TOS043 Sacraments–The Eucharist with Patti Brunner
For audio TOS043: The Sacraments – The Eucharist – Truth of the Spirit (podcast) | Listen Notes
Join Patti Brunner for Truth of the Spirit and completion of the series “The Eucharist and Other Sacraments” to find the connection of the power signs from God called Sacraments. 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.”
The sacraments all flow from the gift of salvation given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross and his resurrection from the dead which is made present during the celebration of the sacrament of Eucharist in a unique way. In the Gospel of John, John identifies the signs Jesus gave us that go beyond themselves. Theses seven signs,that underlie the teachings that the Church, developed as the 7 sacraments. It has always been a matter of conviction in the Catholic Church that by the consecration of the bread and wine a conversion takes place of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. This is known as the “Real Presence”. Transubstantiation sets apart the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This “Real Presence” reveals the “kingdom on earth as it is in heaven” and allows those who receive it to enter eternity. Join Patti Brunner as she shares her experience of some of those moments.
Blog:
One day as Jesus was teaching, a large number of Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there …and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. Luke 5:17 Another day, everyone in the crowd sought to touch Jesus because power came forth from him and healed them all. Luke 6:19 Another time “Jesus said, “Someone has touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me.” Luke 8:46.
Thus Sacraments, the Catechism tells us, are powers that comes forth” from the Body of Christ,33 which is life-giving. Sacraments are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are “the masterworks of God” in the new and everlasting covenant.” [ref CCC 1116]
Sacraments are the sign of God’s presence in the Church. The Holy Spirit, the Giver of Gifts, is present in each of the sacraments, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church.
The Church is the sacrament of Christ’s action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. …the sacraments make the Church, since Sacraments manifest and communicate to men the mystery of communion with God—above all in the Eucharist. [ref CCC 1118]
1113 “The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments.29 There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.30…”
In this series we have shared with you each of these sacraments and how they have intertwined in our lives to provide the grace to live as Christians. In my childhood, the main focus of catechesis was on these seven sacraments, the signs of God’s presence among us. The sign of the Eucharist is the Presence of God not only in our midst, but within our very bodies. As a young adult, I discovered the scriptures and got to know Jesus in the Word. I began to comprehend the foreshadowing of Christ by studying the Old Testament and how the teachings of Jesus should be lived out by reading the New Testament. As a mature adult, the Holy Spirit came into focus as I began to experience God, the Holy Spirit, acting within me in a personal way teaching me a new depth of God’s presence within me.
In my formation I have come full circle, as I begin to realize that the Sacraments provide the signs of all of this. And the Eucharist contains all the Sacraments. What do I mean by that? The signs of the 7 sacraments go way beyond what I understood as a child. People look at the “7” sacraments as “stand alone” liturgical events. I want to help you see the truth that they are one as the Father and Jesus are one. Jesus does not separate himself to give a piece here and a piece there.
Think about “1396 The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it, Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body—the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism. In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.233 The Eucharist fulfills this call…”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph #1324 teaches: “The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”136 “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.”137 “
You cannot speak of Eucharist without the Passion, death, sacrifice and Resurrection. This also helps tie in all 7 sacraments especially Baptism and Confirmation. The sacraments all flow from the gift of salvation given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross and his resurrection from the dead which is made present during the celebration of the sacrament of Eucharist in a unique way.
1323 “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages 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 consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’”135
Through this sacrament we enter eternity. “Jesus’ act belongs to human history, for he is truly human and has entered into history. At the same time, however, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; he is the eternal Son, who is not confined within time or history. His actions transcend time, which is part of creation…Jesus the eternal Son of God made his act of sacrifice in the presence of his Father, who lives in eternity. Jesus’ one perfect sacrifice is thus eternally present before the Father, who eternally accepts it. This means that in the Eucharist, Jesus does not sacrifice himself again and again. Rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit his one eternal sacrifice is made present once again, re-presented, so that we may share in it.”
The sign, the sacrament, reveals truth, the truth of heaven on earth, the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Certainly this mystery of faith is beyond understanding but it is not beyond experience.
In the Gospel of John, John identifies the signs Jesus gave us that go beyond themselves, the seven signs that underlie the teachings that the Church developed as the 7 sacraments.
