The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist
On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me” (Eucharistic Prayer III, The Roman Missal).
The words of our Lord at his Last Supper have been preserved for almost two thousand years in the Church’s liturgy. With these words, Christ instituted the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, a Mystery more deeply revealed to us each time we celebrate Mass. If we pay attention to the meaning behind these words and to our prayer during Mass, we can have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for what Catholics believe regarding the Eucharist.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said that he would give up his body and shed his blood for us for the forgiveness of sin. He revealed that his suffering, death and resurrection would save humankind from sin and invite them into a new and eternal covenant relationship with God. Jesus then shared bread and wine with his disciples, saying that they are his saving body and blood, and commanded them to continue sharing in this sacred meal in memory of him. It has been the constant teaching of the Church that Jesus’ death and resurrection alone offer us salvation. It is in obedience to Christ’s command that we celebrate the Eucharist in memory of these saving events. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are offered the salvation won through Christ’s dying and rising each time we celebrate the Eucharist. We remember Christ’s death and resurrection in such a way that the salvation they offer is made present to us through the Eucharist. This is a very deep sense of memory: we celebrate the past in such a way that its effects are offered to us now. The Eucharist is the vehicle chosen by Christ at the Last Supper and entrusted to the Church through which God continues to make his saving grace available to the world. This is what we mean when we refer to the Eucharist as a memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection.
We also refer to the Eucharist as a sacred banquet. We come to the Lord’s Table and receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation. The union we experience with Christ by sharing in his Body and Blood is only a foretaste of the eternal union we are promised in the Kingdom of Heaven . It is a foreshadowing of the wedding feast of Christ, the Bridegroom, with his Bride, the Church. That is why, when elevating the Body and Blood of Christ, the priest prays: “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper” (The Roman Missal). The Eucharistic meal we share participates in the heavenly supper, the wedding feast of the Lamb, the image used in Sacred Scripture to describe the eternal union with God that will be enjoyed in the Kingdom of Heaven .
While the Eucharist unites each communicant with Christ, it also unites them with one another. If we are all individually joined to Christ, then through him we are all also joined to one other. There is a personal dimension to receiving the Eucharist, but there is also a communal dimension. It is no mistake that the phrase “The Body of Christ” is used to describe both the Eucharist and the Church. When we share in the Eucharist, Christ re-members his Body, the Church. In this meal, all become one. Because we believe that the Eucharist joins us to one another in faith, it would be dishonest to share Eucharist with those who do not share our faith. That action would express a union that, sadly, is not truly present. It is for this reason that other Christians are not ordinarily admitted to Holy Communion and why we pray that the divisions among Christians would cease. For it is Christ’s desire that all would be one in him.
The words we use to pray when we celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy can give us a deeper understanding of what Catholics believe regarding the Eucharist. Yet, it is in the celebrating of the liturgy that we become more and more the Body of Christ that we receive. The Eucharist, the final and enduring Sacrament of Christian Initiation, plunges us ever more deeply into our own baptismal identity as children of God each time we celebrate. It is in the Eucharistic celebration that we become most fully who we are created to be—members of Christ’s Body—and that the Church best carries out her mission to extend Christ’s salvation to the world. Reflecting on the Eucharist, St. Augustine preaches: “If, therefore, you are the Body of Christ and His members, your mystery is presented at the table of the Lord, you receive your mystery. To that which you are, you answer: `Amen'; and by answering, you subscribe to it. For you hear: `The Body of Christ!' and you answer: `Amen!' Be a member of Christ's Body, so that your `Amen' may be the truth” (Sermons, 272).
~ Jean-Marie Dimech-Juchniewicz
February, 2003