The Sacrament of the

Eucharist
Sacrament - “an outward sign
instituted by Christ to
give grace.”
What is a Eucharist?
 a memorial of Christ’s death and
resurrection:
a sacrament of love,
a sign of unity,
a bond of charity,
a Paschal banquet
Christ is consumed, the mind is
filled with grace, and a pledge of
future glory is given to us.
The memorial of the Lord's Passion
and Resurrection.

 it makes present the one sacrifice of

Christ the Savior
 the work of salvation accomplished
by the life, death and resurrection of
Christ, a work made present by the
liturgical action
A sacrament of love
Jesus gives himself to us in the
Eucharist as spiritual nourishment
because he loves us.

The Eucharist
is the memorial of God’s love (Pope Francis)
A sign of unity

 we unite ourselves to Christ who

makes us sharers in His Body and Blood
to form a single body.

"Whoever eats my flesh and

drinks my blood remains in me
and I in him" (Jn 6:56).
The Eucharist also reminds us
that we are all one body;
 Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks
to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he
blesses all the world.
 Yours are the hands, yours are the
feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he
looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but
yours.
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Eucharist - is no mere symbol, but is
in fact the true body and blood of Jesus
Christ, which has the ability to transform
our hearts and minds to be more like him.
(Pope Francis)
“The Eucharist is Jesus who
gives himself entirely to us. To nourish
ourselves with him and abide in him
through Holy Communion, if we do it
with faith, transforms our life into a gift
to God and to our brothers,”
Eucharist
is the one instance of change we
encounter in this world that is exactly the
opposite. The appearances of bread and
wine stay the same, but the very essence
or substance of these realities, which can’t
be detected by a microscope, is totally
transformed. (St. Thomas)
 What does the Eucharist
Celebrate?
 The Eucharist serves as a
reminder that God
nourishes us and loves us
unconditionally.
 It also signifies the love
poured out to us giving
us new life.
 The Eucharist got its
origin from a sacred
Jewish meal called Passover Seder Meal
“Passover Seder”
 The Passover Seder was a ritual meal that Jews
celebrated when Moses was leading them out of Egypt.
It is a meal in which they give thanks to God for
freeing them from slavery.
 Jesus used this meal and put new meaning into, he
identified the bread and wine. He made them symbolic
symbols of his own body and blood.
 The bread symbolizes that Jesus’ body that is given to
us for nourishment and his blood that gives us new life.
 The word Eucharist is derived from the Greek word of
“thanksgiving”
 The Eucharist symbolizes how human
relationship should be, which is that we should
all be reconcile, we need to make peace, support
one another, and if needed give our life for
another person.
 Jesus Christ although now in heaven is still
present with us when we receive the Eucharist
this is known as Real Presence.
 How is he present with us?
 Catholics says that Jesus is present in four ways:
 The presiding priest who offers us Jesus

 In the scriptures that are being read

 The people surrounding us

 The eucharistic species that is the bread and wine

that is consecrated to be Jesus’ body and blood.
 The consecration of the bread and wine is the most
sacred moment throughout mass.
 In Catholic theology this is known as
transubstantiation.
 For Jesus to be truly present in the Eucharist so must
be the participants they have to be “truly present”
otherwise it is a meaningless ritual.
 Not only do we have to receive the body and blood of
Christ we have to be like Christ in our lives and its
possible because Jesus is with us.
 The Ritual of the Eucharist:
Symbolic actions and words
 Eucharist is a term Catholics
use in a variety of ways
 The whole Mass is also called
Eucharist
 The second part of mass that is
known as liturgy of the
Eucharist
 Communion which is the
consumption of the bread and
wine
 The Blessed Sacrament(the
consecrated bread that is kept
in the Tabernacle) is also called Tabernacle in church
the Eucharist
 In Mass or The Eucharist is composed of 4 parts
 The gathering rite this is the beginning of Mass

 The liturgy of the word is next it is the proclaiming

of the word of God through Scriptures
 The liturgy of the Eucharist is after it includes the
consecration and communion of the bread and wine
 The dismissal rite is the conclusion of Mass and is
when the celebration ends
 There are 4 essential actions in Mass is
 Liturgy of the Word: the scriptures
 Thanksgiving: thanking God for everything in
creation
 Concentration: changing the bread and wine into
Jesus’ body and blood
 Communion: is receiving Jesus’ body and blood
 Only ordain priest can preside over the
Eucharist
 Communion Services are similar to mass
because they have liturgy of the word and the
rite of communion but it lacks a ordain priest so
it lacks the full participation of the Eucharist
 Liturgy of the Word
 In the Liturgy of the Word it is an
opportunity to encounter God
 There the Lectionary the
book that is raised high in the
air during procession and
kissed by the priest
 There is usually 3 reading
 One from the Old
Testament
 The second from a epistle
from St. Paul
 The third is a reading from
the Gospel
 The last part of the
liturgy is the prayer of
Lectionary used in
the faithful or general
church
intercessions
 Symbolism of the Bread
 The bread often represents
life so it is an appropriate
symbol for Eucharist
 The bread is both a gift of
God and a work of human
hands
 In the ritual of Eucharist the
bread is transformed.
 It becomes Christ offered up,
broken, and given up to his
people
 The gathered people are
reminded that they too are
Christ- meant to be bread
that is offered up, broken
and given to others.
 Symbolism of the Wine
 The wine is also a gift from God
and the works of human hands
 It is also considered a symbol life
because humans can’t live long
without water to drink it is a “staff
of life”
 It is a symbol that Christ willingly
shed his blood to free humanity
from sin and death
 For many centuries before the II
Vatican Council, the priest was the
only one who could drink from the
cup
 The cup like the bread is meant to
be shared by all believers.
 The Eucharist History
 In the beginning of the history of the church the
Eucharist was celebrated as a fellowship meal or
“love feast” known as agape
 The Christians shared the food that each of
them brought it was eventually broken down to
just the bread and wine
 The feast came to be the same in all different
communities it consisted of an offering , a
thanksgiving, breaking of the bread, and people
receiving the bread and wine.
 After religion was legalized in the fourth century the
practices went public.
 The place of worship moved from homes to church
buildings
 The priest would start saying the mass while people
watched in silence
 The Eucharist became less of a part of the community
 Less and less people received the communion, the
church required that the faithful receive communion
once a year
 During that time the Masses were being said in
Latin, it eventually changed to the vernacular of
the area after II Vatican Council
 Also the altar and the priest now faced the
people
 These changes help bring people together,
which is the purpose of the Eucharist