The Wedding at Cana — Matrimony
The Healing of the Official’s Son — Anointing of the Sick
The Healing of the Paralytic with the forgiveness of sins– Reconciliation
The miraculous Feeding of the 5000 — Eucharist
The Healing of man Blind from birth — Baptism
The Raising of Lazarus, the witness of power over death – Confirmation
The Sacrifice of the Passion and Resurrection — Holy Orders
Christ’s presence in each of these situations become a road map for us, to recognize how Christ once present in these situations continues to be made present to us through the Holy Spirit in each of the Sacraments. As we look at the signs shared in the Gospel of John we see how all these can tie to the sign of the Eucharist. Truly Jesus gives the entirety of himself in his Body and Blood. The Bread come down from heaven—the Lord come down from Heaven—The Spirit come down from Heaven—you see: one and the same.
CCC 1335 “The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.158 The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus’ glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father’s kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.159”
The signs are the intimate release in your own heart of his grace. Matrimony? The release for a couple to share with each other the intimacy of Christ. Culture has failed to provide this benefit in their relationships that are “romantic” but without the presence of God—God is Love. They miss the glory of the Bridegroom and his bride the Church. Holy Orders? The release of the intimacy of Christ to be shared in the community and in the World. Saint Peter Julian Eymard founded an order of priests in the 1800’s whose duty was to maintain perpetual adoration. The priesthood through Holy Orders reveals a correlation to the True God/true Man nature of Jesus; a pointer towards the truth that shows the power of obedience to the Father’s Will. The Catechism says that the Church, forming “one mystical person” with Christ the head, the Church [then] acts in the sacraments as “an organically structured priestly community.”
Through Baptism and Confirmation, the “priestly people” is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful “who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ.” [ref CCC 1119]
Sacraments of the Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation provide the release from the infirmity of sin and death so as to become the abode of God’s grace without restriction. In forgiveness of sin the Holy Spirit inhabits the confessor and the ‘confess-ee’. The glory of God is revealed in the cleansing of absolution. The Holy Spirit comes—with the act of humility of admitting sin to the Father who waits like the Father in the Prodigal son for us to return, with open arms and ready to celebrate the return of his son. The sign of the Anointing of the Sickis a healing—total healing—of the soul.
1524 “In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of “passing over” to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”141
“The sacrament [the sign] of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament [the sign] of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.142”
Holy Communion preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. Holy Communion separates us from sin. It strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins. Receiving the Eucharist does not forgive mortal sin but it preserves us from future mortal sins.
When a soul is properly disposed to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ the Wedding Feast of the Lamb joins the faithful within the body of Christ. The Church is Bride and Jesus the Bridegroom. All that He has He shares, He gives to us. We are His. We are one.
1525 “Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called “the sacraments of Christian initiation,” so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life “the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland” or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage.”
In my first talk of this series on Confirmation, I spoke of the catechism’s teaching of how to be ready for confirmation. CCC #1310: “To receive Confirmation one must be in a state of grace. One should receive the sacrament of Penance in order to be cleansed for the gift of the Holy Spirit. More intense prayer should prepare one to receive the strength and graces of the Holy Spirit with docility and readiness to act.128”
This is true for receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist also. The prayers of the Mass, themselves, are designed to prepare hearts for the moment of union. During the Mass, we recall, then confess our sins in the Confiteor and ask “Lord have mercy”. We are thus given the opportunity to discern if our sin is mortal; if so, we must avoid receiving the Eucharist unworthily until we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation so as to be in a state of grace. The prayers of the mass then prepare us. We pray the scriptures as we listen to them, especially the Gospel. As the priest washes his hands we ask the Lord to accept this sacrifice from his hands, for our good and the good of all the Church. The Eucharistic prayers give us the opportunity to prepare “to receive the strength and graces of the Holy Spirit with docility” and our readiness to act is shown as we step forward to receive the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
But, still, many receive without benefit; certainly the potential is much greater than what most receive. And so the Eucharist remains a sign of the glory rather than the glorious union itself. In eternity the signs will give way to glory.
But for now, the signs of glory surrounding the Eucharist sustain us; every time I enter the adoration chapel, it’s like entering the “Tent of Meeting” as Moses did. He speaks to me and I speak to him. One time I entered into a glory moment that the Lord gave to a friend, Virginia, who was a Eucharistic minister. As she handed me the chalice of the Blood of Christ, I didn’t see the appearance of wine but saw the appearance of a thick substance. Years later she shared with a group that in those moments the appearance of wine had changed to the appearance of blood and then back again. And I was able to back up her story as a witness.
