66,20
“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”
Eat from the
Tree of Life
In Genesis, The Tree of Life represents the source of eternal life, signifying that God is the giver of life and that by eating from it, humans could live forever; it was situated in the Garden of Eden and served as a symbol of God's intended blessing of perpetual life for humanity, but after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were barred from accessing it, effectively losing access to eternal life. This is called “original sin”.
After eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve are denied the fruit of the Tree of Life.
Many Church Fathers saw the Tree of Life as a prefiguration of the Cross, and the fruit of the Tree of Life as a prefiguration of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, which hung from the Tree/Cross.
Rev 2:7 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God
4th century writer against Heresy, “So in place of the old tree, [Christ] plants a new one… For me the cross is the tree of eternal salvation; from it I nourish myself, from it I feed myself”
Also, St. Augustine says, “We too are fed from the Lord’s Cross… when we eat his body” (On Psalm 100:9).
“Be what you see; receive what you are”.
-St. Augustine
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We are changed, not into something else, but to our true selves.
This is communion.
This is what we are made for:
communion with God and each other.
Living In Communion
Catholics believe that the consecrated bread and wine truly become the very person of Christ.
This change occurs after the Eucharistic prayer (as noted by St. Justin Martyr) and is formally called Transubstantiation.
The doctrine of transubstantiation was officially defined in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council. It was a definitive name for what had already been believed for centuries (as we see from the New Testament and early church fathers)
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The word "communion" comes from the Latin words cum and unio, which means "united with"
“By this sacrament, we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his body and blood to form a single body” -CCC: 1331
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St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. (1 Cor: 11 27)
Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to Communion. (CCC 1384-1385)
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Out of Reverence for receiving Christ in the Eucharist, you are to fast for 1 hour before receiving Communion and you must be in the state of grace (meaning free of mortal sin).
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By receiving the Eucharist, we are called to be like Jesus. Just as Christ ate with sinners and tax collectors, we too are called to treat all men and women as Christ would treat them.
Catholics believe heaven and earth unite during the Eucharist because the Mass, particularly the Eucharistic prayer, is understood as a participation in the heavenly liturgy, where Christ's sacrifice is made present and the faithful are united with the Church in heaven and with Christ himself.
A beautiful video depiction of this was created called The Vail Removed.