Catechism #1326 tells us:”By the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all”
A few times over the last 20 years, the Lord has given me glimpses of this eternity. I have, a couple of times, been aware of the eternal moment during the Eucharistic prayers of the Mass when, in my mind’s eye, I have seen many priests at the altar who have said mass in the past, one after another, standing where the priest now stood. The first time this happened was in 1999 in a church in Israel in the cave where the prophet Elijah hid. The next time was a few months later in a mass held in our parish gym. It wasn’t the location that mattered. It was the awareness of the eternal presence of God within his priest, in the moment.
Eternity goes both ways; in 2014, the Lord gave me a glimpse of the future as I stood at the altar as a Eucharistic minister. As I received the Body of Christ, I saw beside me my youngest daughter’s children receiving their First Communion and I was filled with joy. I recognized it as the future because that daughter was not married and had no children. A few days later a young Catholic man asked our permission to marry her! The Lord let me experience my grandchildren’s First Communion before their creation!
Saint Peter Julian Eymard said, “The Holy Eucharist is the perfect expression of the love of Jesus Christ for man, since it is the quintessence of all the mysteries of His Life.”
Catechism #808 says, “The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God’s children.”
The Eucharist is known as “1331 Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.”151
It is the sign of the Body of Christ as one.
United are “1370 not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. … In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.”
I have introduced the idea of the complementary nature of the sacraments being as one in the one body of Christ, but now let me dismantle that thought by bringing out the unique quality of the most Holy Sacrament. Catechism #1330 says “… We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments.” This sign makes physically present the Lord of Life.
“1391 Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”226…”
Let me share a little about the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Catechism #1374 tells us that “The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.”201 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.”202 “This presence is called ‘real’—by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”203
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares:
It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.204 …
Saint Pope Paul VI, in his 1965 encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, Mysterium Fidei, wrote: “The way Christ is made present in this sacrament is none other than by the change of the whole substance of bread into His Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood [in the Consecration of the Mass] . . . this unique and wonderful change the Catholic Church rightly calls transubstantiation”.
After the Protestant Reformation brought to light the confusion of truth about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the Church called the Council of Trent to restate the teachings handed down from Christ through the early Church fathers. In their 13th session in 1551 the council wrote this about transubstantiation:
“But since Christ, our Redeemer, has said that that is truly His own body which He offered under the species of bread [cf. Matt. 26:26ff.; Mark 14:22ff.; Luke 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor. 11:23 ff.], it has always been a matter of conviction in the Church of God, and now this holy Synod declares it again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine a conversion takes place of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. This conversion is appropriately and properly called transubstantiation by the Catholic Church [can. 2].”
300 years earlier the term transubstantiation was adopted by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 to describe the change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ, so that only the accidents of bread and wine remain, when consecrated by a validly ordained priest.
Each mass we hear these words: “This is my body, this is my blood”. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 26: 26-29 says: “27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. “ Similar words are repeated in 1 Cor. Chapter 11:23 ff. as well as the other synoptic gospels, Mark chapter 14:[22ff.] and Luke chapter 22:[19 ff.];
In Chapter 6 of John, Jesus tells his disciples over and over that his body and blood were real food to be eaten.
NAB “60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” “66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
The sacraments are signs of the presence of God. The Most Holy Sacrament of sacraments goes beyond. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is Jesus among us, body and blood, his real presence. This concludes our series on the Eucharist and the Other Sacraments. Our hope is that you have been renewed and refreshed by the truths of the signs that provide our basic understanding of the Gospel message and the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have only touched on some of the key elements of these sacraments. There is more. With the Holy Spirit there is always more. Amen.
REFERENCES FOR THE SACRAMENT OF EUCHARIST
Catechism of the Catholic Church and NAB
Luke 5:17 “One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.”
Luke 6:19 “Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.”
Luke 8:46, “Jesus said, “Someone has touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me.”
1116 Sacraments are “powers that comes forth” from the Body of Christ,33 which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are “the masterworks of God” in the new and everlasting covenant.
1118 The sacraments are “of the Church” in the double sense that they are “by her” and “for her.” They are “by the Church,” for she is the sacrament of Christ’s action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are “for the Church” in the sense that “the sacraments make the Church,”35 since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons.
1113 The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments.29 There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.30 This article will discuss what is common to the Church’s seven sacraments from a doctrinal point of view. What is common to them in terms of their celebration will be presented in the second chapter, and what is distinctive about each will be the topic of Section Two.
1396 The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body—the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism. In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.233 The Eucharist fulfills this call: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread:”234 If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive. To that which you are you respond “Amen” (“yes, it is true!”) and by responding to it you assent to it. For you hear the words, “the Body of Christ” and respond “Amen.” Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true.235
1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”136 “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.”137
1323 “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages 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 consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’”135
Quote from: “The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers” Brochure: “Jesus’ act belongs to human history, for he is truly human and has entered into history. At the same time, however, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; he is the eternal Son, who is not confined within time or history. His actions transcend time, which is part of creation. “Passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation” (Heb 9:11), Jesus the eternal Son of God made his act of sacrifice in the presence of his Father, who lives in eternity. Jesus’ one perfect sacrifice is thus eternally present before the Father, who eternally accepts it. This means that in the Eucharist, Jesus does not sacrifice himself again and again. Rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit his one eternal sacrifice is made present once again, re-presented, so that we may share in it.” www.nccbuscc.org/dpp/realpresence.htm
1335 The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.158 The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus’ glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father’s kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.159
Saint Peter Julian Eymard. “Every time we come into the presence of the Eucharist we may say: This precious Testament cost Jesus Christ His life. For the Eucharist is a testament, a legacy which becomes valid only at the death of the testator. Our Lord thereby shows us His boundless love, for He Himself said there is no greater proof of love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
1119 Forming “as it were, one mystical person” with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as “an organically structured priestly community.”36 Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful “who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ.”37
1524 “In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of “passing over” to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”141 The sacrament [the sign] of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament [the sign] of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.142”
1392 What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh “given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit,”229 preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.
1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is “given up for us,” and the blood we drink “shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.” For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins: “For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord’s death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.230 [St. Ambrose]
1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins.231 By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him: Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to be ourselves as crucified to the world. . . . Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and live for God.232
1395 By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins—that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church
1525“Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called “the sacraments of Christian initiation,” so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life “the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland” or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage.”
1310 To receive Confirmation one must be in a state of grace. One should receive the sacrament of Penance in order to be cleansed for the gift of the Holy Spirit. More intense prayer should prepare one to receive the strength and graces of the Holy Spirit with docility and readiness to act.128
1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.139
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.”140
Saint Peter Julian Eymard. “The Holy Eucharist is the perfect expression of the love of Jesus Christ for man, since it is the quintessence of all the mysteries of His Life.”
808 The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God’s children.
1331 Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.151 We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta)152—the first meaning of the phrase “communion of saints” in the Apostles’ Creed—the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality,153 viaticum. . . .
1370 To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.
1391 Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”226 Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.”227 On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to Mary Magdalene, “Christ is risen!” Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ.228
1330 The memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, “sacrifice of praise,” spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used,150 since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church’s whole liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the Sacred Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments. The Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.
1374 The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.”201 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.”202 “This presence is called ‘real’—by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”203
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares: It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.204 …
Saint Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei, 1965 wrote: “The way Christ is made present in this sacrament is none other than by the change of the whole substance of bread into His Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood [in the Consecration of the Mass] . . . this unique and wonderful change the Catholic Church rightly calls transubstantiation”.
Council of Trent SESSION XIII (Oct. II, 1551) I. The Church. Chap. 4. Transubstantiation
877 “But since Christ, our Redeemer, has said that that is truly His own body which He offered under the species of bread [cf. Matt. 26:26ff.; Mark 14:22ff.; Luke 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor. 11:23 ff.], it has always been a matter of conviction in the Church of God, and now this holy Synod declares it again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine a conversion takes place of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. This conversion is appropriately and properly called transubstantiation by the Catholic Church [can. 2].”
CATHOLIC DICTIONARY: Transubstantiation (tran-suhb-stant-see-AY-shuhn): A term adopted by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 to describe the change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ, so that only the accidents of bread and wine remain, when consecrated by a validly ordained priest.
Matthew 26: 27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.“
Also: 1 Cor. 11:23ff. Mark 14:[22ff.] Luke 22:[19 ff.]
John 6: “60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” “66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
